McFinley seeking partner for project in Bateman Twp.

Bill Cummins, president of McFinley Red Lake Gold Mines (TSE), says he is still hoping to line up a joint venture partner for the company’s Bateman Twp. gold project near Red Lake, Ont.

Under an agreement with Winnipeg-based Dominion Bridge, the company that built McFinley’s 100-ton-per-day mill, McFinley has until Sept. 30 to find a partner and another nine months to pay part of the construction costs. “I am having conversations with Dominion Bridge and a major mining company and I hope to be able to pull something together,” said Cummins. Three years ago, the construction firm filed a lien on the Bateman property after the two sides fell into a dispute relating to an over rotating ball mill which McFinley said prevented it from completing a 15,000-ton bulk sample.

But after the two sides reached an out-of-court settlement last December, McFinley has been looking for a partner willing to finance further exploration and development on the Bateman property.

Before the dispute, McFinley had outlined preliminary reserves of 890,000 tons grading 0.21 oz. gold per ton within the same formational horizon that hosts the Dickenson and Campbell gold mines nearby.

The orebody is accessible by a 400-ft. shaft and development workings on three levels.

The fundamentals of the property remain the same, and it is just the environment that has changed, said Cummins who was referring to the slump in the price of gold.