Metall increases budget for exploration spending

TSE-listed Metall Mining has increased exploration spending by about one-third, to $20.1 million, as it continues to focus on North and Latin America and Europe.

At the Gataga project, north of McKenzie, B.C., Metall is busy working the Akie zinc-lead deposit. Ten drill holes cut massive sulphides associated with a sedimentary rocks along a 1.1-km strike length. Two of the best and deepest intersections averaged 8.4% zinc and 1.6% lead plus 14.3 grams silver per tonne over 9.3 metres, and 9.84% zinc and 1.5% lead plus 12.5 grams silver over 9.8 metres.

Indications are that mineralization improves at depth, and Metall will continue exploring in order to earn a 60% interest.

The company is also searching for base metal massive sulphide deposits in the Northwest Territories. Programs have been carried out at the Izok Lake, Run Lake, Musk and Gondor projects.

In addition to searching for deposits to complement reserves at Izok Lake, the company is exploring for stand-alone orebodies.

At Gondor, 2,640 metres of drilling were carried out to determine the downdip extent of the deposit, which has a resource of 7.3 million tonnes averaging 0.2% copper and 4.8% zinc. Although massive sulphides were intersected, the higher-grade mineralization was not.

Elsewhere in North America, Metall has conducted geological, geophysical and geochemical surveys over gold and base metal properties in the Lac Shortt and Troilus areas of northwestern Quebec, and over epithermal gold deposits along the Walker Lane, Battle Mountain and Carlin trends of Nevada. The company will continue to search these areas in 1995.

Meanwhile in Latin America, early-stage exploration on several gold and copper projects has begun in Panama, Chile and Bolivia.

Metall is using information gleaned from the discoveries at Petaquilla (in which it has a 48% interest) to target exploration on three other Panamanian properties: Cerro Plata, Gallote and Virigua.

Cerro Plata and Gallote host extensive copper and gold soil anomalies similar to those found on the Petaquilla project. These anomalies will be investigated further this year.

At Virigua, indications are that the ground is underlain by a copper porphyry target with peripheral epithermal gold potential similar to that of the Petaquilla project. Soil sampling has outlined a 10-sq.-km area with anomalous copper values, spiking at 2.5%. Also delineated is a gold target consisting of a 1.3-km-long zone of argillic alteration and silicification. The alteration is coincidental with anomalous gold, arsenic, mercury and molybdenum soil anomlies and will be drilled later this year.

In Bolivia, Metall has carried out mapping, sampling and some geophysical surveys on the Perdernales, Chiarra Salla and Pachekala projects. The surveys indicate the Perdernales could host a potentially gold-rich epithermal system, while work at Pachekala has uncovered a gold-bearing porphyry target. At Chiarra Salla, samples have returned assays of up to 9.8 grams gold per tonne within a 3-sq.-km area, with silicified hydrothermal breccias. All of these targets are slated for drilling this year.

Metall, through its 33.3% interest in the Eurogold joint venture, is also exploring for epithermal gold deposits in the Mediterranean region. Last year, drilling established a reserve of 600,000 tonnes grading 14.1 grams on the Mastira project in northeastern Turkey. Mineralization is hosted within two parallel, steeply dipping, epithermal quartz veins hosted in altered volcanics. The deposit remains open along strike and at depth and will be further investigated this spring.