Newfields Expands Presence in Eastern Canada

Already well established in the Kirkland Lake camp of Ont., Newfields Minerals (TSE), recently added two gold projects in Eastern Canada to its property portfolio. That’s in addition to a deal made earlier this year with Newfoundland Zinc Mines (owned 63% by Teck Corp. and 37% by Amax Inc.) to earn 50% in certain properties adjoining that company’s producing zinc mine in Newfoundland. A drill program operated by Teck is testing a favorable ore horizon down-dip for additional reserves.

In early July, Newfields signed an agreement with Halley Resources (VSE) to option 40% of Halley’s potential 50% interest in the Howey Gold Mine project near Red Lake, Ont., by spending $1.2 million over four years. Halley is earning its interest in the past producer from Teck Corp., which had assigned the project a potential mineral inventory in existing pillars and drifts of 66,000 oz of gold.

According to Bruce Youngman, Newfield’s chief geologist, a program operated by Teck will involve deep drilling (well below the 1200- 1300-ft levels to find extensions at depth), in addition to drilling of indicated and possible on-strike extensions. Other targets at the grass-roots stage will be investigated as well, Youngman said.

Newfields also made a deal this summer with Gold Vessel Resources (ASE) to acquire up to a 50% interest in the Cresus property near Amos, Quebec by spending $2,175,000 over four years. A $2 million program, consisting of trenching, bulk sampling and 30,000 ft of drilling, is planned to begin shortly on the 285-acre property. Newfields says previous work identified two carbonatized zones, one of which returned values of up to 0.53 oz gold per ton over 10 ft.

Meanwhile in the heart of the Kirkland Lake camp, the company is involved in the advanced Teck- Hughes project, another joint venture with Teck. The 50/50 partners expect the current underground program will further define and expand drill indicated reserves of 375,000 tons of 0.25 oz gold.

A total of 1,700 ft of drifting and two drill stations were completed and the company says two out of three drill holes near the Lake Shore/Teck-Hughes boundary intersected the Narrows Break gold zone yielding anomalous gold values and structure. A 6-ft intersection of 0.3 oz gold was also reported from the 4,500-ft level which the company says represents the deepest intersection on the Narrows Break structure and confirms its persistence at depth.

Over the next seven months, the company plans to continue diamond drilling and drifting on the structure, in addition to the completion of a 2,500-ft haulage way.

On its own, Newfields has an underground drilling and drifting program at it s Kirkland Basin project where work had focused on two gold-bearing structures, the 29 Break and the Newfields zone. Newfields says the extension of a 60 ft wide gold bearing quartz breccia stockwork (similar to the green carbonate ore of the Kerr Addison Mine with its 17 million tons grading 0.27 oz gold) is the target for this particular drilling.

The Newfields zone is estimated (by surface drilling) to be 150 ft wide at the 3,000-ft level and is reported to contain anomalous gold values throughout. This zone is bounded by an upper and lower gold zone which in 1986 returned .145 oz gold over 3.2 ft and 0.440 oz gold over 5.2 ft respectively. Newfields says this major hydrothermal system represents a new style of gold mineralization for the Kirkland Lake area.