Noranda, Hemlo Gold active at red-hot Mishibishu region

Mishibishu. It’s a strange sounding name but one likely to become increasingly familiar to our readers in the months and years ahead.

The recent announcement that the Mishibishu joint venture group (50% Flanagan McAdam Resources, 25% Muscocho Explorations and 25% Windarra Minerals) will be spending an additional $29 million this year to bring its new Magnacon mine into production at a rate of 600 tons daily already focuses attention on this promising new gold area.

And close on Magnacon’s heels is the Granges Exploration-MacMillan Energy Corp. joint venture, whose large property holdings completely surround it (see accompanying map).

Recent drilling here has been decidedly interesting, prompting an expanded $4.5-million program including a $2.5-million underground program that calls for an 820-ft decline and $1 million for a further 50,000 ft of diamond drilling to the end of May — 15,000 ft on its main zone, 20,000 ft on the highly-promising west zone, 7,000 ft on the new K.K. zone and 7,500 ft on other areas on this 22,500-acre spread. And $550,000 is being budgeted for road building and preliminary metallurgical and engineering studies, strongly suggesting a second new producer in the making.

And there is more — much more activity — for there has been a great deal of staking and dealing taking place of late, with numerous exploration programs being lined up. Guesstimates of exploration expenditures to be incurred this year run as high as $20 million, branding Mishibishu as one of the industry’s real hotspots. Indeed some observers are already referring to it as an upcoming new gold camp.

Located just 40 miles southeast of Hemlo, upwards of 8,000 claims have been staked, completely tying up a large spread of favorable ground that bears strong geological resemblances to that major camp. Subsequent airborne data has confirmed and identified a number of potentially favorable sulphide concentrations and structures containing some rather exciting gold values, quite apart from the Magnacon mine itself. Noranda a lead player

Leading this new mine search is Noranda Exploration, which has tied up five separate claim groups as operator on behalf of its big Hemlo offspring, Hemlo Gold Mines Inc. which will finance all five programs to earn varying interests under terms that call for rather heavy exploration commitments.

(When Hemlo Gold went public, there was an exclusivity clause prohibiting Noranda from acquiring ground within a defined area of the Hemlo mine which includes Mishibishu. Noranda, therefore, is in a strictly operating role here, but it does hold a prized 50% direct interest in that company).

“This is certainly one of our hotspots, and one that is looking better all the time,” John D. Harvey, president and chief executive officer of Hemlo Gold and who also heads Noranda Exploration Co., told The Northern Miner this week. “It’s a relatively unexplored area that we feel holds terrific potential.” Access has been one of the problems but this will improve as new roads are built, he points out.

Noranda currently has two drill rigs at work on the 290-claim Eagle River group of Central Crude Ltd. which it has to service by helicopter. This is a vse listing headed by Toronto lawyer Richard Nemis. The Hemlo company can earn a 60% interest in this particular property by spending $1 million plus cash payments to Crude of $90,000.

One of these rigs is probing previously identified zones while the second machine is delineating and testing mineralization in several brand new lengthy zones. Of 11 holes completed by the latter, nine returned significant gold values. Noranda expects to put additional drills to work as the various programs on its other optioned properties advance. This includes a group on what is known as the North Break owned jointly by Central Crude and Joutel Resources, two separate groups held by Dominion Explorers and the Augusta Lake property of San Paulo Explorations in which Hemlo Gold can earn a 60% interest by spending a minimum of $1,785,000 on exploration and paying San Paulo $130,000 over three years. Applegath Group busy

The Applegath Group of companies is another big Mishibishu participant gearing for a sizeable program of exploratory drilling. It includes Tundra Gold Mines, Villeneuve Resources, Oneida Resources, New Beginnings Resources and Alotta Resources. These companies have carried out considerable preliminary work consisting of mapping, line cutting, soil sampling and both ground and aerial geophysical surveying, which has identified numerous drill targets.

A large base camp is now being set up on the Oneida ground which adjoins the main Central Crude- Noranda group on the west which will be headquarters for servicing the drill programs soon to get started.

Exploratory drilling was recently resumed on the 198-claim Pukaskwa River property held jointly by Caribbean Resources, Exmar Resources and Red Barn Distribution Centers Ltd. This ground embraces the southwesterly extension of the favourable rock formations that host the Mishibishu gold deposits.

HSK Minerals, a company in the Harbinson fold, recently gained an entry to the Mishibishu play via acquisition of a 52-claim group adjoining Central Crude’s eastern block which company retains a 25% carried interest. Consideration was $10,000 , 60,000 treasury shares and a variable 25-30% net smelter return payable to the vendor.