Northern Star steps up exploration at Midway-Malartic

Northern Star Mining (NSM-V, NSMSF-O) will begin a 30,000-metre drill program at its Midway-Malartic gold project, 16 km west of Val-d’Or, Que. by the end of February.

The property, located in the Abitibi gold belt, produced more than 2 million oz. gold between 1938 and 1965 when it was known as the Malartic Goldfields property.

Midway-Malartic is next to Osisko Exploration’s (OSK-V, OSXLF-O) Canadian Malartic gold project, which has a gold resource of 6.5 million oz., or 178 million tonnes grading 1.1 grams gold per tonne, based on a cutoff grade of 0.5 gram gold per tonne. The Canadian Malartic deposit was discovered in 1926 and produced more than 1 million oz. gold between 1938 and 1965.

So far, Northern Star has drilled 75 holes at Midway-Malartic that returned an average grade of 0.26 oz. gold per ton over 27 ft. The latest drill intercept yielded 0.26 oz. gold per ton over 52 ft.

The company began exploring the property in 2003, focusing on the former mine workings, as well as key ground surrounding the mine.

The exploration team has found 14 new gold zones as deep as 450 metres, says Jonathon Awde, corporate development manager for Northern Star.

“They are not National Instrument 43-101-compliant, but we feel pretty comfortable with the zones being very similar to what was mined at Malartic Goldfields,” Awde says.

The company has mostly been exploring east-southeast of shaft No. 1, with some drilling testing ground west-southwest of the shaft.

The upcoming drill program is designed to expand the mineralization and expand the 14 zones. The current strike length is more than 900 metres in all directions and at depth.

Gold mineralization at Midway-Malartic is associated with gabbro bodies close to porphyries.

Northern Star will also be exploring what Awde calls “a new theory” that is directly related to the company’s neighbour to the west, Osisko.

“There’s some interesting stuff on the southern portion of our property in what’s called the Pontiac sediment,” Awde says.

Northern Star geologists believe they have a porphyry that is associated with an Osisko porphyry.

“Only a rig will prove us correct, but our geologists have had a pretty good handle on what’s going on so far,” Awde says.

Northern Star is spending $2 million on exploration in 2007. The company has $8 million in cash.

In anticipation of positive results to come, last September Northern Star bought a used mill 13 km east of Val d’Or for $6 million. It could have cost the company up to $35 million and two years for permitting and construction. The mill’s current capacity is 1,000 tonnes per day but Awde says it could be upgraded to its original capacity of 2,000 tonnes per day for $1.5 million.

“It’s a 19-year-old mill but it’s had less than a million tonnes of rock run through it,” he says.

The mill came with the Beacon gold mine, which consists of a 1,200-ft.-deep shaft and headframe, two declines and a 400-ft.-deep shaft. Northern Star geologists believe there is significant potential for gold below 1,200 ft.