Old shaft gives access at depth to Newfields-Teck

Use of an old mine shaft is giving Newfields Minerals (TSE) and Teck Corp. (TSE) an exploration head start in the Kirkland Lake area of northern Ontario.

The old Lake Shore No 5 shaft will give the companies access to the Teck-Hughes and Kirkland Basin properties at the 3,000-ft level.

Newfields and Teck are involved in a joint venture on the Teck- Hughes property, while Newfields is acting alone on the Kirkland Basin property. Newfields struck a deal with Lac Minerals (TSE) last October for use of No 5 shaft, which Newfields has since rehabilitated.

An existing level at 3,075 ft, driven 3,000-4,000 ft in a northeastly direction, gives the companies access to both properties.

Main target on the Teck-Hughes property is 2,000 ft of strike length along the Narrows Break, which follows an east-west direction north of the more famous Main Break, which the old Lake Shore mine, among others, first tapped into years ago.

The two companies have no access to the Narrows Break above 3,000 ft.

Total budget for the Teck-Hughes joint-venture is $7 million, with $4 million already spent on surface drilling, shaft rehabilitation and other work. Newfields has now earned a 50% interest in the property from Teck; the two companies will split the remaining $3 million which will be spent on underground work.

Just before reaching the Narrows Break, the companies will drift in a westerly direction and parallel to the Break, following the structure to the boundary of Lac’s Macassa property. Plans call for drilling along the 2,000 ft of strike length at 200-ft centres, both 400 ft above and below the Break. Drilling of the Break could be under way as early as June. Target vein

On the Kirkland Basin property, main target is the No 29 vein, which Newfields plans to drift along (from the existing 3,075-ft level). More than two years ago, the company discovered (from surface drilling) a new gold-bearing zone which is estimated to be 150-ft-wide at a depth of 3,000 ft, with anomalous gold values. The company thinks it has uncovered a new style of gold mineralization for the Kirkland Lake area. Newfields expects to be drilling the No 29 vein by late summer.

The companies anticipate that by January, 1989, they will have a good idea of the size and grade of the deposits at both properties.

While extraction of ore from the Teck-Hughes property may be some time away, the joint venture is considering using an existing Teck shaft, located between the Main and Narrows breaks and near the Macassa property line, for mining access to the property.