Ontario target of Hemlow’s main exploration effort

While other Toronto-based companies are flocking to less-regulated environments, Hemlo Gold Mines (TSE) plans to spend about 40% of its $15 million, 1992 grassroots budget on gold projects in Ontario.

Most of the $4-5 million already allocated to the province will be spent in the Harker-Holloway and Kirkland Lake camps, says Ian Atkinson, vice-president of exploration. The programs do not include underground exploration, expected to begin this spring, at the Lightning gold zone. Hemlo now controls about 60% of the favorable stratigraphy along the Porcupine-Destor fault zone, which hosts the Lightning zone as well as the Timmins gold mines. Some of the company’s more advanced properties in the area include Glimmer Resources’ (VSE) claim package in Beatty and Hislop twps. and Canamax’s (TSE) Golden Highway property.

Another $1 million has been set aside to investigate the stratigraphic package that hosts the Golden Giant mine at Hemlo, Ont., while several hundred thousand will be spent on the Algoma Central Railway (ACR) Lands near Wawa, Ont.

Hemlo owes much of its success to the gold bounty buried within Ontario’s Archean greenstone belts. In the early 1980s, exploration in the Schreiber-Hemlo district yielded the rich Hemlo gold deposits, including the Golden Giant mine. These mines now account for about 23% of Canada’s gold production. More recently, Hemlo outlined reserves of about 5.5 million tons grading 0.27 oz. per ton at the Holloway project.

At $15 million, Hemlo’s total grassroots exploration budget is unchanged from last year. About $5 million has been set aside to capture any new opportunities, while $10 million has been allocated to specific areas. But contributions from junior companies, which once made up a significant part of Hemlo’s project spending, are expected to continue their decline in 1992. Another favorite is the Cordilleran region. Although Hemlo has all but pulled out of the Atlantic provinces, it plans to spend at least $2 million in British Columbia and the Yukon. Its main focus will continue to be the Brewery Creek joint venture, where preliminary reserves stand at 10 million tons grading 0.055 oz. gold. Loki Gold (VSE) has earned a 49% interest in Brewery Creek.

The remainder of the gold producer’s budget will be spent in the U.S., Latin America and Australia. In Nevada, Hemlo hopes to begin drilling on Santa Fe Minerals’ Red House property by this summer.