Junior
The estimate is based on data provided by
Last autumn, with Franco’s financial backing, Pelangio made a deal to acquire Placer Dome’s exploration ground around the mine and negotiated a 5-year option to take over the mine property itself (T.N.M., Oct. 5-11/98).
The new resource figures represent gold mineralization contained in five stacked zones: Main, Quartz, Talc, Pillow and QK. The total resource from these five zones is pegged at 8.1 million tonnes grading 6.1 grams gold per tonne (1.6 million contained ounces gold), including 1.2 million tonnes of 5.19 grams gold in the measured category.
The Main zone, formerly the dominant source of Detour Lake ore, holds resources, including pillars, of 3.9 million tonnes of 5.51 grams gold (693,616 contained ounces).
As well, on the exploration land, a new, sixth zone, named “M,” contains a resource of 2.9 million tonnes grading 1.86 grams gold, situated from surface to a depth of 300 metres.
“The big surprise, in broad-brush terms, is that there was a lot less work done on some of the zones than we thought,” says Pelangio President Ingrid Hibbard. “There was enough drilling to show potential, but most of it was concentrated in an area around the mine.
“We were afraid everyone would say, ‘Oh, the mine is closed, the camp is toast; who gives a damn?’ But it is Abitibi greenstone and it did have a 1.5-million-ounce producer on it and it looks like it has a whole lot of potential that no one has looked at.”
Pelangio’s vice-president, Kevin Filo, notes that even within the Main zone there is a 2.5-km section that has been tested by only nine holes. “It seems that most of the exploration was done in a fairly big hurry to find new reserves near the end of the mine’s life. I don’t know what they were thinking, but I’m glad, because it gave us a hell of an opportunity to get some really cheap resource ounces.
“The background data on base metals are also very good but were totally forgotten the second the mine was founded. There are some interesting polymetallic targets that haven’t been looked at and haven’t been reviewed in light of the advances in geological thought since the 1970s.” Meanwhile, Placer Dome is in the first stages of decommissioning the Detour Lake mine, which involves flooding underground workings, capping the ramp and dismantling a 3,500-tonne-per-day mill.
Hibbard says residents in nearby towns such as Cochrane, Ont., are sensitive about the status of the mill. “You have to be careful. Some people think, ‘Maybe there’s a job here tomorrow.’ Well, there may be, it’s just that it would be an exploration job. Nobody’s saying we’re reopening the mine; that’s not in the cards right now.”
After spending the first half of the year poring over Placer Dome’s exploration statistics, Pelangio and Franco will now spend the rest of the year reviewing the newly released mine data.
Hibbard says a major exploration program will be undertaken only if the price of gold shows signs of improving over a sustained period. She adds that with such a large land package at Detour Lake (135 sq. km), the partners might eventually bring in another exploration partner.
Although Detour Lake has been its top priority, Pelangio has been active at several other exploration plays in northern Ontario.
At the 50%-owned McCool Syncline property near Matheson, Ont., Pelangio’s sister company,
The holes did not intersect significant precious or base metal mineralization, though they did confirm the presence of a hyaloclastic (glassy, broken) horizon associated with base metal mineralization at the nearby Potter property, which is being explored by
Marl earned its half-interest in McCool by paying Pelangio $30,000 and completing the drill program.
At the Louise Lake base metal property near Sudbury, Ont., Pelangio and its two partners, Marl and privately held Golden Blade Resources, have completed a first-phase program consisting of 1,041 metres of drilling.
No significant copper or nickel was intersected, but there were some anomalous platinum and palladium values.
The property also hosts a surface exposure of quartzite that could potentially be quarried and processed for use in Sudbury’s smelters. The partners drilled nine holes totalling 148 metres into an area comprising 20 by 100 metres, resulting in an average silica content of 70%.
At Louise Lake, Pelangio can earn a 25% interest in any aggregate resource and 7.5% of any mineral resource by spending $17,500 and issuing 75,000 shares.
At the Thunder Gold project, 20 km west of Timmins, Pelangio and Marl recently entered into a joint-venture agreement with
Prospectors’ successful earn-in would reduce Pelangio’s and Marl’s interests to 16% and 24%, respectively.
At the Shining Tree property, also near Timmins, Marl is funding a second-phase program of diamond drilling, to be carried out in early autumn.
The property is under option from
In March, Pelangio paid $50,000 for a 50% interest Marl’s SW anorthosite property in northern Ontario. The money was spent on an airborne geophysical survey.
Earlier in March, Pelangio had received a $150,000 cash injection following a private placement of 750,000 units priced at 20 cents each. A single unit consists of one share and one warrant entitling the holder to buy another share for 30 cents before February 2001.
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