Queenston positioned for the future

While there were no startling announcements forthcoming at Queenston Mining’s (TSE) well-attended annual meeting, shareholders learned it has much going for it these days putting it well ahead of most of the hard-pressed junior mining group:

–working capital of $1.5 million with no corporate debt;

–modest but steady royalty income;

–14 separate exploration-development projects mostly with majors as joint venture partners;

–no blocks of flow-through shares overhanging its market.

The company’s activities are largely in the Kirkland Lake gold camp where it has very extensive holdings including a 20% profit interest in two producing properties adjoining and being developed by LAC Minerals’ (TSE) highly profitable Macassa operation. Royalties from this ground have averaged $267,000 annually for the past 10 years. “This is no time for any Chicken Little philosophy,” Hugh Harbinson, the company’s chairman and president, told the meeting.

“We are holding to our game plan and will be quite active through this year and well into next.”

Much interest currently centres around its Robertson Twp. base metals project in Ontario’s Matachewan area, where drilling is being resumed immediately. This is a follow-up program on a discovery made early this year (30.9 ft. of 1.45% copper and 14.3 ft. of 5.17% zinc with an initial 400,000 tons indicated.

Interest is also high in a $1-million drill program now getting under way to further test a new gold structure picked up last year by Battle Mountain (Canada) on a block of 336 claims lying between the Kirkland Lake main break and Larder Lake break.

This big firm, which can earn a 70% interest by spending $5 million and making cash payments of $1.1 million to Queenston, has traced this promising-looking structure by trenching for 1,700 ft. and by geophysics for 5,000 ft. Gold reserves totalling 7.2 million tons grading 0.20 oz. have been established to date on Queenston’s various properties of which the company’s share amounts to 3.3 million tons averaging 0.22 oz. or 720,000 oz., geologist Charles Page, its executive vice-president, told the meeting in a fine presentation using colored slides.

Current joint venture partners in Ontario and Quebec include American Barrick (TSE), Inco (TSE), LAC Minerals (TSE), Noranda (TSE), Battle Mountain Gold (NYSE), Minnova (TSE), Falconbridge and Pamorex Minerals (TSE).

Queenston itself is controlled by Joutel Resources (TSE), which holds 3,038,000 shares and has common management.