Red Lake drilling shows promise for Goldcorp

Mineralization discovered this spring at the Goldcorp (G-T) mine in Red Lake, Ont., is quickly being expanded into a resource.

The new zone, unveiled last June, is on the 24 level, 1,100 metres below surface, in a previously unexplored area in the footwall of the mine’s main sulphide zone. The completion of four fan-patterns of drill holes from workings near the mine’s boundary with Placer Dome’s (PDG-T) Campbell mine has indicated the presence of a block of mineralization 75 metres along strike and to a vertical depth of about 180 metres. Widths apparantly vary from 1 to 8 metres but broaden to as much as 28 metres.

Gold grades in the recently announced intersections were generally 5 to 9 grams per tonne, though some were as high as 17.5 grams (over 2.4 metres) and 15.8 grams (over 6 metres).

On the 26 level (1,190 metres), some widely spaced drill holes indicate that three new sulphide zones may exist 15 to 150 metres southwest of the existing mine workings. Grades range from 5 to 56 grams gold over widths of 1 to 4 metres.

Goldcorp continues to prove up tonnage by infill drilling in the high-grade vein zones discovered on the 30 and 34 levels of the mine last year. The previously discovered HW-5, Main and FW zones all returned gold mineralization over core lengths of 1.4 to 9.8 metres, showing grades of 5.8 to 214 grams gold.

On the 34 level, condemnation drilling confirmed that no significant mineralization exists at the site of a planned raise, nor in the area where operators are considering installing a shaft to the 2,250-metre level.

Holes drilled west of the known mineralization determined the extension of the mineralized structures (albeit with low gold values), and holes drilled at the eastern end of the zone indicate a continuation down-plunge.

Widely spaced deep drilling from the 34 level down to depths of 1,800 to 1,920 metres confirmed that the sulphide zones and several of the vein zones are traceable at depth, with grades in the 6-to-10-gram range over core lengths of 0.9 to 1.9 metres.