Following the purchase of the remaining 60% interest in the Tulsequah Chief property, owner Redfern Resources (TSE) plans to begin a $1.5-million exploration program on the northwestern British Columbia property.
Redfern expects to complete the purchase of the interest from Cominco (TSE) by the end of this month.
Late last year, Redfern announced it had acquired an option to buy the interest in return for $200,000 plus 1.1 million treasury shares and the assumption of all environmental liabilities associated with the property. In addition to the 60% interest in the Tulsequah property, Redfern will acquire a 100% interest in the adjoining Big Bull property.
The reclamation requirements relate to past mining activity conducted by Cominco in the 1950s. The work involves moving about 20,000 tons of dump material to a single site and covering it, as well as sealing a lower adit to prevent acid runoff from mine workings.
Remediation costs are not expected to exceed $1 million with the most detailed estimate to date putting the cost at about $750,000. A $1.25-million fund, to be established as part of the purchase deal, will be used to finance the work over a period of years while exploration and development continue on the property.
John Greig, president of Redfern, said the company currently has about $1.45 million in working capital which will cover the acquisition cost and reclamation fund. He said the company is in the process of completing a private placement to secure funds for the planned exploration program. Objectives of the company’s upcoming exploration program are to expand known reserves at the Tulsequah, prepare the Big Bull property for drilling and identify new exploration targets between the two sites.
The two former mine sites are on the north side of the Tulsequah River about five miles apart.
Previous work on the Tulsequah property by Cominco and Redfern outlined preliminary reserves of 8.7 million tons grading 6.47% zinc, 1.60% copper, 1.18% lead, 3.20 oz. silver and 0.08 oz. gold per ton.
Most of the reserves are contained in the H lens, a synclinal structure drilled over a vertical extent of about 2,200 ft., a horizontal extent of 1,000 ft. and measuring up to 126 ft. in thickness.
The lens remains open to expansion both upwards to surface as well as to depth and laterally to the northeast and southwest.
Greig said drilling will initially focus on the up-plunge portion of the H lens. He said the exploration drift on the 5400 level will be extended to the north to facilitate drilling a further 400 ft. down-plunge from the previous deepest holes on the lens.
Greig is very optimistic over prospects for the Big Bull property. No drilling has been done on the Big Bull property since the 1950s and geological mapping conducted in 1987 and 1988 confirms the property hosts a large massive sulphide system of similar potential to the Tulsequah. Greig said he hoped to be drilling on the Big Bull this fall, adding that material mined by Cominco in the 1950s was higher in grade than that mined at Tulsequah.
About 396,000 tons grading 1.2% copper, 1.9% lead, 7.3% zinc, 0.15 oz. gold and 4.5 oz. silver were mined from Big Bull.
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