S Malartic samples Croinor

South Malartic Exploration (MSU-V) and Richmont Mines (RIC-T) have arranged a custom-milling agreement for a bulk sample from the former’s Croinor gold deposit, about 70 km east of Val d’Or, Que.

South Malartic will send a 20,000-tonne bulk sample from Croinor to Richmont’s Camflo mill near Val d’Or, rather than fire-up the mothballed Chimo mill, 20 km from Croinor, which it acquired from Cambior (CBJ-T) in 2000. Alain Bellerive, South Malartic’s president, says the company had fallen back on custom-milling in order to “take advantage of the performance in the sector.”

The Chimo mill is still expected to process ore from Croinor once South Malartic makes a production decision. Croinor, with 4.6 million tonnes grading 2.1 grams gold per tonne in measured and indicated resources, is the site of an active drill program aimed at increasing that resource.

South Malartic, which holds a 75% interest in Croinor, plans to spend a total of $1 million on various programs, including underground development, bulk-sample work, and trenching and drilling of targets around the known gold deposit. About 2,000 metres of drilling are planned, and some 4.2 hectares of ground will be stripped.

Calgary-based Huntington Exploration (HEI-V) owns the remaining 25% of the project.