With new zones identified at the Sleeping Giant mine near Amos, Que., operator
The extension will bring the depth of the shaft to 1,060 metres from the current 860 metres, and allow development of four new mineralized zones that were outlined in drilling between 2001 and 2003. The project budget also allows for some lateral and vertical development and for cutting out underground drill stations.
Sleeping Giant, which produced 66,100 oz. gold in 2002, has reserves blocked out to its 785-metre level. At the beginning of February, those reserves were calculated at 320,000 tonnes grading 12.5 grams gold per tonne; a further 185,000 tonnes of inferred resources had been estimated, with an average grade of 11.5 grams per tonne.
Mineralization blocked out below 785 metres will be brought into reserves with the completion of the shaft. That new reserve amounts to 77,000 tonnes grading 12.2 grams gold per tonne. A further 192,000 tonnes of inferred resources below the 785-metre level grade 10.9 grams per tonne.
The shaft-deepening extends Sleeping Giant’s mine life by another two years.
Meanwhile, drilling by Aurizon at the Casa Berardi gold project, 100 km north of Rouyn-Noranda, has indicated that gold mineralization in the deposit’s 118 and 120 zones persists further downdip.
Five of eight holes encountered mineralization, the best intersection being a 6.2-metre width that ran 35.4 grams gold per tonne in hole S-77C. Most of the gold was carried in a 1.9-metre interval that graded 105 grams gold per tonne.
That hole intersected a quartz stockwork with abundant disseminated arsenopyrite, a typical form for gold mineralization at Casa Berardi. The mineralized stockwork is in the South Vein structure, 40 metres south of the mine’s main mineralized structure, the Casa Berardi fault. Assay results on core from a separate, 6.3-metre interval of S-77C in the fault zone are pending.
Two other holes, S-62B and S-72B, intersected mineralization in the hangingwall of the Casa Berardi fault at a vertical depth of 950 metres. The gold is hosted in sulphide-rich schist and in stockwork material. S-62B cut a 4.5-metre true width grading 7.9 grams gold per tonne, while S-72B cut 2.9 metres running 5.1 grams.
Farther to the south and deeper in the hole, S-62B intersected 3 metres with an average grade of 7.7 grams per tonne.
Two holes at shallower depths, S-74 and S-74A, both intersected quartz stockworks with gold mineralization near the trace of the main fault zone. In S-74, about 750 metres below surface, a 2-metre true width graded 7.6 grams gold per tonne, and in S-74A, 650 metres below surface, a 2-metre width graded 8.9 grams. These two holes encountered zones geologically similar to rocks intersected in six previous holes in the immediate area.
Both holes also intersected “isolated” veins that cannot be correlated with known structures. In S-74, an isolated vein ran 7.3 grams over a 4.3-metre width, and S-74A cut a 3.4-metre width running 3.2 grams. In both cases, the isolated material lies between the main fault and the South Vein.
Aurizon has a $2-million budget to chase the extensions of the 118 and 120 zones, below and west of Casa Berardi’s mined-out East zone, and to test targets in the 113 zone, below and east of the mine’s West zone. Known reserves in the West zone amount to 6.9 million tonnes grading 6.7 grams gold per tonne. Reserves in the 113 zone have been calculated at 4.1 million tonnes grading 7.4 grams.
Cambior also announced that the Doyon mine, 40 km east of Rouyn-Noranda, was likely to see a 4,000-oz. shortfall in production as a result of the breakdown of the mine’s production hoist (T.N.M., March 10/03).
The hoist’s central shaft and bearings were damaged, and repairs will take until the last week of April. There will be a layoff of 125 workers while the hoist is repaired.
Some production from Doyon is continuing, both by hoisting up the mine’s service shaft and by trucking up the ramps. Feed from Cambior’s nearby Mouska mine and from a low-grade ore stockpile is also coming to the Doyon mill.
Cambior sees a reduction of $1.4 million in operating cash flow during the hoist shutdown, which translates into a reduction of $900,000 in net cash flow.
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