Spirit Lake’s Edwards claims could host small gold orebody

A $400,000 exploration program at Spirit Lake Explorations’ (ME) Edwards gold property northeast of Wawa, Ont., will focus on defining a small but high-grading deposit, President John Hansuld told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting.

“500,000 tons at 0.5 oz. gold per ton is a realistic target,” Hansuld said. “After the program is completed by March, we’ll consider an underground exploration program.”

The target reserve figure is considered realistic by Spirit Lake following the completion of hole 101 late last year. That hole intersected 10.6 ft. grading a rich 11.6 oz. gold per ton at a relatively shallow depth of about 250 ft.

Importantly, the high grade was not confined to just a few 1-ft. intersections within the core, but rather, was fairly uniform across the core’s entire width. “The high-grade gold occurs over minable widths and not just across narrow sections,” Hansuld explained.

This year’s program will try to build reserves around hole 101 and in other sections of two parallel zones on the property.

With 3.9 million shares issued, Spirit Lake is capitalized at less than $8 million, shareholders learned. Also, more than one million flow- through shares, which were overhanging the market last year and depressing share prices, have been absorbed by the market during the past six months, Hansuld said.

Spirit Lake’s management is also encouraged by the property’s proximity to infrastructure. A road and hydro power lines cross the Edwards claims. Also, two mills are in operation at the nearby Magino and Kremzar gold mines. Both are potential custom milling centres.