Timmins report Hollinger headframe removed

The old central shaft headframe of the Hollinger Consolidated gold mine, now owned by Giant Yellowknife Mines (TSE) was blasted and tied up with cables and pulled to the ground, recently.

It took seven hours to bring the 74-year-old Timmins landmark tumbling to the ground.

The reason for the destruction of the headframe is to allow Giant Yellowknife to mine some ore of reasonable grade that sits below the headframe.

Don Hreskevich, Timmins mine site superintendent for Giant Yellowknife, said there was no way the headframe could have been saved.

“In the early stages of the project the idea of saving the headframe was put to rest,” he said. “Its sheet metal-riveted construction made the structure impossible to preserve or move.”

Giant Yellowknife will continue to mine ore from the open pit on the old Hollinger site. Ore can now be mined from the crown pillar that remained when Hollinger closed in 1968.

C. A. Burns, president of Associated Porcupine Mines (TSE) says the re- opening of the old Paymaster gold mine is not going to happen overnight.

He suggested a more likely time for the beginning of mine development might be sometime in 1990.

American Reserve Mining (VSE) can earn a 50% interest in the Paymaster project by spending enough money to bring the mine back into production, but Burns would not say how much money American Reserve might have to spend.

By 1990, he said, it is likely work will be started to put the property in shape for mining.

Associated Porcupine and American Reserve are two of the brighter spots on the otherwise dreary exploration scene locally.

Not too many companies have all their diamond drill rigs working these days, as the magic of the Mining Exploration Depletion Allowance (MEDA) winds down and makes way for the Canadian Exploration Incentive Program.