WMC advances Meliadine West project

Infill drilling by Australian-based Western Mining Corp. (WMC-N) has confirmed resources previously inferred at the Meliadine West property near Rankin Inlet, Nunavut.

The infill program, consisting of 127 holes sunk on the property’s main Tiriganiaq deposit, tested intervals of 25-50 metres along a 3-km strike length to a depth of 200

metres. Previous work on the deposit, based on more widely spaced drill holes, put the resource at 13.7 million tonnes grading 9.7 grams per tonne.

The gold at Tiriganiaq (previously called Tiriruniak) is developed in an iron-formation unit (the 1100 Zone) and along the contact between sedimentary and mafic volcanic rocks (the 1000 Zone). A 40- to 60-metre-thick package of sedimentary rocks lying between the two zones may also be mineralized. The addition of four other zones (Wolf, Wolf North, Pump and F) brings the total resource on the property to 23.7 million tonnes grading 8.5 grams.

The new series of drill holes intersected gold mineralization generally over widths of 2 to 5 metres, though a significant number were wider than that. Grades from the reported intersections ranged from 3.8 to 73 grams per tonne (the latter, over a 2.8-metre core length), with about half of the intersections grading more than 10 grams.

Highlights include:

• hole 403, which pierced 7.44 metres (about 8 metres vertically from surface) grading 16.3 grams, plus 10.65 metres (about 30 metres) grading 7.84 grams;
• hole 432, which hit 6.33 metres (about 21 metres) grading 12.06 grams, plus 7.22 metres (about 42 metres) grading 6.13 grams;
• hole 366, which averaged 32.55 grams over 3.6 metres (about 254 metres); and
• hole 445, which returned 4.59 grams over 28.52 metres (about 18 metres).

The results are based on a cutoff grade of 3 grams gold and a minimum width of 2 metres. An equivalent cutoff grade was used in previous resource estimates.

An independent prefeasibility study in 1998 concluded Meliadine West can support annual production of 400,000 oz. gold over 10 years, provided resources containing at least 4.8 million oz. can be blocked out. Such an operation would employ underground and open-pit mining methods, using a combination of gravity separation and cyanide leaching to win the gold.

The resource, as calculated by WMC, is being reviewed by an outside consultant, and a mining plan is in the works. A revised resource estimate is expected early in 2000, and WMC has budgeted $10 million for work on the project next year.

WMC operates and owns a 56% interest in Meliadine West, with the remainder divided evenly between Comaplex Minerals (CMF-T) and Cumberland Resources (CBD-T). WMC must finance the project to production, which would enable it to buy out 2% from each company for $1-4 million.