Roxmark’s big plans for Northern Empire gold mine

With visions of production by year-end, Roxmark Mines (RMK-V) is moving the Northern Empire gold mine in Beardmore, Ont. to the top of its priority list.

The company released a National Instrument 43-101 report today that urges the company to go ahead with an aggressive drilling and development program on the mine property, located in Northwest Ontario.

Roxmark plans to start off with a 98-hole, 6,125-metre surface drill program over the winter months, costing $1.1 million.

The report then recommends the company follow up with a 49-hole surface drill program for the summer of 2008, costing $900,000.

If results are good, then a $10.3 million program to reopen the mine, which includes dewatering to the 750-metre level, drifting in the two vein structures, followed by a 5,000-ton underground bulk sample and underground drilling to the east and west of the existing shaft.

Completion of this work would make Roxmark ready for both production and a feasibility study.

Also onsite is a 200-tonne-per-day mill built in 1982. It was upgraded by Roxmark, and is expandable to 500 tonnes per day. Most recently, the mill was used to process gold in 2005 and molybdenum in 2006.

As for the deposit, only the top 100 metres of the contact zone have been drill tested so far, but the mineralization system is known to extend to a depth of more than 600 metres. Similarly, only 200 metres of the 1,450-metre strike length has been explored.

Monir Younin, Roxmark’s president, notes that the assessment is conceptual in nature, but highlights the report’s 10.9-grams-gold-per-tonne grade estimate for the contact zone.

“The contact zone could be in the neighbourhood of 300,000 oz. (gold),” Younin said in a statement.

The report also found that the likelihood of other gold bearing zones and parallel structures is good. That’s partially based on historical production on veins that were open at depths below 600 metres.

Younin says that Roxmark is making Northern Empire a top priority over its other properties because of its lower capital cost and logistical advantages to achieve commercial production quickly.

For now, Roxmark is still looking for a contractor for the winter drill season to test the west extension of the contact zone.

Mine planning, permitting and employee training are also on the to-do list to keep the company on schedule for reopening Northern Empire by the end of 2008.

The company has 12 properties in the Geraldton-Beardmore area, six with past producing mines, which have produced nearly 2 million oz. gold, plus a molybdenum-gold property.

Newmont Mines produced 149,000 oz. at the Northern Empire mine between 1934 and 1941 with grades averaging 10.9 grams gold per tonne.