Mascot “operation wawa” off the starting block

It has taken a few years but Murray Pezim’s “Operation Wawa” is off the starting block and about $2.5 million will be spent on the project this year. Mascot Gold Mines, the exploration arm of the International Corona group of companies, will manage the project which covers some 300,000 acres or 13.5 townships around Wawa, Ont.

According to Len W. Saleken, exploration manager for Mascot, it’s “the largest single mineral holding in Ontario under active exploration.” Approximately $1.5 million has been spent there over the past few years on several gold showings and he confirms that “results to date are very encouraging.”

The bulk of the 1987 exploration budget will be directed towards the Murphy Lake mine project which is on the same trend as the Magino and Kremzar gold deposits. These deposits are reporting more than 525,000 oz gold.

Properties surrounding Operation Wawa have attracted companies such as Granges Exploration, Muscocho Explorations, Canamax Resources, Esso Minerals and others. Indeed, the Wawa region has become one of the hotter exploration areas in Ontario and it seems almost certain that several new gold producers will appear there in the next few years.

An old trench was sampled on the Murphy in 1985 which returned 7.5 ft averaging 0.6 oz gold per ton. The program was followed up by drilling which returned several encouraging intersections along strike and down dip.

An intermittent producer during the late 1920s and 1930s, the property hosts a quartz-ankerite vein averaging around 8 ft in width that can be traced for some 2,500 ft along strike. A dozen drill holes (6,250 ft) were completed on three gold zones along the Murphy vein during 1986 and two of these returned native gold.

Among the better intersections were 6.6 ft of 0.33 oz gold; 3.28 ft grading 2.4 oz and 3.1 ft of 1.1 oz. A minimum 20,000-ft drill program has been proposed for this January and Mr Saleken estimates the potential “in excess of one million tons.”

Several holes will be put into the Leitch gold occurrence, a quartz vein system within a 10-20 ft shear zone that was first sampled in the mid 1940s. Preliminary work on the prospect last year outlined an iron formation that was coincident with a geophysical conductor. The iron formation contained quartz carbonate stringers, tourmaline alteration and encouraging gold values. More exploration is planned here including drilling. There are at least five other gold occurrences that will be looked at as well.

International Corona under Murray Pezim put the play together several years ago and Corona still has a 25% carried interest in the project. Galveston Resources and Berle Resources each have a 45% working interest and Tri Basin Resources holds 10%.

Looking quite fit during a recent interview, Mr Pezim told The Northern Miner that Galveston would be his flagship company in the future and he added it was just finalizing a $10-million offering with some institutional investors. “I’m totally obsessed with building a giant,” he said, in reference to his plans for Galveston. He is still a major shareholder in Corona and claims to control about two million shares of the company both directly and indirectly (through various public companies).

Galveston could almost be described as a holding company because it has interests in at least six other companies. Its holdings include 698,672 shares of PezCorona Gold Mines which has a market value of $17.1 million. The next highest is 174,710 shares of Royex Gold which is worth $716,311, followed by 30,000 shares of Noranda Exploration valued at $611,250. The company has marketable securities worth about $19 million, he points out.