William focuses on projects in Mexico and South Africa Following the acquisition of mining contractor Bharti Laamanen Mining in July and a subsequent reorganization of company management, William Resources (ME) is focusing its attention on developing two international mining projects.
“Our objective is to establish William as a mid-size mining company with emphasis on precious metals,” William President Stanley Bharti told The Northern Miner in a recent interview. Bharti was appointed president after William acquired his contracting firm.
The acquisition of Bharti Laamanen provides William with an operating and technical team to develop the company’s Terneras gold-silver project in Mexico and the Malmani gold mine in South Africa.
The Terneras project, situated in Durango state, consists of three claim blocks totaling 65 hectares and a 100-tonne-per day concentrator. One of the claims, Terneras, has three old mine workings: Terneras, Santa Juana and San Mateo. The other two claim blocks hold the old El Cobre and San Diego workings.
Mineralization occurs in stockworks and veins that range from 0.5 to 4 metres in width. The vein system at Terneras has a strike length of 1.4 km and extends to a vertical depth of 600 metres.
The deposits collectively contain an estimated mineral inventory of 1.9 million tonnes of broken ore (backfill) grading 2.6 grams gold and 315 grams silver per tonne. In addition, the three deposits contain in situ reserves of 900,000 tonnes. There are also two principal mine dumps containing at least 500,000 tonnes of oxide material grading 2 grams gold, 200 grams silver, 1.5% lead, 1.2% zinc and 0.7% copper.
The Terneras block was worked by the local owner from 1980 to 1992. Mill feed from the Santa Juana mine in 1992 was reported to have an average grade of about 4 grams per tonne gold, 400 grams silver, 5.9% lead and 7.6% zinc. William recently completed a 2,100-metre drill program on the property which located two new mineralized zones (or “chimneys”). Assays from several of the 25 holes are still pending and new reserves will be calculated when these results are received.
Bharti said the company hopes to be producing 200-300 tonnes per day from the property by early next year. The project is expected to yield about 75,000 oz. gold and gold equivalent at an equivalent cost of US$131 per oz. Capital costs are estimated at US$6.6 million.
William is the operator and 40% owner of the Terneras project and has the option to purchase an additional 20% interest for US$1 million. The remaining 40% is owned by Minorca Resources (VSE).
In the Western Transvaal region of South Africa, William has completed a feasibility study on the Malmani gold mine. The study envisions a 300-tonne-per-day operation which will produce 16,000 oz. gold at a cost of US$225 per oz. Capital costs are estimated at US$5 million and the deposit could be in production within a year.
The mine is on the Golden Calf Reef, which consists of a series of subsidiary veins associated with a main quartz vein. The vein system trends northwest, dips steeply to the east and ranges from 0.3 to 10 metres in thickness. Mineralization is generally associated with the sheared margins of the vein, especially the eastern margin. The eastern margin is sheared and has a fractured and friable appearance, whereas the western margin tends to be more massive.
Visible gold is closely associated with malachite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, bornite, and limonite in pure white vuggy quartz.
The mine contains four ore shoots with a geological resource of 952,115 tonnes grading 6.75 grams to a depth of 300 metres.
Bharti says that the company is planning additional drilling to upgrade reserves in the lower portions of the mine.
William also has exposure to several exploration plays in Ontario, Quebec and Guyana.
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