Atlantic Report Atlantic Goldfields in the swim

Gold exploration at mid-summer has been marked by new companies emerging on the Atlantic Canada mining scene and an established company expanding its operations into another industry.

Atlantic Goldfields is one of the new players in the exploration game down east. The company is the result of the amalgamation of Choiceland Iron Mines of Toronto with an Ontario numbered company which was created to hold mineral property assets acquired from U.S. Borax when it ceased its Canadian operations.

Although Atlantic Goldfields is an Ontario company, it will have its operations headquarters in Halifax. President of the new company is William Burton, a Halifax consulting geologist; G. W. (Will) Felderhof is vice-president and Deric Burton of Halifax is secretary-treasurer.

Atlantic Goldfields received a 40% interest in nine North American gold properties from the numbered company.

The Dawson project in Colorado will be Atlantic Goldfields’ first major undertaking; surface drilling is in progress and new mineralized zones a half-mile to the west at Windy Gulch have been located. Current reserves at the Dawson property are 525,000 tons with an average grade of 0.25 oz gold per ton over an average true width of 33.9 ft. When most low grade ore is included, the tonnage doubles but the grade is almost halved: 1,033,100 tons at 0.15 oz over an average true width of 47.9 ft.

Outcrop at Windy Gulch grades 0.33 oz over a true width of 33 ft. Underground development is scheduled to start in the fall. Elsewhere, south of the border, Atlantic Goldfields has two drills running at the Royal Vindicator former gold mine in Georgia. Canadian activities

In Canada, the company is carrying out geophysics and geochemistry on its Nerepis gold property 20 miles north of Saint John, N.B. U.S Borax’s results on this new discovery showed a mineralized outcrop 22 ft long grading 0.07 oz gold. Drilling will commence later this year.

The company also has five gold properties scattered across Newfoundland where work is slated to begin soon. The claims are at Chiouk Brook (the Great Bend property), Sops Arm, Little Bay, Catchers Pond and Flatwater Pond.

Mr Burton is also president of Consultec, a Halifax geological consulting firm. Consultec will merge with A.C.A. Howe International of Toronto, which will carry out the programs on the New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Georgia properties. Jascan Resources of Toronto is the operator on the Colorado project.

Other activities

In other activities, Atlantic Goldfields is negotiating the acquisition of a 22.5% interest in the Rock Lake silver and copper property near Noxon, Mont. Jascan will also acquire 22.5% and U.S. Borax will retain control with 55%. Exploration results on the Noxon property show drill-indicated reserves of 71 million tons grading 2.32 oz silver and 0.74% copper. “The deposi t is open down dip and work is under way to delineate additional reserves,” says Mr Burton.

Funding for Atlantic Goldfields was arranged through the London brokerage firm of T. C. Coombs, which provided $11.5 million in two private placements as equity financing for the company’s senior projects in the United States. Atlantic Goldfields’ shares will soon be trading on the coats exchange.

A new gold exploration company recently incorporated in Nova Scotia is Carrick Gold Resources. Carrick (rock in Gaelic) is a subsidiary of Oliver Resources, an Irish company. Carrick has optioned 270 claims in Meguma Group rocks from Rainbow Resources, which will manage Carrick’s exploration program under the direction of John O’Sullivan, a Dartmouth geologist who is president of both Rainbow and Carrick.

Carrick’s properties include part of the Montague gold district, an area which produced 67,469 tons of ore grading 1.01 oz per ton during intermittent mining from 1863 to 1938. Other claims cover gold showings at Porters Lake and Moster River, both in Halifax Cty.

Geological sampling, soil sampling and electromagnetic surveys are now being undertaken in advance of diamond drilling planned for Montague next month. “Besides working on our grassroots project, Carrick is interested in acquiring gold properties at more advanced stages of development,” says Mr O’Sullivan.

Torene Gold Explorations of Dartmouth, N.S., has acquired the rights to an 8-sq-mi watershed in Cape Breton containing several pure water springs. With its joint venture partner Bevpro Canada of Calgary, newly-formed Ocean Springs will be constructing a bottling and distribution plant about 15 miles from Sydney. Eventually as many as 70 permanent employees could be required at the facility.

Greenstrike Gold Corp. of Calgary and its joint venture partner, Pan East Resources of Toronto have been busy drilling on their property in the Fifteen Mile Stream area of Nova Scotia, about 15 miles north of Sheet Harbour, Halifax Cty.

In May, Greenstrike announced that preliminary reserves totalling 600,000 tons grading 0.24 oz per ton gold had been defined to a vertical depth of 100 m by the first 17 holes. Since then, Greenstrike has completed a total of 28 drill holes and the 11 most recent holes have doubled the depth extension of the gold mineralization. Hole 87-23 returned 0.67 oz over 6.7 m at a vertical depth of 175 m.

Petroco of Texas has arranged a private placement with Yorkton Securities of Toronto which will provide the company with $2.2 million to finance the gold exploration program of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Halifax-based Scotia Prime Resources. The financing will provide a maximum of $1.5 million in flow-through capital from First Exploration Fund for work in 1987 and 1988, and $700,000 in hard dollars.

Scotia Prime’s 1987 program will focus on the company’s Lower Seal Harbour and Ecum Secum properties, both former gold producers. Drilling will commence at Lower Seal Harbour as soon as the paper work is done and funds are available, according to President Craig Miller. Petroco is listed on the Alberta Stock Exchange.

Gold exploration in Nova Scotia will be the subject of the Maritime Mineral Exploration Discussion Group’s meeting on Aug 20. The group will gather at the Inn on the Lake in Waverley, Halifax Cty., at 7 p.m. for an informal discussion. There will be updates by representatives of gold exploration companies, according to Seabright Resources’ geologist Greg Isnor, organizer of the meeting.