3.5-million program for Silver Century

“There is no better place to look for ore than right in your own back yard,” says Paul Penna, who is arranging $3.5-$4 million in new financing for a new underground program at the Cobalt area silver property of Silver Century Explorations in the heart of that camp. “We like the chances,” adds this company’s new president.

The property is a large one, consisting of three key and contiguous former producers underlying Peterson Lake and completely surrounded by holdings of Agnico- Eagle Mines, the camp’s dominant operator which took over contr ol of this company four years ago. Agnico has since spent some $2 million to obtain a direct 50% interest in this ground, mostly on the King Edward sector at the east end.

The new program will investigate a 2,000-ft gap of lively but untested ground along the ore prone lower diabase contact in the western section where there is an old 130-ft shaft with two winzes. Plans are to slash this shaft to production size and deepen it to the contact at 400 ft.

Previous operators mined good ore right up to both ends of this 2,000 ft untested gap.

Some surface diamond drilling, starting almost immediately, is to be undertaken.

“We feel pretty certain that we will be drawing some production from this ground,” W. A. Hubacheck, Agnico’s consulting geologist, tells The Northern Miner.

This would be trucked to Agnico’s spanking new Penn mill, scheduled for startup in mid-June.

In addition to its direct 50% interest in the Silver Century property, Agnico holds a large portion of the 3,537,505 issued shares. These are currently listed on the Alberta Stock Exchange. But hand-in-hand with the new financing, the shares will likely obtain a listing on one of Canada’s major exchanges.