Madeleine is full steam ahead

Progress being made at the Lac Des Iles’ project of Madeleine Mines in northwestern Ontario makes it almost a certainty that this country will soon have its first straight platinum-paladium producer — a 3,000-ton-per-day open pit operation.

Some 50,000 ft of diamond drilling in a continuing program that commenced last summer has fully confirmed the general grade, size and shape of the main Roby zone from which initial production will be drawn. This zone, together with the associated C1 and C2 zones, is estimated to contain 12,500 tons per vertical foot of ore grading 0.186 oz of the platinum group metals per ton, plus significant gold, copper and nickel values.

This orebody has a maximum width of 350 ft, suggesting very low mining costs.

Drilling will continue throughout this year, J. P. Sheridan, president, tells The Northern Miner, adding that two rigs capable of probing to depths of 4,000 ft are scheduled to arrive at the property within the next few weeks.

An area of approximately 700 acres has now been cleared at the mine site, with stripping of a portion of the Roby zone under way. In fact a bulk sample was taken in February and milled for the purpose of providing concentrates for metallurgical testing for the planned reduction facility and refinery. These tests are being carried out in Ottawa by canmet, a branch of the federal government.

Construction of the final access road from the Armstrong highway, a distance of 18 km, is well advanced and includes the recent completion of a major bridge. A conditional grant of $425,000 has been received from the Ontario government to partially defray the cost.

The company has already approached the Department of the Environment for permission for tailings areas and waste disposal.

Detailed planning of the crushing and grinding circuit is almost complete and present plans call for moving the 3,000 ton Madeleine mill located at Ste. Anne Des Monts, Que., and its re-erection on the property in the latter half of the year.

In addition to the Roby zone, drilling has partially outlined a much larger but lower grade deposit adjoining on the west and south of the Roby. In one section the combined deposits average .0825 oz PGM over an apparent width of 1,150 ft. Management estimates that a further 50,000 ft of drilling will be required to fully evaluate this new zone.

There are a number of other targets due for testing this summer on the company’s very extensive land holdings in the area, including two other gabbro intrusives that are known to contain significant platinum-paladium values. Gold project, too

Madeleine also holds a 25% interest in a producing gold mine in Honduras. During the past year some 400 percussion drill holes were put down here, indicating a very substantial reserve grading 0.10 oz per ton amenable to open pit mining and heap leaching.

This gold mine is currently operating at a rate of 200 tons per day on a positive cash flow basis. All funds generated are being re-invested in capital equipment with a view to increasing the production rate to 500 tons daily in the fourth quarter of this year and to 1,000 tons by the first quarter of 1988.