Minnova to test Goldboro after signing deal with Orex

Toronto-based Minnova (TSE) has signed a formal agreement, allowing it to disapprove the well-known myth that Nova Scotia can’t support a profitable gold mining operation.

Under the agreement, Minnova can earn a 60% stake in Exploration Orex’ (ME) Goldboro gold project by spending $5 million on exploration before Jan. 15, 1994. The $5-million figure includes mortgage payments to Onitap Resources (TSE), from which Orex is purchasing the property.

The agreement also calls for Minnova to make two private placements of $250,000 and $1 million at prevailing market prices on April 15 this year and April 15, 1993.

According to Orex president Michel Roy, the deal will allow both companies to determine the open pit potential of the Goldboro project where Orex claims that 20 million tons grading 0.099 oz. gold per ton can be placed in the proven and possible reserve category in the central portion of the mineralized trend.

Roy says her expects a 5,000-ton-per-day operation to produce 200,000 oz. gold annually if and when the project is running at full speed. Although mineralization has been intersected at a depth of 1,300 ft., he predicts that the base of the open pit will be at the 900-foot level.

Last year, underground exploration focused on the apex of an anticline where beds of gold-bearing arglilite are intersected by mineralized quartz veins. Most of the gold in the mineralized zones is free.

A phase-one drill program, designed to outline zones amenable to open pit mining, has already begun. The program will repeat four earlier holes, on of which intersected 342 ft. of grade 0.08 oz.

While grades in those holes were ontained by processing all of the drill core in a pilot mill, Roy says core from any new holes will be assayed by a total gold extraction method.

This method is designed to give a more accurate picture of the gold content from each geographical unit and the variability of grades over short distances. Previous data suggest the argillite belts will contain most of the gold.