The newly discovered NEX and Hanging Wall zones at the Eskay Creek mine in northwestern British Columbia are estimated to contain a diluted geological resource of 227,000 tons grading 0.88 oz. gold and 56 oz. silver per ton.
Prime Resources Group (TSE) drilled an additional six holes as a follow-up to its initial, 10-hole program, which discovered the new precious metal mineralization last fall.
Intersections from four of the recent holes included: 9.8 ft. grading 1.53 oz. gold and 33.4 oz. silver for hole 95-13; 3.3 ft. grading 0.28 oz. gold and 21.1 oz. silver for hole 95-11; and 7.9 ft. grading 0.57 oz. gold and 84.6 oz. silver for hole 95-16. In addition, several of the holes are enriched in base metal mineralization.
The zones occur within a contact mudstone, which appears to be a stratigraphic extension to the northeastern end of the main 21B Eskay creek ore zone. However, the mineralization in the new zones contains much lower levels of mercury, arsenic and antimony, compared with the 21B zone.
The 21B zone hosts the bulk of the known mineralization at Eskay Creek. It occurs in the lower portion of a mudstone sequence that overlies the north end of a rhyolite flow-dome complex. The zone is near the crest of the shallow-to-moderate, northerly plunging Eskay Creek anticline.
At the beginning of 1995, diluted, minable reserves at Eskay Creek stood at 1.2 million tons grading 1.91 oz. gold and 85.5 oz. silver, as well as 5.6% zinc, 3% lead and 0.77% copper. Production for the first nine months of 1995 amounted to 152,019 oz. gold and 6.9 million oz. silver (or 284,646 oz. gold-equivalent) at a cash cost of US$183 per oz.
With an exploration budget set at US$1.8 million for 1996, Prime plans to prove up the resource in the NEX and Hanging Wall zones with additional drilling and underground development. Also targeted for exploration is the northeastern limb of the Eskay Creek anticline.
Prime, which fully owns the Eskay Creek mine and holds a 40% interest in the nearby Snip mine, is 51% owned by Homestake Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Homestake Mining (NYSE).
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