Kerr Addison, Battle Mountain joining forces in Casa Berardi

A veteran Canadian gold producer and a young American mining company with international exposure are teaming up to explore a large block of claims held by the former in the Casa Berardi area of Quebec.

Kerr Addison Mines, whose Casa Berardi property consists of 367 claims and is 14 miles long, has formed a joint venture with Battle Mountain Gold of Houston whereby Battle Mountain may earn a 40% interest by spending $4 million on the property over a 4-year period. Kerr Addison, project operator, will spend $1 million.

The property is located to the east of the Inco Ltd.-Golden Knight Resources’ Golden Pond discovery, which could be in production by August, 1988. (Inco and Golden Knight have agreed to build a mill to process ore from Golden Pond’s East zone.)

A ground survey and some drilling have been done on the property. Kerr Addison vice-president (exploration) David Lowrie said one hole returned a value of 0.14 oz per ton over 10 ft, while others returned values in the 0.1 oz range.

Battle Mountain executives recently told The Northern Miner that the company, which trades on the tse, is planning to open a Canadian office. With one producing mine in the United States, the company continues to explore properties in that country plus in Australia and New Guinea.

At its Fortitute mine in Nevada, Battle Mountain produced 259,000 oz gold and 969,000 oz silver in 1986. Total production costs last year for gold worked out to $172(US) per oz. One of its properties in Australia, the Pajingo, is set to go into production during the fall of this year, with an estimated annual production rate of 60,000 oz gold. Also, a second deposit at Fortitute, the Surprise mine, is slated to go into production in 1988, with an annual gold production rate of 15,000-18,000 oz.

Battle Mountain reported net earnings in 1986 of $27 million.

Kerr Addison, whose beginnings go back to 1936 and whose interests today include oil and gas, last year completed the acquisition of approximately 50% of Minnova Inc. (formerly Corporation Falconbridge Copper), inheriting two key projects in the deal.

The first is the high grade Winston Lake zinc property near Schreiber, Ont., which is expected to reach full capacity during the second quarter of 1988. The second is the high grade Ansil copper project in the Lac Dufault camp near Rouyn-Noranda, Que., for which a production decision is expected later this year.

Kerr Addison recorded a net income in 1986 of $5.1 million, thanks in large part to a substantial gain on disposal of investments and other assets.