Fate of the old Lake Shore awaits results of drilling

It doesn’t take more than a flip through the pages of Kirkland Lake history to realize what a venerable position the Lake Shore mine held in that famous gold camp.

One of the largest and richest mines in the country, the Lake Shore produced 8.5 million oz of gold during its 47 years of underground production from 1918 to 1965. In its heyday in the 1930s it enjoyed a millrate of 2,500 tons per day. At one point, the mine was ringing up $36,000 per day or $25 per minute. Its stock was selling as high as $64 per share and the company was paying out a handsome dividend of $6 per share.

A combination of difficult ground conditions and a low gold price led to the closure of the mine in 1965. But in the early 1980s, the old mine had some fresh life breathed into her when Lac Minerals decided to mine the crown pillar which hosted reserves of some 80,000 tons grading 0.5 oz gold per ton.

Since 1983 the crown pillar and secondary targets below that area have yielded 71,000 oz of gold.

What began as a project to recover the crown pillar grew into plans to explore the possibility of mining the ore deposits underground. Some $4 million was spent on rehabilitating, servicing and equipping the original No 5 shaft to the 3,950-ft level. As well, about 5,300 ft of new drifting, raise work and drift rehabilitation were completed in 1985.

This year, effective April 30, Lac is suspending underground mining and exploration at the mine. But the company is kicking into action a $2.5-million surface exploration drilling program in order to determine if further underground exploration work is warranted.

At this point, it’s too early to say the footage or the number of holes involved in the drilling program, says Belle Mulligan, vice-president investors relations with Lac. She cautions that the company will head underground only if the surface exploration results warrant.

Whether the deposit still has potential remains to be seen. The drilling program is getting under way now and the company expects to have a reasonable idea of what the next step will be by the third quarter of this year.