EXPLORATION ’87 DOME

The Dome Mines Group’s basic mineral exploration budget for 1987 will be $14.2 million, compared to about $13 million in 1986. The group will contribute an additional $700,000 to a proposed $2-million surface drilling program on the Musselwhite property, at Opapimiskan Lake.

The group’s exploration program in Canada is managed by Dome Exploration (Canada) and funded, in varying proportions, by Dome, Campbell Red Lake Mines and Sigma Mines. In the U.S., exploration is carried out by Dome Exploration (U.S.), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Campbell. In 1987, contributions to the basic budget will be approximately: $4.1 million (Dome Mines); $6.6 million (Campbell); and $3.5 million (Sigma). About 80% of the group’s budget will be spent in Canada and the remainder in the western U.S. Of Canadian expenditures, about 85% will be spent in the Shield areas of Ontario and Quebec (where 42 projects will be worked on) and 15% in other parts of the country, chiefly in British Columbia. The 20% budget portion to be spent by Dome Exploration (U.S.), financed entirely by Campbell, will be devoted to the exploration of eight projects, most of which are in Nevada, as well as to a continuing participation in the Cordex Syndicate.

At Dona Lake, six miles southeast of Pickle Lake, surface exploration on several portions of the 344-claim property will continue under the supervision of Gary Cohoon. On the Dona Lake deposit itself, a production feasibility study is nearly complete. Elsewhere in the Pickle Lake region, drilling will be carried out on several other properties where preliminary exploration, now complete, has outlined several intriguing targets.

In the Red Lake region, major drilling programs are scheduled on at least four properties. In the Porcupine area, further drilling will be carried out on the Algoma-Talisman property which involves 25 sq mi in the townships of Coppell and Newton, at the eastern end of the Swayze Belt. Drilling will also be carried out on several properties in the general Porcupine area — including, among others, the optioned property of Melrose Resources.

In northwestern Quebec major drilling programs will be carried out on at least four projects in the immediate Val d’Or area where Sigma has 11 exploration projects covering 10,000 acres. One of the larger proposed programs will be on the Wesdome property (70% Sigma, 30% Western Quebec Mines), immediately north of Kiena. Drilling will continue on the Vior property in the Ligneris area, 70 miles northwest of Val d’Or where, to the end of 1986, about $2.4 million has been spent. Several other properties in the Vior area are scheduled for drilling this year.

Also in northwestern Quebec, the Dome Group will continue to maintain its working interest, with the Inco/Golden Knight joint venture, on certain Dome claims between Golden Pond and Golden Pond East, in the Casa Berardi area.

Several drilling programs will be carried out in various parts of British Columbia. The most extensive of these will be on the Quesnel River property where, in early 1986, a hole drilled midway between the Main qr deposit and the West zone encountered a mineralized intersection grading 0.30 oz gold per ton over a core length of 49 ft. Subsequent step-out drilling in late 1986 encountered several nearby intersections of interest and a further drilling program in 1987 will attempt to evaluate this new zone more fully.

Dome Exploration has a geological staff of 16 and has three field exploration offices. Operations in the U.S. are carried out under the supervision of Ed Rugg, manager of Dome Exploration (U.S.), with offices in Sparks, Nev. In Canada, the Timmins field office is headed up by Bill Kerr; and the Red Lake field office by Paul Burchell. The chief geologist of Dome Exploration (Canada) is Lorne Halladay who works out of the Toronto head office. As in previous years the group’s activities in northwestern Quebec are carried out under the direction of Andre Audet, Sigma’s chief geologist, working out of Sigma’s Val d’Or office. Overall direction of the exploration activities is the responsibility of G. S. Bruce, exploration vice-president of each of the companies in the Dome Mines Group.