Plus a change: a trip down memory lane with Frank Callaghan’s International Wayside at Cariboo

With all the hullabaloo swirling around Barkerville Gold Mines (BGM-V) and the new resource estimate for its Cow Mountain gold deposit in central B.C. that has led to a trading halt imposed on the stock by the B.C. Securities Commission (T.N.M., Aug. 27–Sept. 2/12), it may be instructive for our newer readers to take a look at a few of the stories we ran about the project in 2000.

Back then, Barkerville was named International Wayside Gold Mines (the name was changed to Barkerville in January 2010), and current Barkerville president and CEO Frank Callaghan was International Wayside’s president and CEO.

Here are some highlights from our archives:
1. “Wayside faces quality concerns” (T.N.M., May 8, 2000)

www.northernminer.com/news/wayside-faces-quality-concerns/1000103733/

As its drill program continues to cut bonanza-grade gold values over considerable widths, International Wayside Gold Mines (IWA-V) has hired an independent geological consulting firm to verify the presence, location and grade of a newly discovered mineralized zone on its Cariboo property in north-central B.C.

The new program, to be carried out by Vancouver-based Panterra Geoservices, will include a format for logging and sampling drill core, as well as petrographic studies and resampling of several mineralized intervals.

The firm was hired after mining analysts expressed concern over the method of core sampling used and the general lack of security for core waiting to be logged. Especially worrisome was the whole-core analysis of portions of reportedly mineralized intervals.

. . .

2. “High-flying International Wayside grounded by regulators” (T.N.M., May 22, 2000)

www.northernminer.com/news/high-flying-international-wayside-grounded-by-regulators/1000144897/

After gaining 61¢ in a single day to close at $2.04 on the trading of almost 2 million shares, International Wayside Gold Mines (IWA-V) was slapped with a cease-trade order on the morning of May 11 pending clarification of its affairs.

The junior has been in the spotlight following the recent discovery of a previously unrecognized style of bonanza gold mineralization in the footwall of the BC vein at its Cariboo property, near Wells in north-central B.C. On the street, speculation about a possible merger with a major began to spread.

Surveillance officers of the Canadian Venture Exchange (CDNX) did not give an explanation for the trading halt, and they did not say when trading might resume. However, in an interview with the Vancouver Sun, Wayside President Frank Callaghan indicated that trading was halted because the exchange wanted an explanation for the sharp increase in the stock price. He also said the exchange wanted independent verification of the company’s resource calculation of 1 million oz. in an open-pit target covering the Pinkerton, Sanders and Rainbow areas of the historic Cariboo Gold Quartz mine on the flank of Cow Mountain.

Wayside has submitted a conceptual plan to the B.C. Environment Assessment Office outlining the proposed development of a 3,000-tonne-per-day open-pit and underground mine.

. . .

3. “Independent evaluation calls Wayside estimates into question” (T.N.M., June 12, 2000)

www.northernminer.com/news/independent-evaluation-calls-wayside-estimates-into-question/1000103857/

An independent evaluation of a potential bulk-tonnage target in the Cow Mountain area of the Cariboo gold property, near Wells, B.C., not only concludes that the mineral inventory is about half as large as previously reported by International Wayside Gold Mines (IWA-V) — it also raises questions about the validity of using data from surface and underground percussion drilling, a less-than-reliable sampling technique for gold deposits.

At the request of the Canadian Venture Exchange, International Wayside brought in consultant Ronald Simpson, president of GeoSim Services, to audit, at arm’s-length, an in-house “measured, indicated and inferred” resource calculation of 1.1 million oz. Wayside had used the estimate to promote its Cariboo property.

The earlier uncut estimate of 10.1 million tonnes grading 3.36 grams gold per tonne had been prepared in January 1999 by an individual who was, at the time, a shareholder of Wayside.

The resource estimate was lowered to 9.3 million tonnes grading 2.33 grams, equivalent to 693,000 contained oz., by cutting higher-grade assays to 17.1 grams. The resource is contained in an open-pit target covering the Sanders, Pinkerton and Rainbow zones of the historic Cariboo Gold Quartz mine on Cow Mountain.

In April of this year, Wayside announced it had submitted a conceptual plan to the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office outlining the proposed development of a 3,000-tonne-per-day combined open-pit and underground mine on the basis of its early resource work.

The company’s most recent press release, dated June 2, acknowledges that the “disclosure of earlier estimates by the company was inappropriate, and the estimates should not be relied upon, since they were calculated by in-house personnel who are not independent of the company.”

. . .

4. “Editorial: A system at work — International Wayside affair a sign of hope” (T.N.M., June 19, 2000)

www.northernminer.com/news/a-system-at-work/1000104115/
Market-watchers disillusioned by the scams of the late 1990s had a little light shine on their faces as the Canadian Venture Exchange used its regulatory power to fix a situation that plainly needed fixing: the market speculation surrounding International Wayside Gold Mines and its Cariboo gold property near Wells, B.C.

The CDNX halted trading in International Wayside when concerns were raised over the exploration methodology being used at the property. Wayside remains halted, while the exchange reviews reports by independent consultants.

There is no dispute about the exchange’s warrant to halt trading in a listed company’s stock. That is a clear policy that every company knows long in advance. Exchanges exist to provide a transparent market, and the power to hold up a hand and shout “stop” is their principal tool in maintaining transparency.

Wayside was evaluating known gold occurrences at Cariboo, and drilled into the footwall of a known gold vein, the BC vein. Phyllite rocks in the footwall showed gold values up to 22 grams per tonne. Here was a style of mineralization unlike the veins and replacements the property was known for, offering the promise that a new gold zone might be discovered. The stock bounded from 60¢ to the $2 range on the news.

Some visitors to the property felt a cold hand on their necks, though, when they found out Wayside had sent whole cores out for assay. Some recalled an Indonesian project, where that had been a red flag for fraud, and made unflattering comparisons. It was reasonable comment: splitting core is recognized by all Canadian exchanges as an essential part of quality control in exploration — either explicitly, as in the MSTF report, or implicitly, as in the former Vancouver Stock Exchange’s Mining Standards Guidelines.

. . .

5. “International Wayside still in the doghouse” (T.N.M., June 19, 2000)
www.northernminer.com/news/international-wayside-still-in-the-doghouse/1000165250/

. . .Shares of International Wayside Gold Mines remain halted. The CDNX says it has been in contact with the company on a regular basis since the initiation of the trading halt May 11, and has extensively discussed the nature of issues with the company, and concerns identified by the exchange.

Unresolved issues include the company’s projections of economic viability of its current inferred resource at the C
ariboo gold project in B.C., the mining expertise of management and the company’s investor relations and disclosure practices. The exchange is awaiting a status report from Wayside on the implementation of corrective measures.