Analyst predicts 100,000 oz Silidor could be a major mine

The Silidor gold deposit, within the city limits of Rouyn-Noranda in northwestern Quebec, has been put at the top of Noranda’s list of probable mines.

Noranda Exploration President John Harvey says prefeasibility studies are being done and a production decision is due this year.

Raymond Goldie, a respected mining analyst with Richardson Greenshields in Toronto, says the deposit could be producing 100,000 oz of gold to Noranda’s account by 1989. That would rank it among the top three or four gold mines in Quebec, significantly surpassed only by the Doyon mine owned by Lac Minerals and Cambior.

The Silidor deposit straddles the Waite-Beauchastel property, 100% owned by Noranda, and the Ribago property owned 41% by Noranda, 34% by Cambior and 25% by Cogesco Mining Resources. Its projected strike would take the deposit onto the Capricorn property owned 60% by Marshall Minerals and 40% by Aiguebelle. While Cogesco believes the deposit is big — 5-6 million tons altogether to a depth of about 800 m — and is hoping to gain cash flow from the property this year as a result of bulk sampling, Cambior says Mr Goldie’s projections may be optimistic.

“I would think somebody got carried away somewhere,” says Jean Boissonnault, Cambior’s vice president of exploration.

Cambior, however, also puts the property at the top of its list of exploration projects says Mr Boissonault.

Even Noranda is cautious about possible production rates: “That, I think, is a little heavy,” says Clarence Logan, Noranda’s exploration manager for Eastern Canada when the 100,000 oz per year figure was suggested to him.

He calls the deposit “something that’s viable and mineable” and says 1989 “sounds like a good year” for production to begin.

Mr Logan points out that means of gaining access to the deposit are complicated by the fact that it straddles the two properties. He says it could mean that two shafts will be needed, one on Noranda’s wholly- owned property and one on the joint venture property.

“We haven’t been able to unitize the deposit,” he says, “but we’re working toward that. It makes a lot of sense to develop it as one operation but we may have to develop the two properties separately.”

On Noranda’s wholly-owned property Mr Logan estimates there is about three million tons of ore at an unspecified grade. From drilling to date The Northern Miner estimates that the grade should be comfortably over 0.2 oz per ton.

The deposit has been tested along strike to about 300 m from the Capricorn property. Noranda made a deal in early 1986 to take over Marshall Minerals’ 60% interest, but that deal has been disputed by Aiguebelle. Aiguebelle says it has the right of first refusal on Marshall’s interest.

A Quebec Superior Court decision on the dispute was made in favor of Noranda. Aiguebelle has appealed that decision to the Quebec Court of Appeal, but no date has been set for that appeal to be heard.

The down dip extension of the deposit has been traced onto the Don Rouyn property, immediately east of the Waite Beauchastel property which is also wholly-owned by Noranda.

Noranda has said that it is confident the upper portion of the deposit can be mined by open pit.