Ateba major player in Beardmore camp

Reactivated under well-known mining engineer Peter Howe, Alberta-listed Ateba Mines is making its mark in the Beardmore camp of Ontario, having optioned or acquired in that camp about 20 km of contiguous strike length of high potential greenstone belt.

Early this year the company signed an agreement with a private company called Norben Gold Resources to acquire all of the outstanding 2.5 million common shares of Norben in exchange for 1.25 million Ateba common shares plus 1.5% net profits interest in the properties being retained by the principals of Norben, Stephen J. Wilkinson, Norben president and general manager of Ateba, tells The Northern Miner.

Norben, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ateba, has negotiated agreements with Pancontinental Mining and the Pan Empire joint venture of the Pan Empire property.

Under the terms of the agreement Norben may earn a 75% interest through exploration expenditures of $1 million.

The Pan Empire property is made up of 69 mining leases and claims and hosts the former producing Northern Empire mine which operated from 1934 to 1941 during which time it produced 160,000 oz of gold from 435,000 tons of mill feed. Northern Empire mine

So far, Ateba has completed 2,225-m of drilling on the property. The initial program was in the area 0.5 km east of the Northern Empire shaft to test an extension of the Power Vein horizon from which the old mine had produced nearly all of its ore.

However, when the results were compiled, it was discovered that the main mineralized unit was not the Power vein but a new, parallel zone, says Mr Wilkinson.

This new body, the Contact vein zone, consists of stratabound sulphide mineralization in iron formation with much greater and more persistant widths than the Power vein but with a similar over-all grade.

About 4,300-m of drilling has been completed on the Contact zone so far and the zone is believed to contain a possible mineral inventory of 111,000 tons of 9.56 g gold per tonne, uncut, says Mr Wilkinson.

The mineralization has a defined strike length of 175 m with an average width of 2.7 m, and has been found to continue to a depth of 250 m. However, the zone is still open to depth and to the west and will be drilled again this month.

Norben has also obtained the interest of Hanna Mines in the Pan Empire joint venture. This interest, 45% of the joint venture, was purchased by an agreement for $250,000 and 500,000 common shares of Ateba. The purchase enables Ateba to earn an aggregate of 86.25% of the Pan Empire property.

Also included in the Norben package are agreements for two additional claim groups, the TMCL option and the Kondrat claim, adjoining the Pan Empire group to the east. These properties, plus two additional claims staked by Norben, give Ateba the right to earn up to 100% interest in another 114 claims through spending in excess of $1.5 million in exploration work and option payments over the next five years.

Last month Ateba was drilling on the TMCL option to test the lateral and depth potential of geophysical anomalies associated with the Delbridge zone. The Delbridge, like the new Contact mineralization, contains stratabound gold- sulphide enriched iron formation zones and has been traced across more than 1.5 km of strike length. More than 1,500 m of drilling has shown that the mineralization exists for most of the area tested but assays have not yet returned any conclusive results, says Mr Wilkinson. Funding

Regarding financing, Ateba has during the last few weeks concluded several deals. About $3.1 million in flow-through financing has been arranged for this year by placements with two major funds: MVP Exploration and NIM Managment.

Ateba had also arranged earlier in the year for a private placement with New Zealand Goldfields for non-flow-through money totalling $1.125 million for 2.5 million common shares.

Payment of the funds is being made in two instalments with $625,000 now in place and the remainder due on April 1. Mill and ore-sorter

Through its purchase of Norben, Ateba now has use of the Northern Empire 200-ton-per-day mill on a rent-free basis for the next two years. The mill can accommodate custom milling, says Mr Wilkinson.

Norben plans to move a mobile ore sorter plant on the Northern Empire property in late spring. The unit can preconcentrate existing rock dumps (or run-of-mine ore) by a ratio of 4:1 or 5:1.

Ateba has the right to process the 165,000 tons of rock dump grading 0.065 oz gold per ton of mine dump material of the Northern Empire mine as well as an option on the approximately 135,000 tons grading 0.04 rock dump material of Quebec Sturgeon. Roxmark deal

Ateba also has an agreement with Toronto-listed Roxmark Mines. So far, Ateba has purchased about 1.1 million Roxmark common shares. With shareholders approval, Ateba will obtain options for 715,961 common shares for 20 cents per share for a total of 12% of Roxmark’s capital.

At the moment, Roxmark is awaiting assay results on the 10,300- ft drilling program on its Magnet mine property in the Geraldton area.

Ateba can earn a 60% interest in the Magnet mine by spending $1.5 million on exploration. The mine now boasts a mineral inventory in all categories of about 725,000 tonnes grading 6.16 g gold per tonne.

Mr Wilkinson says surface and underground exploration should confirm much of the grades and tonnages currently known to exist and to define some possible new areas of mineralization previously encountered in drilling projects.