Two new zones of gold mineralization have been discovered on the Golden Bear property in northwestern British Columbia. This marks the third find announced by North American Metals (VSE) and Wheaton River Minerals (TSE) in the past 10 months.
Wheaton River owns 81.4% of North American Metals, which in turn owns and operates the Golden Bear mine.
The new discoveries were made at Kodiak North, about 800 metres north of the Kokiak A open pit.
On one zone, two trenches about 50 metres apart returned 11 metres grading 3.8 grams gold per tonne and 5 metres grading 2.1 grams. The mineralization is coincident with a very-low-frequency anomaly traced for 600 metres. The other discovery was exposed in one trench, which graded 4.2 grams across 8 metres.
About 15 more trenches are planned, with drilling set to begin in September. During the first half of this year, Golden Bear turned out 24,611 oz. gold from 59,450 tonnes averaging 13.9 grams. Production from the Main Bear deposit will cease this month, with production from the Kodiak A deposit scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter. Open-pit mining and heap leaching are planned.
Drilling has increased the mining reserve in the Kodiak A deposit to 473,000 tonnes grading 4.6 grams (diluted) — an 18% increase over previously reported reserves.
The 1994 plan calls for 325,000 tonnes to be mined and leached from this deposit in the first phase, with the remaining 148,000 tonnes incorporated into the 1995 leach program.
Exploration is continuing elsewhere on the property. In October, a 6,500-metre program of underground drilling will test the Grizzly zone, which lies 400 metres below the Main Bear deposit. The decline into this zone has progressed beyond the halfway point to 470 metres. A mining plan is expected to be implemented in 1995.
Drilling is also planned for the Bandit property, 5 km south of Golden Bear, where a zone of gold mineralization has been identified.
Wheaton River, through 54%-owned subsidiary YGC Resources (VSE), is also working to resume gold production at the Ketza River mine in the Yukon. This month, a $600,000 drill program will begin testing targets in an effort to increase reserves.
Wheaton posted net earnings of $1.2 million in the first half of 1994, compared with a loss of $47,861 in the same period a year earlier.
Be the first to comment on "Discoveries at Golden Bear"