Eagle River soars to summer startup

Preproduction development is bringing the Eagle River gold deposit closer to production.

Situated some 50 km west of Wawa, Ont., the property is wholly owned by River Gold Mines (TSE). Gold production for 1995 is expected to total 15,000 oz., rising to 40,000 oz. in 1996 and subsequent years.

The deposit consists of a series of high-grade, vertically dipping quartz lenses, which extend over a strike length of 2.4 km and to known depths of 500 metres. At last report, diluted reserves in all categories stood at 816,689 tonnes grading 14.10 grams gold per tonne.

Mining will take place at the rate of 300 tonnes per day, with ore trucked to the nearby Magnacon mill for processing. High River says infrastructure development is proceeding rapidly and on budget, with the powerline to the mine scheduled for completion in late July. The mill is expected to begin processing development ore one month later.

Meanwhile, encouraging results are reported from ongoing preproduction development of the No. 8 and No. 6 zones. More than 13,746 tonnes grading 28.33 grams per tonne (or 8.83 grams cut to an arbitrary 1 oz.) have been mined to date.

River Gold President Conrad Hache says results are “exceeding expectations,” one highlight being the mining of 7,039 tonnes grading 29.46 grams (11.44 grams cut). This material was taken from the first stope of the No. 8 zone.

No less significant were results from the first drifting-in-ore, on the 120-metre level of the No. 6 zone. The drifting returned a 32-metre length grading 182.82 grams (12.49 grams cut) over an average width of 2.24 metres.

The last 22 metres of this drift are reported to average 236.51 grams, or 13.54 grams cut. River Gold notes that the high-grade quartz vein remains strong in the face, and a further 75 metres of drifting are planned.

Underground drilling, which is expected to exceed 25,000 metres, is under way in an effort to define stoping limits between depths of 100 and 200 metres.

This drilling will continue, as development opens access for diamond drilling, the objective being to maintain two years of well-defined reserves ahead of mining.