Partners Cameco and Shore Gold Fund (ASE) have begun a $357,000 surface and underground exploration program at their Jasper gold mine in northern Saskatchewan. The high-grade mine entered production in April, and as of September had milled a total of 43,222 tons with an average grade of 0.51 oz. gold per ton.
“The grade of mill feed and mill recovery are significantly better than we anticipated,” said James Engdahl, president of Shore Gold. According to Engdahl, stockpiled and minable ore reserves for Jasper currently stand at 111,302 tons grading 0.48 oz.
The new exploration program is designed to probe for more reserves at depth and down-plunge from the mine’s two existing ore zones — the main and 1-04 zones.
The initial phase includes 12 holes to be drilled by the end of October; four of them will delineate the reserves where a previous hole intersected 0.91 oz. over 8.5 ft. The eight remaining holes will be drilled down-plunge from the main zone.
Engdahl said the objective of the program is to add new reserves and extend the operation of the mine beyond its anticipated 2-year life.
Outside the immediate mine area, a surface program of mapping, till sampling and outcrop stripping was also undertaken this year.
Be the first to comment on "Exploration begins at Jasper mine"