Fairfield plans more drilling for Siwash gold property

Exploration work will attempt to increase reserves in three target areas on the Siwash property near Merritt, B.C.

Owner Fairfield Minerals (TSE) will spend $1.2 million on the property this year and plans a 20,000-ft. program of diamond drilling over 45 holes. The program is scheduled to begin in May.

The deposit was last estimated to contain more than 100,000 oz. gold. The figure breaks down to an open-pit resource of 12,500 tons grading 1.72 oz. gold, a diluted underground resource of 22,300 tons grading 0.78 oz. gold, plus a further possible underground resource of 99,000 tons grading 0.69 oz. gold.

Fairfield had been investigating the possibility of mining the open-pit resource this year and selling the ore to Asarco’s (NYSE) Montana smelter.

The main target in Fairfield’s planned program is the untested vein extension below the existing underground development.

The company also plans to conduct infill drilling, to confirm and expand the resource in the open-pit zone.

The third target area is 2,000 ft. along strike from the existing pit, on the eastern projection of the Siwash vein. Drilling will include several widely spaced holes to test for near-surface mineralization below a gold-in-soils anomaly.

The company also has a 2,300-ton stockpile of ore on surface which contains about 8,400 oz. gold with a realizable value of more than $3.5 million.

Open-pit mining from 1992 to 1994 netted Fairfield 47,000 oz. gold plus another 3,750 oz. from underground test mining in 1994. Grades for both the open-pit and underground operations average more than 2 oz. gold.

Fairfield is in good shape for the planned exploration program, with no debt, about $4 million in working capital (not including the ore stockpile), and 7.7 million shares outstanding on a fully diluted basis.