Getty, Davidson to produce from diminished reserves

A production decision has been made for the Tisdale property north of Timmins, Ont. Equal partners Getty Resources and Davidson Tisdale Mines say that production, at a rate of 200 tons per day, is scheduled to begin next month.

However, the mineable reserves has been drastically reduced to 55,000 tons grading 0.23 oz gold per ton. In 1986 Getty calculated reserves, in all categories, of 823,850 tons grading 0.36 oz. During the past year, these reserves were downgraded several times, ending finally with the 55,000-ton figure. At this level, the mine will yield approximately 12,000 oz of gold next year — far off the 40,000 oz-per-year target objective established in 1986.

“The structure is just too complex,” J. A. Macdonald, vice-president exploration at Getty, explained to The Northern Miner. As a result, the partners encountered problems with establishing grade continuity within the various quartz vein zones.

The big downsizing in reserves comes as no surprise. During the past year, Getty has noted its disappointment in exploration results coming from the property. Davidson Tisdale shareholders have also voiced their concerns at company meetings during the year.

Although the large reduction in reserves and potential gold output from the project will be far off projections made last year, both partners are hoping that ongoing exploration in the S zone, located south of the main zone area, will add reserves to the project. Any success in the S zone will enable the operation to continue into 1989.

Milling will be on a custom basis at Giant Yellowknife Mines’ gomill facility in Timmins. As the necessary mine infrastructure is in place, no additional capital costs are required to place the property in production.