Great Lakes Minerals (TSE), centring its efforts on Michigan’s famed Keweenaw copper district which has yielded more than 12 billion lb. of the red metal over the years, has restructured a previous agreement that will increase its interest in five known deposits there to 100%. In addition, it gets the right of first refusal on 200,000 acres of favorable stratigraphical ground.
Most advanced is the 543-S which has a well defined 1.28 million tons grading 4.41% copper on which a recently completed preliminary feasibility study recommends an underground development program.
This would be a low-cost trackless operation, President Nicholas Tintor told shareholders at the company’s first annual meeting. Mining and milling costs are estimated at $37-38 per ton. That translates to about 65 cents per lb. copper, he said.
The company is now seeking production money either directly or through a joint venture arrangement. Cost to build its own mill is estimated at $12 million. However, trucking to a custom mill is now being investigated, and Great Lakes has been offered an attractive rate of $4 per ton for any haul up to 100 miles.
Some further drilling is to be undertaken on the St. Louis property which hosts a preliminary reserve of eight million tons grading 0.8% copper amenable to open pit mining.
During the past year the company raised $1 million, $200,000 of which remains in the treasury. There are now 5.5 million shares outstanding, including 550,000 shares recently issued to a private Michigan firm to gain the 100% property interests.
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