High River hits wide Snow Lake intercept

High River Gold Mines (TSE) has encountered significant gold mineralization on its Dunlop Snow Lake property in Manitoba.

Hole HR-93-03, drilled to test the updip portion of the Birch zone at the 200-ft. level, intersected 0.23 oz. gold per ton over 54.6 ft. A second hole, HR-93-04, situated 200 ft. to the west, cut 16.4 ft. of 0.525 oz. gold at the 127-ft. level.

High River President David Mosher said these are important intersections since the Birch zone was originally thought to pinch out above a vertical depth of 300 ft.

The intersections, part of a shallow surface drill program, are described as being strongly silicified with quartz veining and arsenopyrite. This style of mineralization is similar to that seen elsewhere in the Snow Lake camp. The Dunlop property, which was optioned in September, is next to High River’s Snow Lake deposit.

In the early to mid-1980s, two gold zones were discovered on the Dunlop property: Birch and No. 3. Drill-indicated reserves at the former were estimated at 261,000 tons grading 0.24 oz. gold between 300 and 500 ft. below surface, while reserves at No. 3 were calculated to be 558,000 tons at 0.28 oz. gold. Eleven other mineralized zones are present.

The shallow program follows on the heels of a deep drilling campaign at High River’s Snow Lake deposit (formerly the Nor-Acme mine). In the late 1980s, Inco spent $6 million exploring the deposit and successfully outlined 4.2 million tons at 0.19 oz. gold in five zones.

In November, High River drilled two holes to test for deep extensions of the Dick zone, where a previous hole had cut 0.304 oz. gold over 33 ft. at a depth of about 3,200 ft.

Hole NA9302-3 was drilled to a depth of 3,817 ft. but missed the zone. However, two narrow, mineralized zones with disseminated arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite were intersected, the best result being 0.327 oz. over 3.7 ft. The second hole, NA9302-0, hit the Dick zone at a depth of 4049 ft. Although the hole contained only 0.035 oz. gold across 50 ft., the mineralization and alteration were similar to those intersected at shallower depths. Following a review of the deep drilling program, the company decided to focus its efforts on the Dunlop property and some of its other holdings in the area, including a 17-claim package optioned from Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting (TSE) in November.

Mosher told The Northern Miner that the company’s goal is to locate additional, near-surface, open-pit reserves to complement underground ore at the Snow Lake deposit above the 1,500-ft. level and provide early mill-feed for a central mill. “Our objective is to establish reserves at Snow Lake leading to production of better than 100,000 oz. gold annually over a 20-year period,” Mosher said.

In the short term, the company plans to continue drill-testing other near-surface targets on the Dunlop and Hudson Bay options. Longer-term plans call for feasibility and mill design studies on the Snow Lake properties, with production scheduled for early 1996.

Financing is being arranged as exploration and development programs proceed, and the schedule could be accelerated should third-party financing become available through a joint venture, Mosher explained.

Several majors have apparently shown an interest in the project, including TVX Gold (TSE), which holds a 32%

equity interest in High River. “At this point, we’re considering several proposals, but we don’t want to see the project put into inventory,” Mosher said, referring to a period of inactivity under the previous Inco option.