Inmet looks for gold-rich polymetallics in Urban

International miner Inmet Mining (INM-T) is investigating the Barry-Urban gold belt northeast of Val d’Or, Que., as a potential source of gold-rich massive sulphides.

The senior base metal producer recently optioned three separate properties in the area from juniors Alto Minerals (ATO-V), Freewest Resources (FWR-M), Murgor Resources (MUG-M) and Noront Resources (NOT-V).

The belt has the potential to host gold-rich massive sulphide deposits like those that make up the Bousquet mine between Val d’Or and Noranda, Que., says Gerald Riverin, Inmet’s general manager of exploration for North America.

He says that although the general area has undergone extensive exploration historically, it is only in the past three years that logging has opened up some of the mineralized zones for exploration.

“The area had an access problem and an outcrop problem in the past,” he says. “But logging is opening new roads and uncovering rocks everyday.” Murgor launched the latest rush to the area in 1994, when it uncovered grades of up to 14.4 grams per tonne over respectable widths in trenches on its property in Quebec’s Barry Twp.

Subsequent drilling revealed several separate, gold-bearing structures, and in mid-1997 Teck (TEK-T) took an option on the Barry property, which it subsequently dropped.

Meanwhile, Inmet is stepping in as the main senior in the area under the following agreements:

In Urban Twp., Inmet is spending $1.2 million on exploration over three years and paying $400,000 to earn a 51% interest in the Windfall Lake project from Alto and Noront. The senior can increase its interest to 60% by spending $1.1 million more on exploration and paying an additional $400,000.

Directly south of Windfall, Inmet is paying $150,000 and spending $750,000 on exploration to earn a 51% interest in the Alcane project from Alto. The senior can increase its interest to 60% by making additional cash payments and exploration expenditures of $100,000 and $650,000, respectively.

About 10 km northeast of Murgor’s Barry Twp. property, the senior can earn a half-interest in 50 claims from Murgor and Freewest by paying $190,000 and spending $350,000 on exploration over three years. To earn an additional 14% interest in the Windfall-Urban claims, Inmet must make further exploration expenditures of $650,000 and option payments of $110,000. Murgor and Freewest will also be entitled to the first 2,000 oz. gold should Inmet take a bulk sample from the property.

The type of the mineralization found in the region appears to be similar to that of the Bousquet area (that is, gold values associated with disseminated to semi-massive sulphides within highly sheared and altered volcanics).

Rhyolite horizons similar to those associated with producing massive sulphide deposits also occur.

So far, exploration results have been encouraging. For example, an 11-hole program recently completed on the Windfall project returned significant gold values in all holes, with the highest value being an uncut 35 grams per tonne over 9.5 metres. The current program consists of one deep hole, which will subsequently be used as a base for downhole geophysics, and one shallow hole.

Inmet intends to probe the area with deep penetrating electromagnetics in order to outline potential massive sulphide bodies, before launching a drill program.

Any major discoveries in Quebec could benefit Inmet’s troubled Troilus gold-copper mine in the nearby Chibougamau camp. Production at the 100%-owned open-pit mine began in early 1997. However, the mine did not live up to original expectations owing to higher-than-expected dilution, which resulted in lower gold grades than envisioned in the feasibility study.