Kinross tests George Lake

Kinross Gold (K-T) has begun a 9,000-metre drill program at the George Lake gold project, 70 km south of Bathurst Inlet in Nunavut.

Kinross can earn a 70% interest in the property from Wheaton River Minerals (WRM-T), which recently acquired the project through its merger with Kit Resources. To earn its interest, the major must spend $20 million before Nov. 30, 2004. Of that amount, $2 million is to be spent by the end of 2000.

Since the discovery of the deposit in the early 1980s, Kit and previous operators have spent about $44 million on George Lake. The work entailed the drilling of more than 900 holes (184 of which were sunk by Kit in 1997, the year it purchased the project), resulting in the discovery of six gold deposits, each within 300 metres of surface, plus several encouraging prospects.

Combined indicated resources are pegged at 4.2 million tonnes grading 9.8 grams gold per tonne; another 2.2 million tonnes at 9.7 grams are classified as inferred. The resource was calculated by MRDI Canada using a cutoff grade of 5 grams and a cutting factor of 34.3 grams.

Gold mineralization is associated with iron formation similar to that exploited by Echo Bay Mines (ECO-T) at its Lupin mine, 100 metres to the west. Metallurgical tests indicate that between 93% and 95% of the gold can be recovered by conventional milling and carbon-in-pulp extraction. However, lack of infrastructure in the region and low gold prices have been major stumbling blocks to the project’s advancement to production.

Kinross will initially focus on the Goose Lake deposit, the largest of the six, aiming at possible strike and dip extensions. In 1997, Kit sank 14 holes in that deposit, nine of which returned the best intersections ever, including 24.6 grams over 2.3 metres and 13.5 grams over 24.2 metres.