MINING IN CANADA — Foran forges ahead in Flin Flon belt

With a land package worthy of a major, Vancouver-based Foran Mining (FOM-V) is scouring the Flin Flon, Man., area in search of volcanogenic massive sulphides.

The company has amassed what could be the third-largest land position in the Flin Flon greenstone belt. “It’s probably my favorite place in Canada,” says the company’s vice president of exploration, Steve Masson.

A veteran of Costa Rican and Venezuelan exploration, Masson is pleased to be working in a country where exploring for and developing mineral deposits is relatively free of the unpleasant surprises one can get in many developing countries. For example, he says, “There are no title problems in Manitoba; you know where you stand.”

Working for Foran in Manitoba, he’s content to use his experience in Latin American searching for massive sulphide deposits “where the people actually like mining,” he says.

Geologically, too, he prefers working in the mafic-to-ultramafic, primitive arc assemblages of the Flin Flon greenstone belt because of their association with larger-tonnage massive sulphide deposits, such as the historic mines of Flin Flon, as well as Ontario’s Kidd Creek and Timmins-area mines.

Foran has nearly 9,000 ha in what is known as the Four Mile assemblage, a relatively underexplored package of these primitive rocks situated 30 km west of Snow Lake.

Since January, Foran has amassed several properties in the area, including the Morton Lake and Sewell Lake properties. It is also putting the final touches on acquiring three more claim blocks in the same area: the Dickstone mine property and the Rail and Road properties.

In the coming summer, work at Morton and Sewell Lake will entail extensive field mapping and the employment of a proprietary geophysical method developed by Hudson Bay Exploration & Development that can define electromagnetic targets to a depth of 300 metres.

The company plans to drill any identified targets once winter sets in.

Further to the west, Foran is working on the Thompson Bay project, which covers one of a group of claim blocks that cover a total of 10,000 ha in the western part of the Flin Flon greenstone belt; the others blocks are Kisseynew, Nek, Weldon and Big Island.

Foran had difficulty drilling at Thompson Bay last winter because of the unseasonably mild weather. The ice covering the lakes wasn’t thick enough, Masson says. The company plans to try again to test the three known targets.

The property already contains two known parallel zones of massive sulphides.

Foran also plans mapping, geophysics and drilling at Big Island, 10 km east of Flin Flon. In the meantime, the company is waiting for final approval of the acquisition from the Vancouver Stock Exchange.

Big Island contains a resource of 200,000 tonnes grading 12% zinc, 0.5% copper and up to 10 grams gold per tonne. Foran hopes that exploration can expand the resource.

Mapping will continue at the Kisseynew properties, though not at the fevered pace of last year. “We spent the whole summer mapping last year,” Masson says. “We may only map half the summer this time.”

Foran is already seeing the results of last year’s work. Drilling at Kisseynew during the winter encountered a copper-zinc horizon 0.5 to 1.3 metres in width and more than 800 metres in length. Assays returned up to 1.5% copper, 12% zinc and 1 gram gold per tonne over the interval.

Additional assays are pending.

The company also plans to drill the Dickstone mine and Rail properties this year.

In all, the company controls nearly 20,000 ha in the Flin Flon greenstone belt, where Masson believes there is potential to locate a deposit of between 10 and 60 million tonnes. Foran has budgeted a total of $1.5 million for the year’s exploration.

But, while this is enough to keep any junior mining company busy, Foran plans to complete another sizable acquisition in Saskatchewan in the next few weeks. At presstime, no details had been released.