Nor-Acme seeks agreement on Snow Lake gold mine

Management of Nor-Acme Mines is hoping to complete an agreement between Nor-Acme and another company within “two to three months,” director David Mosher tells The Northern Miner. If successfully completed, the joint venture partner would provide funds for an underground exploration and development program designed to prove up and outline additional reserves at Nor-Acme’s Snow Lake gold mine, east of Flin Flon, Man.

Mr Mosher says a 2-year $5-million underground program, including shaft dewatering, drilling and crosscutting, is required to prove up reserves below the known mine workings. Reserves are calculated at 2.8 million tons grading 0.16 oz gold per ton in all categories.

These include 469,000 tons of proven material grading 0.16 oz gold per ton in the Toots zone between surface and a depth of 800 ft. Another 780,000 tons grading 0.16 oz occurs in various locations throughout the mine workings above the 1,780-ft level.

Potential reserves below 1,780 ft are estimated at 1.6 million tons of similar grading material. Capital costs required to place the mine into production at a rate of approximately 1,500 tons per day are estimated at $25 million, Mr Mosher says.

From 1948-1958 the Snow Lake mine milled 5.3 million tons of ore grading 0.15 oz. Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting, which optioned the property in 1980, terminated its option in 1986 after completing a deep drilling program which tested the mine below the 1,780-ft level.

A joint venture partner is also being sought for the company’s Sky claims, located adjacent to and north of the Snow Lake mine site. Drilling on the claims has outlined a grouping of three mineralized zones, known as the Boundary zone. Some of the better intersections include 47.7 ft grading 0.136 oz in the lower zone, 9.1 ft grading 0.128 oz in the middle zone and 20.9 ft grading 0.148 oz in the upper zone.