Nova Scotia govt. drilling on Coxheath’s Tangier mine

A 4,000-ft. drill program designed to test for extensions of a high grade zone at Coxheath Gold Holdings’ (TSE) Tangier gold mine in Nova Scotia got under way recently. Coxheath was forced to shut the mine down in May, 1989, because the company lacked the financing needed to develop more underground stopes and complete modifications to the mill grinding circuit.

Having granted Toronto-based Ainsley Financial Corp. the option to earn a 50% stake in the property for $2.5 million, Coxheath President Michael Riddell said he expects production to resume in January.

Meanwhile, on Coxheath’s behalf, the Nova Scotia Department of Mines is drilling four 1,000-ft. holes near the western limit of recent underground development. Drill crews will attempt to verify the structural evidence that high- grade oreshoots, identified on the 30th level before mining was halted, extend 620 ft. along strike.

A narrow vein (4-5 inches wide) on level 30 averaged 8.14 oz. gold per ton along a 200-ft. strike length. According to Riddell, the upper end of the high-grade zone begins at a depth of roughly 180 ft. below surface.

Proven and probable reserves on the property now stand at 144,000 tons of grade 0.29 oz. (cut) and 1.17 oz. gold (uncut).

“The program will also provide a detailed drill section across the vein mineralization recently opened up underground by Coxheath and permit an examination of the stratigraphic variation both downdip and along strike,” he said.

In addition, the program is expected to provide reliable samples for various geoscientific studies to be conducted by government scientists.