Pamorex drill results revive interest in Upper Beaver mine

Some innovative geological thinking has been used to define a new, interesting-looking drill target beneath the underground workings of the old Upper Beaver mine property, near Kirkland Lake, Ont.

Pamorex Minerals (TSE), which has optioned the Gauthier Twp. property from Queenston Mining (TSE), recently intersected 38-ft. of grade 0.25 oz. gold per ton while drilling six holes from surface. Pamorex Minerals must spend $1.75 million on exploration by late 1991 to earn a 51% project interest.

According to Pamorex senior geologist Jacques Houle, the intersection in hole 89-4 is significant because it was discovered 1,700 ft. below surface in a different type of geological system to the one that supported the old mine.

All of the 125,000 oz. gold and 11 million lb. copper mined from the property from 1920 to 1971 occurred in narrow veins within mafic volcanics and syenite.

By contrast, mineralization within hole 89-4 occurs in a felsic volcanic unit 450 ft. below the mine’s deepest level, Houle told The Northern Miner. “We could be looking at something much wider and more amenable to bulk mining methods than the Upper Beaver vein system,” he said. “For us that is very exciting.”

Historically, the Upper Beaver was regarded essentially as a satellite of Queenston’s former Upper Canada gold mine three miles further north. The Gauthier Twp. property contains a 500-ft. shaft, a winze to a depth of 1,250 ft. and development on 10 levels. When asked why Pamorex elected to sink a deep hole as part of the recent program, Houle replied: “If you look at most of the gold mines in the Kirkland Lake camp, the Upper Beaver was shallower than most of the others.”

“This could turn into a sizable deposit,” added Queenston Vice- President Charlie Page. “On the other hand, it could be a 1-hole wonder.”

Of four other surface holes drilled to test a number of targets on the property, two missed and two yielded economic intersections in an area 3,000 ft. north of the mine shaft. The latter two holes were designed to bracket an old hole that returned 0.17 oz. gold across 8.8 ft. in 1967. Hole 89-1 returned 10.5 ft. of grade 0.26 oz. gold and 0.49% copper between 431 ft. and 441.5 ft. Hole 89-2 intersected 8.2 ft. of grade 0.12 oz. gold and 0.51 copper from 388.8-397 ft.

When exploration resumes in late February, Pamorex will do more drilling around hole 89-4. But Houle says a precise game plan has yet to be worked out.