Queries Kaaba to heap leach in California

When I last wrote to you in the summer of 1985, you seemed unaware of Skyline Explorations, which was trading on the Vancouver Stock Exchange at 85 cents .

Since you haven’t published any news of Kaaba Resources and Alawas Gold, I am wondering if you have missed the boat once again. Both companies have been releasing some very encouraging information lately.

Because their property is in such close proximity to three producing heap leach mines in Southern California, I can’t understand how Kaaba and Alawas could have escaped your attention. K. Brioch, Edmonton, Alta.

Although we haven’t published anything on Kaaba Resources since l983, the company has recently been involved in a joint venture in Christie Gold’s Picacho Peak gold project in Imperial Cty., Calif.

In late l985, Kaaba and Alawas Gold of Vancouver signed a limited partnership agreement with Christie Gold which gives the former companies a 50% interest in the 1,600-acre property.

Kaaba is currently preparing a 10,000-ton heap leach operation in the northernmost target area.

The property is bordered to the south, by Glamis Gold’s historic Picacho heap leach mine which produced 28,000 oz of gold in l985, at a cost of $125 per oz. Reserves at the Picacho mine stand at 9.7 million tons averaging 0.044 oz gold per ton.

Gold Field Mining’s Mesquite (heap leach) gold project is also located close by. The Mesquite project consists of over 6,000 claims surrounding Kaaba’s holdings, and is expected to reach production this year.

On March 12, Kaaba began the second stage of a drill program on the Picacho Peaks property. Assay results from stage I of the 20,000-ft program indicated gold values as high as 0.072 oz. According to the company’s recent press release, that is over eight times the break-even level of 0.008 oz reported by Glamis.

The second stage of drilling is designed to block out tonnage in preparation for heap leach testing. If results continue to be favorable, Kaaba says a feasibility study will follow.

Kaaba’s other interests include a 30-year lease on five patented mineral claims and one millsite claim which comprises the Ruby Silver mine. Located near Oroville, Wash., the property is the site of a former high grade silver mining operation.

Underground sampling by Kaaba in 1983 and 1984 produced values ranging from 31.3 oz to 190 oz silver per ton with an average of 91.9 oz. The company plans to spend $200,000 on the property to complete surface geological work and to continue underground development.

On March 16, Kaaba was scheduled to start trading on the Over The Counter (otc) in the U.S. and to be quoted in the pink sheets.