THE GLOBAL SEARCH FOR GOLD SPECIAL — Gold still favorite target in N.W. Ontario

Gold projects have always been the heart of mining in northwestern Ontario. Much of the work, naturally, centres around the highly productive Red Lake district, but the region swarms with volcanic belts that host small, past-producing mines and long-dormant showings.

The two big producers in the Red Lake camp — the Campbell and Red Lake mines — are both the focus of major expansion and exploration programs. Placer Dome (PDG-T) has been sinking a new, 1,870-metre shaft at the Campbell mine, which will open another 550 vertical metres for development and production. Meanwhile, next-door neighbor Goldcorp (G-T) continues to plan for development of higher-grade ore on the down-plunge extension of Campbell’s orebody, though its miners are currently on strike.

Development work is continuing at the Madsen mine, a former producer 10 km southwest of Red Lake, where Madsen Gold (MGF-T) is dewatering the old workings and blocking out new reserves. In the first six months of 1996, the program added 34,600 tonnes of new reserves grading 9.6 grams gold per tonne. Grades are bonanza-style, as is typical of the camp, with one recent hole cutting a 2.1-metre length grading 36 grams per tonne.

Mill construction at Madsen has started and production is scheduled for mid-1997.

Exploration is active through- out the Red Lake district, especially in the townships at the western end of the big lake. Battle Mountain Canada (BMC-T) is the largest land holder, but Placer Dome, Goldcorp and Madsen also have claims in the area.

Redbird Gold (RBD.A-A), which will be drilling its Bridget Lake property in Ball Twp., recently grab-sampled some surface showings that assayed from 1 gram up to 183 grams gold. The property had been dormant since the 1960s, when three drill holes encountered grades of 11-27 grams gold over narrow widths. Redbird has one other property in Ball Twp. and four in nearby Todd Twp.

East West Resources (EWR-V) has dealt an option on its Heyson Twp. property, southeast of the Madsen mine, to First Point Capital (FPO-A). First Point plans to conduct stream and lake sediment sampling, as well as soil surveys. In total, the company expects to spend $1 million on exploration over a 7-year period, which would earn it a 60% interest.

In the Birch Lake area, 100 km northeast of Red Lake, gold exploration traditionally has been driven by larger companies, though recent years have seen more involvement from the juniors. Roads to the southern parts of the belt are accessible year-round, and winter roads have proved reliable.

The area’s chief attraction is the Springpole Lake project of Santa Fe Pacific Gold (GLD-N) and Gold Canyon Resources (GCU-V). Santa Fe, which operates the project, believes the mineralization occurs in and around an alkalic breccia pipe.

Trading in Gold Canyon recently resumed, having been halted for the purpose of unwinding trades that had been made following the release of incorrect assay results (they were calculated in grams per tonne but reported in ounces per short ton). Typical grades at the property are in the 1-to-3-gram range, and, according to Santa Fe’s most current calculation, the deposit contains 24.5 million tonnes grading 1.2 grams gold.

East West active

Just west of the Springpole project, East West Resources has tied up a 14-sq.-km land package covering four gold showings. Both sedimentary and granitic rocks on the property carry gold showings, suggesting the geology may be similar to that at Springpole.

Placer Dome recently started drilling at its High Grade Island property, near the northeast corner of Birch Lake, about 110 km northeast of Red Lake. By funding the work, Pelangio-Larder Mines (PLLM-C) is earning a 40% interest in the property. Placer Dome has already spent $1.1 million tracing out zones of gold mineralization, along a strike length of 350 metres, and to a 150-metre depth. The best intersection, encountered in an earlier drill program, was a 24.5-metre length grading 9.5 grams gold.

Tri Origin Exploration (TOE-T) recently finished a 12-hole program on its Sioux project, 30 km southwest of Sioux Lookout. Tri Origin’s approach on the property was to drill electromagnetic conductors that might prove to be gold-bearing sulphide zones.

Seven holes intersected pyrrhotite iron formation, suggesting the property had one or more volcanic-exhalative horizons. The final hole of the program intersected silicified volcanic rock containing some sulphide-rich zones. The sulphide zones carried gold concentrations up to 0.9 gram, with up to 1% zinc.

The geophysical anomaly has a strike length of 4 km, so Tri Origin plans to carry out geochemical sampling and trenching, with drilling due to follow in late autumn.

Meanwhile, in the Sturgeon Lake area, 110 km northeast of Sioux Lookout, Redbird Gold has been exploring a gold showing at King Bay. Some careful boulder-train tracing, basal till sampling and magnetic surveys allowed Redbird geologists to uncover the likely source of gold-mineralized boulders. Since finding the bedrock gold showing, the company has been conducting channel sampling of the stripped areas; soon, it will select drill targets.

Also, the company has entered an agreement with the holder of a 5.4-sq.-km property west of its land package, under which it can earn a half interest.