U.S. REPORT Northern Dynasty producing from underground/heap leach

As operator and 43%-owner of the Little Bald Mountain mine in Nevada, Northern Dynasty Explorations (TSE) is expecting to produce 7,000 oz of gold during the 1988 season from the combined underground/heap leach operation. The company originally aimed for 8,500 oz but decided it needed to carry out extra decline development in order to improve production and profit in 1989 and in subsequent years. To date, a complete new level is now fully developed and a skip hoist installed. The mine began life as an open pit operation and is one of only a few heap leach mines in the United States to make the transition to underground production.

The company said net cash profit for the year will be in the $300,000 to $500,000 range of an over-all $1.5 million accounting profit, with the balance in unleached stacked ore, expendable mine and chemical inventories and deferred costs of developed underground ore.

At year-end, the company expects reserves will remain unchanged at 200,000 tons of 0.13 oz gold per ton. During a recent shallow rotary drill program on the property, the company encountered a number of high potential areas on the mine property which will be followed up by deeper drill tests in 1989.

Northern Dynasty is also involved in two other gold projects in Nevada, one a joint venture with WX Syndicate and the other a joint venture with Hycroft Resources. Both projects are in the Battle Mountain Trend. In Canada, the company is actively exploring several claim blocks in the Pickle Lake area of Ont. and several properties in the Yukon Territory.