`We’ll hit the motherlode,’ says president — Persistence

It has turned into a rough year for Western Quebec Mines (TSE), but the company, with a small producing gold property near here, is not about to throw in the towel.

The junior was hoping to increase production this year to 10,000 oz., but unstable ground conditions encountered in the B zone of the Dubuisson East zone stope slowed operations. Consequently, output for 1993 may total only 4,000 oz.

“The name of the game is to persist. One of these days we’re going to hit the motherlode,” President Conrad Hache told The Northern Miner during a recent site visit. “The important thing is to keep the team together.” Western Quebec has been producing gold from its Joubi mining operation for a number of years (the company custom mills its ore), always entering the new calendar year with enough reserves to keep going for at least another 12 months. At the end of 1992, for example, reserves (all categories) stood at 161,316 tons grading 0.18 oz. gold per ton.

Early in 1992, the company made an option deal with Republic Goldfields to acquire the latter’s Dubuisson East property, adjacent to Joubi. The agreement called for initial payments totaling $200,000 and an additional $400,000 by 1997. The property is also subject to certain royalties. A 3,300-ft.-long drift from the main Joubi shaft along the second level gave Western Quebec access to the Dubuisson East mineralization. Three zones were identified; one of the zones has been mined out and one remains untouched. The third, the B zone (with the richest grade), is not co-operating in terms of ground conditions; to ensure the best recovery and to minimize dilution, the company has turned from shrinkage to the more expensive cut-and-fill mining method.

Exploration also uncovered a possible zone between Joubi and Dubuisson East. To gain access, a second drift of a similar length is under way along the fifth level (900 ft. deep). The plan is to carve out a station about half-way along the drift to allow for drilling of this zone.

The company is performing its own drift work. Two 2-person shifts per day drill, blast and muck out the waste material. Each crew has been averaging about 11 ft. per 10-12-hour shift. The muck is hauled via track to the main shaft (which extends to a depth of almost 1,100 ft.) where a skip (part of a 3-compartment lift) brings it to the surface.

Earlier this year, Western Quebec acquired the McKenzie Break gold property about 21 miles north of Val d’Or and a 10,000-ft. drilling program was drawn up. (A preliminary reserve figure of about one million tons in five zones was estimated by a previous owner of the property.)

The company’s preliminary results from McKenzie Break have been mixed. Highlights include intersections of 0.42 oz. over seven feet and 0.71 oz. over 7.8 ft. along the southwest up-dip extension of the No. 4 lens, and intersections of 0.21 oz. over 5.3 ft. and 0.29 oz. over six feet along the northeast down-dip extension.

More than half of the 41 holes planned had been drilled at the time of the site visit; the program is scheduled for completion in late October. The company is hoping to define high-grade mineralization near the surface. An acceptable reserve figure from the program, Hache said, would be 150,000 tons grading 0.3 oz.

Western Quebec’s exploration property portfolio includes the Wesdome and Shawkey prospects, both of which are contiguous to Placer Dome’s Kiena gold mine west of Val d’Or and both of which are the subject of ventures with Placer Dome. The company also holds the Mine-Ecole property which is contiguous to Agnico-Eagle’s Goldex project.

“I don’t know what other companies are worth, but I’m quite happy with our land position,” said Chairman Murray Pollitt, a Toronto stockbroker. Western Quebec, recently trading in the $1.75 range, had about 12.3 million shares outstanding at the end of 1992. Valmag, a private company of which Pollitt is a major shareholder, has a 38% interest in Western Quebec. For 1992, the company had gold revenues of $3.8 million on production of 8,983 oz. Western Quebec recorded a net loss for 1992 of $5.8 million (47 cents per share).