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30 SEG NEWSLETTER No 65 • APRIL 2006... from 29Exploration Reviews (Continued)EXPLORATION REVIEWSa till sample from the Sedna Corridor.Follow-up detailed ground magneticsand potentially drilling are planned.The Aviat Joint Venture is a partnershipbetween Stornoway (70% and operator),BHP Billiton (20%), and HunterExploration Group (10%) that coversapproximately 4 M acres of the MelvillePeninsula. To date, a cluster of ninekimberlite bodies within a confinedarea have been identified, all of whichare significantly diamondiferous, withfavorable early-stage microdiamonddistribution. Diamonds North will continueto be active in Nunavut, and withthe recently acquired 100% interest inthe 5-million-acre Amaruk property,work in 2006 will include drilling,prospecting, and geophysical surveys.In the Kitikmeot (Slave province)region of Nunavut, Miramar Mining isstarting a 34,000-m drill program on itsHope Bay project. The final EIS hearingon the Doris North project was conductedin Cambridge Bay in lateJanuary 2006 and the results areexpected by early March. In 2006,Dundee Precious Metals will be conductinga 25,000-m drill program on itsBack River project, mainly testing theGoose and George Lake deposits.Wolfden Resources is rapidlybecoming the major landholder inNunavut, with the recent acquisition ofthe Izok, Hood, and Gondor basemetal projects from Inmet and theacquisition of the Lupin mine fromKinross. In the last several yearsWolfden’s main focus as been the HighLake base metal project and the Ulugold project, both in the High Lakegreenstone belt in the northern Slaveprovince. The Izok deposit is one of theworld’s highest grade undeveloped basemetal deposits. The acquisition ofLupin provides significant infrastructurein the region, as well as potentialfor near-term production. Also withbase metal projects, Sabina Silver willbe commencing a winter drill programon its Hackett River silver-zinc projectin March-April.Strongbow Exploration had a successful2005 season in the Regan Lakeand Anialik belt, optioned fromNunavut Tunngavik Incorporated(NTI). This will allow them to focustheir efforts in 2006 on priority targetswithin these prospects. TaheraDiamond completed construction andbegan production from the Jerichodeposit in 2005, following in the footstepsof the Ekati and Diavik diamondmines in the NWT. This has becomeCanada’s third diamond mine andNunavut’s only producing mine.Tahera is planning further explorationon the Rockinghorse property and theHood River claims along with bulksampling of the Muskox kimberlite,part of Tahera’s Polar project.NORTHWESTTERRITORIESIn the NWT, Seabridge Gold started a15,000-m drill program at its 100%-owned Courageous Lake gold project.This project covers 53 km of theMatthews Lake greenstone belt whichhosts the 2-km-long FAT deposit. TheFAT deposit contains an estimated 3.72Moz in the measured and indicated categories(plus an additional estimated5.23 Moz in the inferred category). TyheeDevelopment continues to advance theYellowknife gold project with a prefeasibilitystudy on the Ormsby zone.Fortune Minerals continues to advancethe NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth deposittowards a bankable feasibility studyand recently announced an agreementto purchase the Golden Giant mill forthe project. The deposit is proposed tobe mined by a combination of undergroundand open pit methods, and theore would be processed in a 3,000 tpdmill and hydrometallurgical plant toproduce gold doré, cobalt cathode, andbismuth concentrate.De Beers is developing the SnapLake project—an underground diamondmine in the NWT, with constructionthrough 2006 and productionscheduled for 2007. In addition, DeBeers has an advanced evaluation projectat Gahcho Kué in the NWT.Peregrine Diamonds is completing abulk sample on the DO-27 kimberliteand has started a drill program at thePellatt Lake property. Both of theseprojects are located near the Diavik andEkati mines.SASKATCHEWANThe year 2005 was a stellar year formineral exploration in Saskatchewan;estimated expenditures are CAN $120M, up from $60 M last year.Approximately $67 M (56%) of thetotal exploration expenditures werespent in the search for uranium. Theuranium spot price has ballooned from$7 (US) per pound in 2001 to $37 (US)currently. Consequentially, in the twoyears since Dec. 1, 2003, land dispositionshave almost doubled in number,and quadrupled in area from 1,300totaling 1.4 M ha to 2,355 totaling 5.6M ha. There are more than 70 registereddisposition holders in theAthabasca region, mostly concentratingon grassroots exploration and depositdelineation.Exploration results in 2005 wereimpressive. COGEMA and UEX havefound more high-grade uranium attheir Shea Creek project south of theformer Cluff Lake mine. Recentlyreported intersections included 5.4%U308 over 37.7 m and 5.8 U308 over13.7 m, among the best ever intersectedin the Athabasca basin. Under its participationagreement, UEX can earn a49% interest in 10 western Athabascaprojects, including Shea Creek, by funding$30 M in exploration over 11 years.Cameco’s exploration efforts in theAthabasca basin remain a combinationof brown-field (around existing mines)and green-field (throughout the remainderof the basin) targets. Brown-field oradvanced exploration programs werecompleted at Rabbit Lake, Dawn Lake,Cree Extension, and McArthur River,with all programs encountering significantresultsThe Millennium discovery on theCree Extension project 35 km north ofKey lake remains Cameco’s mostadvanced exploration project. Diamonddrilling last year was concentrated onthe deposit and directed towards increasingthe indicated resource inventory.Green-field exploration continues toget encouraging results at theCentennial discovery on the VirginRiver project located 125 km westnorthwestof Key Lake. Intersections ofup to 5.83% U308 over 6.4 m have beenreported from this zone.UEX’s Hidden Bay project, haveannounced results of 4.93% U308over10.1 m at their West Bear depositand 4.52% U308 over 0.5 ms at thenewly discovered Telephone Lakedrilling area.JNR Resources Inc. and lnternationalUranium Corp. (IUC) havereported results from summer drilling atMoore Lake, southeast of Key Lake.Two new zones of unconformity-style
APRIL 2006 • No 65 SEG NEWSLETTER 31uranium mineralization were reported,the most significant of which was theMaverick Northeast yielding an intersectionof 0.47% U308 over 3.5 m.Canalaska Ventures Limitedreported encouraging results from itsNortheast Athabasca project near theSaskatchewan-Manitoba border.Highlights reported included uraniumboulder trains with boulders grading 0.2% to 11.1 % U 3 O 8 and mineralized outcropswith grab samples containing upto 9.5 % U308.Approximately $9.7 M was spentexploring for gold in 2005 (8% of thetotal). The only current producer is theSeabee mine, which has produced700,000 ounces since Dec. 1991. ClaudeResources Inc. bulk sampled the PorkyWest zone, located three km north ofthe Seabee mine, and completeddril!ing at Santoy 8 and 8 East. AtSantoy, about 14 km east of Seabee,inferred mineral resources of 910,000 thave been delineated in the area averaging8.7 glt Au, uncut. Claude is planninga ramp and bulk sampling programin the first quarter of 2006.Wescan Goldfields Inc. is takinganother look at the Jasper area north ofLa Ronge. Cameco’s Jasper mine operatedin 1990 and 1991, mining nearsurfaceore and producing 155,000 tgrading 0.54 glt Au. The ore was processedat the nearby Star Lake mill, producing83,700 oz gold.Golden Band Resources holds aland package of more than 73,000 hawithin the La Ronge gold belt. Thisincludes seven known gold deposits,four former producing mines and alicensed mill. Recently, the companyhas concentrated on the Waddy Lakearea (particularly Tower East andMemorial) and the Bingo deposit,where an exploration decline helpeddefine the deposit.Diamond exploration accounted for$37.36 M, about 32% of total explorationexpenditures. Claims have doubledfrom 2,012, totaling 710,000 ha inDecember 2003, to 3,416 dispositions,totaling 1.4 M ha in November 2005. Inthe Fort a la Corne area, De BeersCanada and Shore Gold are the mainplayers. Shore in particular has recoveredover 35,000 t kimberlite from itsStar underground test mine, containing5,188 carats worth an estimated $135per carat. Shore Gold has merged withKensington Resources, a 42.25% partnerwith De Beers in the Fort a la Corne(FALC) kimberlites adjacent to Shore’sStar property. Shore also negotiated anagreement with minority partnerCameco, giving it an effective 58% votingmajority on all properties in the area.Great Western Diamonds Corp. hasdefined two large kimberlite pipes containingdiamonds in the Candle Lakearea. The Candle Lake project is 110 kmnortheast of Prince Albert, and north ofSmeaton.CONTIGUOUSUNITED STATESRegional Correspondent:Roger C. Steininger (SEG 1978)Consulting Geologist3401 San Mateo Ave.Reno, NV 89509Tel. 1.775.323.7775 Fax 1.775.323.1134E-mail: audoctor@aol.comARIZONAAmerican Bonanza released resourceestimates for the Copperstone depositin La Paz County. The measured andindicated resource is 1.07 Mt (Mt) at0.313 opt Au with an additionalinferred resource of about 200,000 t at0.317 opt Au. This higher grade core iswithin a broader resource of about 3 Mtwith an average grade of 0.16 opt Au.Phelps Dodge is moving ahead withdevelopment of the Stafford coppermine in Graham County. This is thefirst totally new major copper mine tobe opened in the United States in morethan three decades.Quincy Resources completed adrilling program at their uraniumbearingRose breccia pipe in CoconinoCounty. Two mineralized zones wereencountered; one 49.5-ft interval averages0.14% eU 3 O 8 and a second 10-ftinterval averages 0.065% eU 3 O 8 . Thesezones are 1400–1450 and 1756–1766 ftdown the drill hole.Augusta Resources completed alarge drilling program at the Rosemontcopper-molybdenum deposit (PimaCounty) to improve the resource estimate.As a result, the deposit containsa measured and indicated resource of442 Mt of 0.51% Cu and 0.015% Mo,with an additional inferred resource of145 Mt of 0.45% Cu and 0.015% Mo, allat a 0.20% Cu cutoff.Quadra Mining acquired theCarlota oxide copper deposit (GilaCounty) and plans to develop a SX-EWoperation that will produce about 66Mlb of copper per year for 11 years.CALIFORNIACanyon Resources drilled 18 reservecirculation and one core hole at Briggs(Inyo County) with the intent of definingsufficient mineralization to restartthe mine. This drilling was around themargins of the Briggs mine and betweenBriggs and the Goldtooth mine. Several10- to 15-ft intervals of 0.2X opt Au andwider intervals of 0.0X opt Au were encounteredand supplied sufficient encouragementto plan additional drilling.MONTANAMining operations were suspended inOctober 2005 at Montana Tunnels(Jefferson County) and a notice of layoffwas recently given to all employees.This sounds like the end of the line forMontana Tunnels.United Balero started developmentof two molybdenum properties. Miningis moving forward at Bald Butte (Lewisand Clark County) and ore will beshipped to a 1,000 tpd mill in Phillipsburgh.The historic resource is about131 Mt with an average grade of0.077% Mo. Permitting is also underwayat the Cannivan Gulch (BeaverheadCounty) molybdenum depositwhich has a resource of about 300 Mtwith an average grade of 0.100% MoS 2 .Of particular interest is a higher gradezone within the deposit that might be ofmore economic interest.NEVADANevada claim filings increased 14.4% in2005 over 2004, and 2004 was up24.9% over 2003. Unfortunately, thereis no way to track the number of claimsthat are re-papered every 90 days toavoid the filing fees. At least that partof the industry uses a lot of paper whichhelps keep the loggers busy.Is Rob McEwen, ex-Goldcorp, intenton buying Nevada? Initially heinvested several million dollars to buycontrolling interest, or at least significantstakes, in U.S. Gold, White KnightResources, Coral Gold Resources,Nevada Pacific Gold, and ToneResources. The next move was to offerslightly north of $250 M to buy each ofthese companies. McEwen stated goal isto form the “premier exploration company”in Nevada, or maybe he just likesliving along the Battle Mountain-Eureka Trend?White Knightto pagecontinues to report32 ...EXPLORATION REVIEWS
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