Acadia options Mooseland to major U.S. mining company

A decision on whether or not to go ahead with mine planning and mining feasibility studies on the Mooseland gold property 45 miles northeast of Halifax, N.S., will be made no later than Jan 10, The Northern Miner has learned.

Junior explorer Acadia Mineral Ventures of Toronto agreed this week to show all of the exploration data collected so far to Hecla Mining Co. of Canada, a newly-formed subsidiary of a major mine-operating company based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho — Hecla Mining.

Should Hecla like what they see and decide to go ahead with the next stage of mine development at Mooseland, the company can earn a 60% interest in the property by arranging all the necessary financing to bring the project into production.

In an ongoing drilling program, Acadia has drilled more than 100 holes from surface on two gold- bearing zones which extend for a combined distance of about 4,000 ft.

This work, conducted over the last year, has established drill- indicated reserves to a depth of 750 ft totalling 675,000 tons grading 0.24 oz gold per ton on the West zone, according to mph Consulting of Toronto, and an undetermined amount of potential ore in what appears to be the faulted-off East zone, discovered in late July.

The deposit, hosted in Cambrian slates proximal to a granitic pluton, is open both to the west and at depth. No underground exploration work has been done on the property so far. Hecla — a major silver miner

Hecla, which in the third quarter netted $9.6 million on revenues of $30 million, is the same company which, last September, signed a development agreement with Highwood Resources on the big rare earth deposit at Thor Lake in the Northwest Territories.

Hecla already produces gold, silver, lead, zinc and industrial minerals from mines in the U.S. — the Lucky Friday silver/lead/gold mine, the Escalante silver mine and the Republic gold mine. Hecla also has an interest in the Galena silver mine and the Coeur silver mine, both operated by Asarco Inc. The company has produced 53,288 oz of gold in the first nine months of 1987.

“The Mooseland project is an exciting prospect that could very well move Hecla forward toward its goal of doubling gold production by 1991,” Arthur Brown, chairman and chief executive officer of Hecla says.

Higher gold and silver prices over the past nine months has resulted in revenues 23% higher than the same year-ago period, for Hecla.

The company’s shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange at about $12. Acadia’s shares trade on the tse at about $2.25.