Ateba leads production comeback in Geraldton-Beardmore aream

Although there have as yet been no major new discoveries in the Geraldton-Beardmore area, there are a number of new developments taking place that hold promise of renewed gold production from that famed area which in its heyday boasted a dozen or so producers that turned out over four million ounces, all of which closed prior to bullion’s price rise. Leading the production comeback trail is A.C.A. (Peter) Howe’s Ateba Mines (TSE), which just last month officially opened a complete cyanide custom mill at Beardmore, equipped with computerized ore sorting which makes it quite feasible to profitably extract gold from the rock dumps of former producers. It has three of these tied up, including that at the nearby Leitch mine which for many years was this country’s highest grade gold producer.

Ateba has enough dump material on hand to maintain this plant on a year-round basis at its current 200-ton daily rate for several years. In fact engineering studies are already under way to double throughput. This month’s output is expected to reach 750 oz at a cost of about $225 per oz, general manager Stephen Wilkinson tells The Northern Miner.

During this phase of its operation Ateba plans to develop underground ore sources at two former producers — the Northern Empire at Beardmore and Roxmark Mines (TSE) at Geraldton.

Under the wing of Dr S. E. Malouf, Roxmark has reopened the old Magnet Lake mine which was Geraldton’s highest grade producer. A big new mining plant has been installed, with a deep development program now under way. This is being financed by Ateba which must spend $1.5 million to earn a 50% interest. Plans are to truck the Roxmark ore to Beardmore, possibly upgrading it with an ore sorter on site prior to shipment. Noranda shows interest

Noranda Exploration is currently drilling the adjoining property to the west. This is the former Bankfield ground, another profitable producer in the camp’s heyday. It is held by Golden Trio Minerals (VSE) which has dealt it to the Noranda arm which can earn a 50% interest by spending $2 million.

The present drilling is probing the ground under the area mined out during the Bankfield operation, The Northern Miner learns from John Harvey, Noranda Exploration’s president, who says that substantial widths of anomalous gold values are being encountered.

An advanced underground program that could see a mill decision before year-end is that of the Duration Mines (TSE)-Locator Explorations (VSE) joint venture near Longlac, which has been coming up with some decidedly interesting findings.

At a less advanced stage but nevertheless working hard is a project under Dr Malouf’s son, Michael, who has three junior companies with extensive land holdings at Geraldton under his wing — Hardrock Extension, Geraldton Longlac Gold and Ferau Resources (COATS).

“Results of these companies’ exploration programs have been very encouraging. In light of these I am confident we will attract additional funding and/or major involvement to develop our discoveries,” says the younger Malouf.

Tombill Mines (TSE), which holds properties both at Geraldton and Beardmore (30 miles apart), has attracted the attention of a number of mining companies which wished to get involved in some type of joint venture, President S. R. Hume reports. “In that there is quite a lot of work being done on other properties in these areas, it was decided not to accept any outside proposals,” he adds.

Tombill regards its ground adjoining Lac Mineral’s Mosher mine especially highly, confident that the big MacLeod-Mosher ore structure plunges into its claims at around 3,000 ft. Lac taking another look

Lac Minerals, which still holds a large spread of ground in the very heart of the old Geraldton camp including four former producers, has been doing a fair amount of exploratory drilling of late, principally on the former Mosher and MacLeod-Cockshutt ground. The company is now compiling and assessing its findings and will likely carry out further drilling, Dr Robert Valliant, who was recently appointed vice-president exploration, tells The Northern Miner. The company’s original Little Long Lac property, which adjoins the MacLeod mine on the west, remains under a 99-year lease to Algoma Steel Corp. which pays Lac $40,000 annually with a royalty clause on any production. That lease was taken out some years ago, primarily for its iron ore potential. Law suit dampens enthusiasm

What really sparked excitement in the Beardmore sector was the discovery by Metalore Resources (TSE) in deep exploratory drilling of what appears to be a sizeable orebody of good grade at Windigokan Lake which it subsequently optioned to Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting.That deal, signed just over a year ago, committed the big firm to putting down a production sized shaft to 1,800 ft.

However that project was put on hold when the vendor company, Ontex Resources (ASE) launched a legal suit seeking return of this property or $500 million in damages from Metalore, claiming that company withheld valuable exploration information. Hudson Bay has since terminated its agreement. Everything, then, is apparently on hold pending the outcome of that suit and a counter suit by Metalore.

Another project in the Beardmore area that has been drawing attention is that of San Paulo Explorations (ASE) which company has taken an option of the original Leitch mine property now held by Teck Corp. (TSE), as well as acquiring much additional ground there. The San Paulo firm, which must spend $3 million on exploration to earn a 50% interest in the large Leitch property over a 3-year period to earn a 50% interest, has been financing a sizeable drill program (over 30,000 ft) as well aerial and ground geophysical surveys under Teck, the operator. Consideration is also being given to unwatering the mine workings and carry out a program of underground drilling.