Barrick’s Carlin finds signal latest gold rush

North America doesn’t realize that the latest gold rush on this continent is only just beginning, remarked one of Canada’s most experienced mining financiers before a recent tour of Nevada’s Carlin gold trend.

Like all of the fund managers and Franco Nevada Mining executives who toured the gold belt last weekend, Merrill Lynch Canada Director William White expects the area to far outstrip Hemlo in terms of gold production.

While the 45-mile Carlin trend has produced nearly six million ounces of gold since the 1870s, he says that previous operators like Newmont Gold and Western State Minerals had literally been scratching the surface.

That was proven earlier this year when American Barrick Resources discovered a high grade gold deposit between 1,100 and 1,700-ft levels at its Goldstrike mine.

Located just north of Newmont Gold’s Genesis deposit, the 7,000- acre heap leach property has been in production since 1979. Partners Western States Minerals and Pancana Minerals had averaged around 40,000 oz in annualized open pit production, before Barrick acquired the property and began an aggressive deep drilling program in late 1986.

That program resulted in the discovery of two new deposits — the Betze and the Deep Post — which could boost Barrick’s production output to between 460,000 oz and one million oz by 1992.

Toronto-based Franco-Nevada has a 4% royalty and 5% net profit interest in the Goldstrike property (see story on page 5). Production Plans

Barrick’s deep drilling program has also forced the company to re-evaluate its production plans during the next five years.

The so-called Deep Post was found below Barrick’s low grade Post deposit which has been mined by open pit methods since December, 1986. According to recent reports, the Deep Post has probable reserves of 2.8 million tons of 0.39 oz of gold and additional possible reserve estimates of 2.7 million tons of 0.40 oz.

Barrick’s newer Betze deposit hosts 3.7 million tons of 0.22 oz probable (4.2 million tons of 0.21 oz possible) which brings total reserves on the three deposits to 6.8 million oz.

Next door, on land adjoining Barrick’s Upper Post orebody, Newmont has 1.15 million oz of gold bringing the combined Post deposit to four million oz.

Smarting from the pummelling it took during the recent takeover bid by Texas oil man, T. Boone Pickens, Newmont has published a new 5-year plan which forecasts that its annual production rate will almost double from 585,000 oz in 1987 to approximately 1.6 million by 1990.

According to Newmont President T. Peter Philip, the latest production estimates are attributed to large reserves in the Carlin belt where Newmont already has seven properties. Newmont Reserves

In a 2,300-sq-mi area stretching from Newmont’s Rain deposit in the south to the company’s Bootstrap mine to the north, Mr Philip says Newmont reserves currently stand at 20 million oz, with 14 million oz proven and probable.

As indicated by American Barrick’s Deep Post discovery he believes that similar deposits have yet to be discovered on the Carlin Gold belt and to prove that, Newmont will spend an average of $14 million on annual exploration over the next five years.

After months of discussions, Newmont and Barrick recently agreed to mine the surface oxide and deeper sulphide reserves of the Post deposit from a huge open pit and mill from two separate locations. With reserves at Barricks side of the deposit standing at 20 million tons of 0.053 oz and exploration expected to increase Newmont’s share of reserves, the open pit’s lifespan should be around 10 years.

Meanwhile Barrick is faced with the considerable problem of mining both surface and high grade Post reserves simultaneously. The company is currently drilling a test hole for a 2,000-ft production shaft. “We are placing it well back (2,400 ft southeast) from both the Betze and Post deposits because we don’t yet know whether or not they will turn into open pits,” said Larry Kornze, exploration manager at Goldstrike. Open Pit

“If the Betze got large enough, we could consider open pit methods, but since it would take two years of stripping to reach the deposit, it’s not a strong possibility.”

During a recent visit to Goldstrike, The Northern Miner found that Barrick is attempting to define the Betze deposit using a stepout drilling program which is exploring to around 1,800 ft.

Under Barrick’s most recent plans, the company will attempt to mine the Deep Post deposit using bulk mining methods, but that all depends on how stable the crown separating the upper and lower post will be.

The company is also levelling off a site southeast of the Post where a 3,500 tpd oxide circuit will be built to handle ore from the Post and Betze deposits. Scheduled to be operating by August, 1988, it will be followed by construction of autoclave and sulphide circuits.