Calpine Winter Drill Program In Full Gear

Encouraged by the impressive results of an earlier 6-hole diamond drill program, Calpine Resources (VSE) is now in full gear with its winter diamond drill program on the Eskay Creek project located north of Stewart, B.C. The Prime Capital company is earning a 50% interest from Consolidated Stikine Silver (VSE) by spending $900,000 on exploration by 1990.

According to Murray Pezim, president, Calpine has pulled out all the stops and intends to drill straight through the winter in a program “that could exceed 30,000 ft.” The field camp has been totally contained and winterized to provide a base for a large number of drilling and geological personnel. Prime Explorations is under contract to provide consulting and management services.

The winter program will test the entire width of the 21 zone in the immediate area of Calpine’s discovery hole, and will continue to drill the zone down-dip and along strike. The first hole of the renewed program, 88-7, was drilled to test the 21 zone mineralization about 80 ft down-dip from the intercept in hole 88-6 which averaged 0.73 oz gold and 1.12 oz silver per ton over 96.5 ft. A number of other holes have also been completed with assays expected shortly.

Results are anxiously awaited by the local investment community, particulary by some who are concerned about the accuracy of some of the earlier results based on preliminary geochemical atomic absorption assays. (Results from discovery hole 88-6 were a composite determination of atomic absorption and fire assay analyses reported in ounces per ton.)

Because the rig used in previous drilling was too small to adequately test the entire width of the 21 zone mineralization, Calpine is using a Longyear 38 drill rig with a depth capacity of 2,000 ft. Drill servicing is being done by snow machine to keep helicopter support to a minimum, and drill moves are done by a bulldozer on site. The 21 zone lies on a plateau at an elevation of about 3,500 ft and all existing collar locations are easily accessible from the camp.

Although recent work is responsible for the current interest in the project, sporadic exploration since 1922 by previous operators has traced mineralization over a strike length of about two miles on the property. Calpine describes the mineralization as volcanogenic in origin as it is associated with disseminated sulphides in northeast- trending felsic volcanic breccias and graphitic argillites in contact with overlying intermediate volcanics.

True to form, Pezim has also picked up ground in the area surrounding the Eskay Creek discovery. In late November, Calpine entered into an agreem ent in principle with the Arc Resource Group and Canarc Resource Corp. (VSE) to acquire a 66.67% interest in a number of mineral claims immediately contiguous to the north, west and east of the company’s principal discovery. Exploration work on these claims is already in progress.

Part of the work will include an airborne electro-magnetic and magnetic survey to cover all the properties. The objective is to provide additional information that should enhance the data base and assist in field evaluation of other zones. The volcanic stratigraphy that hosts mineralization in the area is quite extensive over-all the claims areas, Calpine said.