Exploration ’88 ESSO

Esso Minerals Canada plans to spend in the neighborhood of $11 million on gold and polymetallic massive sulphide exploration throughout Canada in 1988. About 70% will be directed toward precious metal targets, with roughly half the budget going towards plays in Ontario and Quebec and the remainder being directed towards Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. As in the past, about 15% of the overall budget will be allocated to acquiring new projects, says Esso President E. M. Berthelsen. Expenditures on internally-funded programs in 1988 will be about 50% higher than 1987 levels, although it is expected that flow-through funding, via option agreements, will decrease substantially over 1987 levels because of impending tax changes (see separate story, page 31). The net result will probably mean fewer active projects.

In Quebec, Esso is the operator of a large block of ground 60 km southwest of Chibougamau. The properties are in the Lac Short/Chibex Greenstone Belt and cover portions of a major east-west fault zone analogous to the Casa Berardi trend. Redaurum Red Lake Mines, Orcana Resources and Morgain Minerals have earned a 49% interest in the properties by spending $2 million over the past two years. Numerous gold occurrences and several gold anomalies have been located, and a major drill program, begun in 1987, will be continued in the winter of 1988.

Further west, in Dieppe and Casa Berardi Twps., Esso is funding the Raymond joint venture under the control of Norex. Part of the property is on the same stratigraphic structural horizon as the Inco/Golden Knight deposits. Exploration activities in 1987 included induced polarization surveys and 1,700 m of diamond drilling. Esso will complete its earn-in position in 1988 by continuing with the 1987 diamond drill program.

At Les Mines Selbaie, where Esso has a 35% interest, a major program under the direction of bp Selco will continue on a 350,000-ha area of mutual interest. The area surrounding the mine has the potential to host both precious and base metal deposits, and the surface program for 1988 will be a continuation of the anomaly and stratigraphic drilling programs of previous years.

In eastern Ontario, 42 km east of Timmins, Esso Minerals has joint- ventured with St Andrew Goldfields in exploring the Destor/Porcupine fault system through the Stock and Taylor Twps. Bodies of gold mineralization occur within a wide deformation zone in carbonate-altered mafic and ultramafic rock. Some 6,800 m of surface drilling was completed in 1987 and will continue in 1988. A drill program is planned for 1988. Esso’s share will be $325,000.

About 20 km east of Timmins, in Thorneloe and Briston Twps., Esso operates the Robele project. The property is along the trend of the Destor- Porcupine fault and had received little exploration attention in the past because of overburden cover. A total of 4,050 m of diamond drilling was completed in 1987, locating a hematitic alteration zone on carbonated, silicified, sedimentary rocks with encouraging gold intersections. A continuing drill program is planned in 1988 with Torogold Resources, which has now earned a 50% interest in the property.

In northern Ontario, the Musselwhite joint venture at Opapimiskan Lake drilled 16,840 m in the East Bay area and was successful in outlining a mineral inventory of about six million tonnes grading 0.20 oz gold per tonne, hosted in four separate zones within complexly folded iron formations. A major underground exploration program is planned for 1988 and 1989 to fully explore and delineate the orebodies. The operator of the joint venture is Placer Dome, and Esso’s share of the expenditures is $3.2 million.

Last year, significant land positions in Manitoba and Saskatchewan were established. Several projects are underway in the Flin Flon/Snow Lake belt and Leaf Rapids area, with the focus primarily on precious metals. It is anticipated that at least three of these projects will be drill-tested in 1988. In Saskatchewan, three project areas have been defined with base and precious metal targets. At least two projects will be drilled in 1988.

In the Northwest Territories, Esso continues to participate in the Back River joint venture, about 500 km northeast of Yellowknife. Gold occurs in an iron formation within sediments, and a major drill program is being planned for 1988. It is being funded by Homestake Mining Co.

In the Adams Plateau of British Columbia, 60 km northeast of Kamloops, a land package was put together whereby Esso can earn a majority interest by spending more than $3 million by the end of 1990. The target is polymetallic massive sulphides with enhanced precious metal values within a Devonian Mississippian sequence of felsic volcanic sedimentary rocks. During 1987, drill programs were carried out on four of the properties within the package. Results are encouraging, and a major drill program is planned for the area in 1988.

In the Toodoggone area, 280 km north of Smithers, B.C., an agreement with International Shasta will allow Esso to earn up to 73% by spending $10 million by 1995. The target is an epithermal gold/silver setting located in the early-to-middle Jurassic Toodoggone volcanics. Preliminary drilling in 1987 was so encouraging that a major drill program is planned for 1988.

In the Kutcho Creek area, 110 km east of Deese Lake, Esso will continue to seek a joint-venture partner for a massive sulphide program on ground immediately south of the main Kutcho Creek deposit held by Esso and Sumac Mines. While the project was inactive during 1987, plans are under way to actively pursue work during the 1988 field season.

On the West Coast, in the Stewart area, Esso completed the farm-out of a large land package to four companies that together spent more than $1 million during the 1987 field season. All these properties are scheduled to be advanced during the 1988 season.

On Vancouver Island, 15 km northwest of Duncan, the Chemainus project has been advanced under the direction of Falconbridge Ltd., with Esso as a 50% participating partner. The target is a polymetallic massive sulphide located in Paleozoic rocks of the Sicker group. Preliminary drilling has been sufficiently encouraging so that a major drill program will be undertaken in 1988.

From its head office in Vancouver, B.C., Esso Minerals operates two regional exploration offices — in Vancouver and Toronto. Field offices are in Timmins, Ont. and Val d’Or, Que. A staff of about 25 are employed.