Musselwhite project advancing to feasibility

Toronto-listed partners Placer Dome and TVX Gold are stepping up the pace of activity at the Musselwhite gold property in northwestern Ontario.

The project, reported to contain a measured and indicated resource of 1.3 million oz. gold, is held 68% by Placer Dome’s Canadian unit and 32% by TVX. In accelerating underground exploration, the partners are boosting planned expenditures to $19.7 million from the originally planned $12 million. The goal is to complete exploration and advance the project to the feasibility stage by the end of the first quarter of 1995.

The site is already abuzz with activity, with five rigs surface-drilling the T-Antiform trend from Opapimiskin Lake. The program, which resumed in January, will complete the drilling of the structure on 50-metre sections. A sixth rig is drilling the West Anticline zone.

The underground program involves moving equipment and supplies over the winter road. As a result, the need to upgrade the winter road to an all-weather road has been postponed and will be re-evaluated at a later date. The revised work program includes dewatering the underground workings and driving a ramp for detailed diamond drilling of the T-Antiform zone. Drifts and raises will be positioned along the mineralized zones to gather geological and engineering information.

The geometry of Musselwhite is characterized by steeply dipping, mineralized structures. As a result, the drilling and sampling required to update the measured and indicated resource will be expedited by underground access. At the same time, it will provide mining access for future production. Development of the ramp and related underground work are to begin in early April. The $600,000 prefeasibility study is scheduled for completion by year-end.