New base metal mine taking shape at Louvicourt Twp. (June 08, 1992)

Just three years since Aur Resources (TSE) and partner Societe Miniere Louvem (TSE) realized they were on to a major base metal discovery, their Louvicourt Twp. property east of Val d’Or, Que., is starting to look like a mine.

With about 40 employees on site, the first of two head frames needed to house separate exploration and production shafts is now complete and a second should be ready for contractors Dynatec Mining and Entrepreneur Miniere Talpa to begin shaft sinking in August.

Having installed the temporary winching equipment and hoist room, Dynatec has already begun sinking the 2,400-ft. exploration shaft which is expected to reach its target destination by June, 1993.

“The pace is really picking up,” said Ed Stuart, Aur’s chief mine geologist who is busy reviewing the planning details for an underground exploration program he expects to begin by year-end.

Aur recently secured its share of development financing by granting Vancouver-based affiliate Teck (TSE) the right to earn a 25% interest in an area of the Louvicourt Twp. property containing the known deposit. Teck, which together with Cominco (TSE) owns 21% of Aur, is earning the interest by contributing $55 million toward the first $100 million spent to develop a 5,000-ton-per-day mining operation. Teck is also acting as guarantor for any funds needed by Aur to finance its 30% share of total capital costs, now estimated at $326 million.

Noranda (TSE), which now owns 52% of Louvem, has yet to announce what it will do to finance Louvem’s 45% share of costs. However, indications are that it will go the same route as Teck by earning a direct interest in the property. A feasibility study has indicated the existence of 22.9 million tons of ore grading 4.1% copper, 1.99% zinc, 0.039 oz. gold and 0.99 oz. silver per ton on what is now known as the Louvem claims.

Based on the feasibility study, those reserves should be capable of producing over 1.8 billion lb. copper, 671 million lb. zinc, 500,000 oz. gold and 13.9 million oz. silver over a 14-year life span. The first ore is expected to be mined in 1994.

However, reserves outlined so far are predicated on holes drilled about 300-400 ft. apart, says Stuart, and a lot more work is needed to determine the exact position of some of the deeper holes.

“We want to obtain as much information as we can before we install the haulage drifts,” said Stuart who expects the first drill station to be available by December. Drilling so far indicates that the deposit starts at a depth of 1,000 ft. and is still open below the 3,000-ft. level. As the participants in the Louvem discovery agreed to set up a boundary containing the deposit and any possible extensions at depth, everything outside is still owned 55% by Aur and 45% by Louvem.

This includes the Louvex claims in the southern part of the Louvicourt property where widely spaced holes drilled last year intersected copper-zinc mineralization in a parallel horizon 500 ft. from the main deposit. Highlights include 1.03% copper over 39.5 ft. and 1.27% zinc over 30 ft. Stringer copper mineralization averaging 0.43% copper over 127 ft. (including 0.93% copper over 31.9 ft.) was also intersected near the Zakor copper-zinc zone to the south.

However, of the $3 million that Aur has budgeted this year for exploration outside the Louvem joint venture, it seems that most will be directed toward the Joutel-Poirer base metal camp located about 70 miles further north. Under an agreement with Joutel Resources (TSE), Aur can earn a 70% stake in 15,000 acres containing the former Joutel copper mine by spending $2 million. Results from six holes drilled about 600 ft. west of the former mine have been mildly encouraging, returning 41 ft. of massive sulphides averaging 0.66% zinc.

Claude Britt, Aur’s regional exploration manager for Quebec, said there is nothing planned for the moment on the Louvex claims or on the Bonnefond property located immediately to the north of Louvem.

However, he said reports of previous work completed on Beaufield Resources’ (TSE) Mainstreet property southeast of Louvicourt has just been completed and exploration may resume this summer.

Having spent $35,000 so far, Aur must spend another $365,000 to earn a 60% interest in the Mainstreet claims where highlights include 0.5% copper over 3.3 ft. in felsic rocks near the boundary with Aur’s wholly owned Lugold property. Beaufield President George Slightham said he hopes that Aur will begin drilling at least a couple more holes this month.

“What we do in Val d’Or depends very much on what happens at Joutel,” said Britt, who indicated during an interview with The Northern Miner that his company is planning to take a breather in the Val d’Or region. Nevertheless, according to Stuart, Aur is doing some exploration work on the lower levels of its 50%-owned Dumont mine which it acquired along with a half interest in the Ferderber gold mine and mill from Belmoral Mines (TSE). Located to the west of Louvicourt Twp., the two mines produced 44,090 oz. gold in 1991. “We are specifically looking at about 30,000 tons of material (grading 0.25 oz.) located below the bottom level,” said Stuart. Aside from development work in Louvicourt Twp., Louvem affiliate St. Genevieve Resources (TSE) will be directing most of its exploration efforts towards the Granada gold project near Rouyn-Noranda, Que.

St. Genevieve Explorations (ME) owns 50% of the 930-acre property which produced about 181,697 tons of material grading 0.28 oz. gold in the 1930s. KWG Resources (TSE) is St. Genevieve’s partner at Granada where recent work has focused on the No. 1 and No. 2 zones.

St. Genevieve Resources Chairman Pierre Gauthier says he is encouraged by both the width (average 23 ft.) and grades (0.19 oz. gold per ton) returned from the No. 1 zone which is believed to extend for a strike length of about 3,000 ft.

“On an open pit basis, those kinds of numbers are very economical, especially as we haven’t yet drilled below 150 ft.,” Gauthier told The Northern Miner recently. Exploration has resumed on the property.