QUERIES Casa Berardia legacy of WWII

Can you tell an American fan of Canadians, Canadian mining, and your beautiful and robust country what in the world Casa-Berardi means in terms of the historic origin of the two words? The Canadian Embassy library here and one historical society which I wrote to in Ottawa say they have no idea what Casa-Berardi means or how to find out. C.W. Arlington, Va.

According to our contacts at the Quebec Mining Association, Casa- Berardi was named on June 9, 1962, after a farm house on the road between a couple of Italian villages called Orsogna and Ortona. Located in Italy’s Abruzzes region, Ortona is on the Adriatic coastline.

During World War II (1939-45), Major Friquet of the Quebec 22nd Regiment was noted for winning the coveted Victoria Cross at Casa-Berardi.

A report by geologist Sylvain Lacroix says the Casa Berardi mining area extends from the Mattagami camp 75 miles to the northeast and for more than 30 miles west into Ontario.

It was known primarily for its polymetallic deposits until 1981 when Inco Ltd. encountered 22.1 ft grading 0.368 oz gold per ton in an area 40 miles northwest of Joutel, Que.

The rest, as they say, is history. Following Inco’s Golden Pond discovery, Casa Berardi was the scene of a major staking rush which saw more than 21,000 stakes claimed between 1984 and 1985.

After further drilling, Inco expanded the Golden Pond discovery to 10 million tons of 0.22 oz and with a 1,320-tpd mill in place, production there is expected by mid-1988.

Lacroix says Inco’s Golden Pond discovery has helped to demonstrate the existence of a major east- west-trending fault, in the northwestern part of the Abitibi greenstone, similar to the well known Larder Lake — Cadillac and Porcupine — Destor faults.

More recent discoveries related to reverse circulation drilling were made by Boulder Mountain Resources, Tandem Resources, Place Development (now Placer Dome Inc.) and Golden Shield Resources.

“The discoveries are added evidence that this is the best piece of geology in Canada for gold exploration,” remarked consulting geologist Fenton Scott.