Report from Calgary Placer Dome biggest player

The famous Quesnel-Caribou gold belt of south-central British Columbia, 45 miles northeast of Williams Lake, has a record of gold production for more than 100 years.

Although there is only one small producing lode gold mine at Wells, owned by Calgary-based Mosquito Gold Mines, near historic Barkerville, there has been fairly continuous placer production from scores of deposits in the region since the turn of the century.

The most famous is the spectacular Bullion Pit about one-half mile west of Likely — the largest open pit placer excavation in North America. Once considered the largest in the world, the 2-mile-long Bullion Pit is now surpassed by the excavations in Brazil, such as Serra Pelada in Para State.

Caribou country has a solid economy tied to forest products with built-in back-up from mining (nearby Gibraltar Mines is in full production profiting from high copper prices). Exploring lode resources

With widespread gold placers filling creeks and rivers, exploration is now directed to lode resources extending from Lightning Creek, southeast of Quesnel, to Likely. The biggest player in the region is Placer Dome with a large land position near Likely and rumored to have a deposit in the 2-million-ton range, grading about 0.2 oz gold per ton.

Nearby are Pundata Resources with joint venture partner Trio Gold from Calgary which have put together a strong exploration team and a solid land position on what they call their cpw-Spanish Mountain project. The companies have been engaged in a comprehensive geophysical, geological and geochemical program that has led up to a drill program that sees the current one drill rig expand to a second drill and a third rotary drill. Some problems

The good news is that there is gold, the bad news is that there are structural geological and metallurgical problems which have to be addressed. Studies to date have defined two or more individual deposits in the several-hundred- thousand-ton range grading about 0.1 oz. Free gold is associated with fine-grained pyrite in graphite-rich phyllites. Mines are made, not found, but given the ingredients of widespread gold mineralization in favorable host rocks and with know- how and a little luck, the Pundata/ Trio story could have a happy ending.

Along Lightning Creek, Lightning Creek Mines is involved in a drill program to evaluate placer and lode gold opportunities in a once- very-productive placer drainage system. The company has completed an airborne geophysical survey and is proceeding to follow up with ground surveys to better define expected drill targets. The company also has staked claims in the Likely area adjoining property held by Placer Dome.