Val d’Or, Abcourt planning production for zinc prospect

Pedro Cardoso of Val d’Or Resources (ME) told The Northern Miner a ramp is being driven to hook up with existing underground workings. The deposit, in addition to zinc, contains values of lead, copper, silver and gold.

Project operator is Abcourt Mines (ME).

Estimated cost to bring the project into production is $7-8 million. Cardoso said about $4-million worth of work remains to be completed. He said his company must spend about $2.6 million by the end of 1989, and a further $1.4 million by March 31, 1990, to earn its 50% interest.

Cardoso is hoping to raise the money through private placements and possibly some debt financing. Should the financing proceed as planned, the project could be in production by the spring of 1990, he said, at a rate of 500 tons per day. A concentrate will be produced for sale and milling elsewhere.

Previous exploration of the property identified three deposits. The largest deposit, the Vendome, is currently estimated to contain almost 542,000 tons of reserves grading 7.9% zinc, 0.29% lead, 0.46% copper, 1.7 oz silver and 0.035 oz gold per ton. The other two deposits contain an estimated 408,240 tons of reserves.

Existing development of the deposit includes a shaft sunk to 525 ft and three levels at 225 ft, 350 ft and 475 ft. (The new ramp will be connected with the two lower levels.) Cardoso said the deposit was never mined, although 65,000 ft of drilling was performed and 7,000 ft of drifting, crosscutting and raising work was completed before the project was abandoned in 1958.

The three deposits are located on the southern half of the Bardome property, and the claims (known as the Vendome claims) straddle the boundary between Barraute and Fiedmont twps. Cardoso said drilling has intersected gold-bearing structures elsewhere on the Vendome claims. (The northern part of the property, known as the Barraute claims, lies adjacent to the zinc-silver mining operations of Abcourt.)

About 40 ft of overburden had to be removed to allow work to begin on the ramp, which Cardoso said is being driven to permit access to the other two smaller deposits. Once the project is in production, the companies plan to focus on further exploration of the property.

]]>