Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM
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DYNASTY METALS & MINING
INTERVIEW
Cash injection comes with management shuffle / 3
Canada’s new hostile takeover rules / 5
EXCELLON RESOURCES
Silver miner back in black / 11
AUGUST 29–SEPTEMBER 4, 2016 / VOL. 102 ISSUE 29 / GLOBAL MINING NEWS · SINCE 1915 / $3.99 / WWW.NORTHERNMINER.COM
Integra tests Gold Rush
Skeena picking up historic Porter Idaho
SITE VISIT
| Lamaque Deep target in Val-d’Or holds promise, CEO De Jong says
BC SILVER
| Junior takes on fourth project in Golden Triangle BY LESLEY STOKES
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lstokes@northernminer.com VANCOUVER
keena Resources (TSXV: SKE) has spent the past two years building a portfolio of highgrade, precious metal projects in northwestern B.C.’s Golden Triangle region, and now the junior company — chaired by famed explorer Ron Netolitsky — is adding another. The company is acquiring private company Mount Rainey Silver for its Porter Idaho silver property, 2 km south of Stewart, B.C., in exchange for 25.1 million Skeena shares, or a $4.8-million value, based on Skeena’s Aug. 9 share closing price. The companies expect the transaction will close in early September. “The projects we’ve acquired so far are ones that Netolitsky has pursued for many years, and Porter Idaho certainly fits into that description,” Walter Coles, president and CEO of Skeena, said during a conference call to discuss the acquisition. The 5.9 sq. km property hosts two shear-hosted and silver-rich vein systems: the Silverado and Prosperity-Porter Idaho. Both showings are 2 km apart, located on opposite sides of a mountain that overlooks the town of Stewart. Most of the historical work focused on Prosperity-Porter Idaho, where mineralization is found within six moderately dipping, subparallel shear zones traced on surface for 200 metres and 1 km down-dip, with widths varying between 2 and 13 metres. The vein system was mined from adits between 1929 and 1931, and produced 27,000 tonnes of 2,692 grams silver per tonne and 0.99 gram gold per tonne. The ore was shipped to the port at Stewart via aerial tramway. At Silverado, the vein system is hosted within four similarly trending shear zones, with equally high silver grades. The mineralization was periodically mined between 1921 and 1932, and produced 167.8 See SKEENA / 3
Integra Gold’s senior vice-president of exploration Hervé Thiboutot (front) explains the geology of the Triangle and No. 4 Plug gold deposits to analysts and investors during a site visit in July. PHOTO BY LESLEY STOKES BY LESLEY STOKES
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lstokes@northernminer.com VAL-D’OR, QUEBEC
ust eight months after wrapping up its Gold Rush Challenge exploration competition, Integra Gold (TSXV: ICG; US-OTC: ICGQF) hosted a visit to its Lamaque South gold property, just east of Val-d’Or, Que., to offer analysts and investors, plus The Northern Miner, a sneak peak at some of the newly generated drill targets. The company has begun a 2,000-metre long “parent” hole to test whether mineralization at the historic, neighbouring Sigma and Lamaque gold mines coalesce at depth. Once complete, the company will drill 15 “daughter” holes off the parent, totalling 8,000 metres, at various intervals to test the target. Integra president and CEO Stephen de Jong told visitors at a presentation in town that the Lamaque Deep target is the “most interesting” prospect to date, representing the potential down-dip extension of the Lamaque mine, one of the highest ounces of gold per vertical metre deposits in Canada.
“If we hit it, it’ll take a lot more drilling to prove it up, but it could be a real game-changer for the project,” De Jong said. “The structures that host mineralization at Sigma appear to trend towards Lamaque at depth, and if they intercept it would create a perfect environment for gold.” The Lamaque mine, which opened in 1933, produced 4.5 million oz. gold to 1.2 km deep, before shutting down in 1985. The Sigma mine, 500 metres north, produced the same amount over its 60-year mine life, with development extending to 1.9 km depth. De Jong said the previous operator, McWatters Mining, had partly tested the zone. Despite encouraging results of 45 metres of 2.16 grams gold per tonne, and 40 metres of 2.51 grams gold, McWatters stopped exploring, and shut mining operations in 2003 due to a major reserve grade miscalculation and a subsequent bankruptcy as head grades disappointed amid a prolonged downturn in gold prices. Hervé Thiboutot, senior vicepresident of exploration, continued the conversation in the core shed and exploration office. Inside, ge-
ologists had laid out hand-drawn, geological cross-sections displaying the latest drill results. Outside were core boxes cradling high-grade gold intercepts from the property’s key Triangle deposit. The core is riddled with countless high-strain, mylonitic shear zones, which once served as pathways for gold-rich fluids rising as a plume from depth. The f luids were origina lly stripped out of partly melted rocks that formed at deep crustal levels as a result of widespread deformation 2.7 billion years ago. At Triangle, mineralization occurred when a series of steeply dipping mylonites, or “C” structures, wedged their way through a cylindrical-shaped intrusive plug. In response to the strain, the plug shattered into a series of “C-flat” structures and flat, brittle tension gashes, which were later sealed with quartz and gold. But unlike the other deposits on the property, the mineralized C structures at Triangle extend farther into the surrounding volcaniclastic pile than previously
PM40069240
See INTEGRA / 2
CB GOLD: BUYS HISTORIC SANTA ANA PROPERTY IN COLOMBIA / 16
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