Sulphide Deposit
Millstream Officials Encouraged by Exploration at Potter Mine
Munro Township - A joint venture between Millstream Mines Ltd. and Hunter Dickenson Group has identified a promising
deposit of sulphide at the Potter Mine property northwest of Kirkland Lake.
Millstream treasurer Rob Chase stresses that they are still in the early exploration stages of the project, but the results to
date have been very encouraging.
Four of a planned 15 deep difficult diamond drill holes have been completed to date.
Three of the holes test the east and west extension of the sulphide deposit for a combined strike length of 145 metres.
The fourth hole was drilled to test the downward extension at 700 vertical metres vertical metres and intersected a
favourable mineralized zone.
Copper and zinc were mined at the Potter Mine between 1967 and 1972 and the sulphide deposits located in the current
drilling program suggest that the property could still contain significant amounts of base metals.
"We are looking at the data from the current drilling program and from earlier drilling and trying to pinpoint future targets,"
Mr. Chase said.
When the Potter property was in production prior to 1972 it had been mined to a depth of 1,100 feet.
It yielded 477,572 tonnes of ore grading 1.63% copper, 1.5% zinc and between .1 and .5 (opt) silver during its initial life
as a producing mine.
The value of zinc was very low at that time and Mr. Chase says most of the zinc extracted from the mine was left in the
tailing ponds.
The current drilling program has established sulphide deposits to a depth of 3000 feet and suggests the deposit extends
significantly both east and west.
"It's too early to tell yet just what kind of tonnage we are looking at, but the results to date look encouraging," Mr. Chase
said.
The company is still doing what is best described as exploration drilling, but if results continue to be encouraging they will
switch to definition drilling in the next phase - designed to determine just how much ore is sitting in reserve.
Mr. Chase said the current drilling program, with a maximum value of $4 million, is scheduled to be complete by the end of
the year.
Before any thought would be given to putting the Potter Mine back into production the reserve would have to be detailed
on three sides and a feasibility would have to be completed.
The price for copper, zinc and other base metals has been low, but Mr. Chase said they have begun to firm up in recent
weeks and the long range prognosis is quite good.
"All you have to do is look at the stock prices of some of the majors such as Noranda to see that things are starting to
pick up," he said.
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