Cross Lake to acquire inactive B.C. gold mine
Cross Lake Minerals Ltd CRN
Shares issued 35,272,665 Jul 10 close $0.11
Wed 10 Jul 2002 News Release
Mr. Brian Kynoch reports
CROSS LAKE MINERALS LTD.: QR GOLD PROPERTY OPTIONED
Cross Lake Minerals has signed a letter of intent with Kinross Gold
Corporation whereby the company has acquired an option to purchase a
100-per-cent interest in the QR gold property, located 58 kilometres
southeast of Quesnel, B.C. The company's recently optioned Cariboo property
(reported in Stockwatch on May 15, 2002) is located adjacent to the east of
the QR property.
The property includes the inactive QR mine which operated from May, 1995,
until April, 1998, when mining was suspended and the property placed on
care and maintenance due to low gold prices. While in operation, the mine
produced 3,672,767 grams (118,084 ounces) of gold from open pits and
underground stopes. According to Kinross's QR mine status report dated Jan.
25, 1999, the mineral reserves and resources remaining on site are
summarized in the following table:
Category Tonnes Gold
grade
(g/t)
Proven reserve 84,696 5.10
Probable reserve 235,182 5.07
Possible reserve 19,485 7.41
Resource (measured,
indicated and
inferred) 463,221 5.03
* Reserve estimate calculated using: gold at $350 (U.S.) per ounce;
Canadian dollar = 74 U.S cents; 93-per-cent recovery; and specific gravity
= 2.96 tonnes per cubic metre.
The reserve and resource calculations, using Gemcom modelling software,
were completed by Kinross before the implementation of National Instrument
43-101 and CIM guidelines for ore definitions and, therefore, do not meet
the current regulatory requirements. Until the company has completed an
independent reserve and resource calculation, which will conform with the
regulatory requirements as outlined in National Instrument 43-101, all of
the above categories should be considered a mineral resource.
According to Kinross's QR mine status report dated Jan. 25, 1999, the QR
mine is located in the Quesnel Terrane, a Triassic- and Jurassic-aged
island-arc/marginal basin tectonic assemblage, a region also referred to as
the Quesnel Trough. The assemblage has been intruded by a Jurassic-aged
pyroxene-bearing diorite stock. The gold mineralization is spatially
associated with the diorite stock, usually within 300 metres, in a
propylitized, carbonate-rich basaltic epiclastic unit dominated by a
garnet/epidote/chlorite/calcite alteration assemblage. The gold is
associated with sulphide mineralization varying in amounts from 1 per cent
to 15 per cent and consisting of pyrite, chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite with
minor amounts of galena and sphalerite.
There are six zones of known gold mineralization: the Main, West, Midwest,
North, East and Northwest zones, of which two (Main and West) were mined by
open pit and one (Midwest) was mined using underground methods. The
company's main exploration focus will be to expand on the unmined zones,
especially the North and East zones, which are open along strike to the
east and down dip. These zones are trending toward another diorite stock,
an important gold mineralization geological control, which is located 1,500
metres east of the QR mine.
Facilities, including a complete 800-tonne-per-day mill using a whole ore
cyandation with carbon-in-pulp recovery circuit, crushers, generators,
compressors, complete assay lab, engineering offices, various warehouses
and buildings, and the tailings impoundment area, remain on-site and appear
to have been well maintained since the orderly shutdown in 1998.
The company may acquire a 100-per-cent interest in the property by paying
Kinross a total of $800,000 on or before May 1, 2004. A $5,000 payment, in
cash and/or shares, at the company's discretion, is due upon signing of the
letter of intent with the remaining $795,000 to be paid in cash and/or
shares, at Kinross's discretion, upon exercise of the option by the
company. The company is required to finance the first year's holding costs
up to $220,000, in quarterly instalments in arrears, which are deductible
from the final payment. Should a deposit of more than one million proven
and recoverable ounces be discovered on the property, Kinross retains a
back-in right to acquire 50 per cent of the property by reimbursing the
company for twice the amount of expenditures incurred and by completing a
bankable feasibility report.
Over the next three to four months, the company intends to complete data
compilation, conduct field examinations and surveys, and carry out the
independent reserve and resource study, referred to previously, in order to
prepare for the first phase exploration program. Details will be released
in due course.
WARNING: The company relies upon litigation protection for
"forward-looking" statements.
(c) Copyright 2002 Canjex Publishing Ltd. stockwatch.com |
