MAE-t...in the news:
Miramar works out Hope Bay 2003 exploration program
Mr. Tony Walsh reports
MAJOR EXPLORATION PROGRAM PLANNED FOR MIRAMAR'S HOPE BAY P ...
Miramar Mining's board of directors has approved a major exploration
program for the Hope Bay project in 2003 comprising 34,000 metres of core
drilling and 4,500 metres of reverse circulation drilling. The majority of
this work will focus on the favourable 11-kilometre-long Deformation zone
trend in the Madrid area and related structures. Including approximately
$1.3-million on permitting and feasibility work related to the Doris North
development project, expenditures at Hope Bay are anticipated to total
approximately $14.5-million in 2003.
"The major effort to be expended on exploration of the Hope Bay belt in
2003 reflects our commitment to the systematic exploration of this
prospective gold belt," said Tony Walsh, Miramar's president and chief
executive officer. "Our primary objective is to expand on the encouraging
results from the Madrid area over the past two years, during which we
discovered five significant new gold occurrences. This success merits a
major effort to evaluate the potential of this extensive mineralized
system, where we believe that there is significant upside potential."
Madrid area
The Deformation zone is a major structure that is spatially associated with
significant gold mineralization in the Madrid area, including the Naartok
and Suluk deposits discovered in 2001, which added approximately 230,000
ounces of indicated resource plus 628,000 ounces of inferred resource to
the resource base at Hope Bay. With the discovery of gold in the Marianas
and Rand Spur areas and the expansion of the South Patch zone to depth in
2002, Miramar has now identified a series of deposits and gold occurrences
along the trend of the Deformation zone that extend over a six-kilometre
area from Naartok in the north, through the P112, Perrin bulge, Matrim
areas, the Suluk discovery of 2001, and now the Marianas and South Patch
areas. The Nexus RC and core drilling in 2002 also identified an additional
five kilometres of favourable strike to the Deformation zone that is yet to
be evaluated. A series of splays and parallel structures identified to the
north and east of the Deformation zone host the Perrin, Rand and Rand Spur
areas, and offer potential for other discoveries along this trend. A third
trend has been identified 700 metres to the east on the east shore of Patch
Lake.
Each of the gold deposits and occurrences in the Madrid area has its own
unique characteristics, varying from vein or shear-hosted to stockwork or
breccia-hosted gold mineralization. Most of the deposits are at or near the
hangingwall of the Deformation zone or one of the parallel structures or
splays, except at the southern end of Suluk and at South Patch where
mineralization is contained within the Deformation zone. Most of the
deposits, except South Patch, consist of high-grade cores surrounded by
large halos of lower grade mineralization. The proximity of all the
deposits to the Deformation zone suggests it is a major control on gold
mineralization in the area. The current program will target the discovery
and delineation of additional high-grade mineralization along the
Deformation zone and related structures and will also allow Miramar to
evaluate the potential of the Deformation zone to host large-scale, lower
grade deposits.
Madrid exploration plans
Drilling is planned to commence in mid-February, 2003, with an initial
35-to-40-hole program (totalling approximately 12,000 metres of drilling)
that will focus on extending the known deposits along the Deformation zone
and on evaluating untested portions of the Deformation zone. Drilling will
test for depth and strike extensions to the Suluk deposit, discovered in
2001, the newly discovered Marianas gold occurrence, strike extensions to
the high-grade South Patch discovery, and favourable untested sections of
the Deformation zone between these occurrences and to the south, where
drilling at Nexus in 2002 extended the strike length of the Deformation
zone to a total of 11 kilometres.
A subsequent approximately 35-hole, 11,000-metre program has been approved
to follow up on results from the first phase of drilling, to be carried out
before spring breakup. A further program comprised an additional 10,000
metres of drilling and will continue the evaluation of this trend during
the summer. All programs are contingent on positive results and will be
evaluated on a continuing basis.
Other areas
Outside of the Madrid area, exploration will test the Twin Peaks geologic
target and will continue the continuing evaluation of known gold trends and
showings. Assessment work requirements will be met by using a combination
of core and reverse circulation drilling, geophysics, and other exploration
techniques.
The Twin Peaks area is a conceptual target, where continuing work is
evaluating the potential for a Timiskaming-type gold deposit, a geologic
setting where gold is trapped within and below sediments and conglomerates
that cap underlying intrusive and volcanic rocks. Exploration in 2002
improved Miramar's understanding of the potential controls on
mineralization in the Twin Peaks area, and drilling of six core holes,
totalling 1,200 metres, is planned to continue to advance this regional
conceptual target.
Reverse circulation (RC) drilling will continue the evaluation of the Nexus
area, where exploration in 2002 extended the Deformation zone an additional
five kilometres to the south for a total strike length of 11 kilometres.
Geophysics and RC drilling will also be used to continue the evaluation of
the promising Gas Cache area, where an extensive carbonate alteration zone
was partially delineated in 2002. RC drilling will also be used to begin
the evaluation of a number of other target areas, including the Inge
prospect, and to meet assessment work.
Hope Bay project
Prior to the 2002 drilling, as announced in Stockwatch news on Jan. 15,
2002, the Hope Bay project has measured and indicated resources of 3.36
million tonnes grading 15.4 grams/tonne gold for a contained 1.66 million
ounces, plus an additional inferred 6.7 million tonnes grading 12.3 g/t
gold, for an additional inferred contained 2.65 million ounces of gold. An
updated resource for the Doris and South Patch deposits is currently in
progress and will be released early in 2003.
Production planning
A positive preliminary assessment, the results of which were announced in
Stockwatch news on Feb. 8, 2002, established attractive base case economics
for a small portion of the total resource at Hope Bay. The Doris North area
was estimated to be able to support production of 270,000 ounces of gold
over a 2.1-year period at a cash cost of $114 (U.S.) per ounce and an
85-per-cent rate of return at a $280 (U.S.) gold price. The mine plan was
updated on Sept. 10, 2002, to increasing this to 323,900 ounces of gold.
A feasibility study is planned for completion by the end of 2002. Provided
that the feasibility study is positive, and permits and financing are
obtained in a timely manner, major equipment would be shipped to site in
the summer of 2004 and production is targeted to commence by the end of
2004.
Quality assurance/quality control
The information related to gold exploration is reported under an extensive
quality control program supervised by Dean McDonald, PGeo, PhD, exploration
manager with Miramar Mining Corporation, who is an appropriately qualified
person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
WARNING: The company relies upon litigation protection for
"forward-looking" statements.
(c) Copyright 2002 Canjex Publishing Ltd. stockwatch.com |
