Eastmain 'pleased as punch' on 2nd highest project grade in N America
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – An updated mineral resources statement for TSX-listed Eastmain Resources’ Eau Claire gold deposit, part of the Clearwater project, in the James Bay region of Quebec, had increased the compliant measured resources by 53% and confirmed the project as the second highest-grade exploration project in North America.
Global consulting engineers SRK Consulting undertook the latest resource statement and demonstrated that the deposit had potential for economic extraction using an openpit, while other (deeper) parts of the deposit could be mined using an underground mining method.
“We’re as pleased as punch about this. It’s been a long time coming, we’ve put a lot of work into this resource update,” Eastmain president and CEO Don Robinson told Mining Weekly Online in an interview.
According to the latest resource statement, Eau Claire now held openpit constrained measured and indicated (M&I) gold resources totalling 885 000 oz of contained gold and maintained an average grade of 4.05 g/t gold.
Robinson pointed out that this placed Eastmain among an elite group of North American explorers with a substantial high-grade resource. Out of 17 undeveloped openpit gold projects on the continent, Eau Claire counted among only ten of which were more than 50%-owned by an explorer.
At an average grade of 4.1 g/t gold, it ranked second to only Sabina Gold & Silver’s Back River project, in south-western Nunavut, which held about 3.4-million ounces of gold at an average grade of 5 g/t.
Eau Claire’s openpit inferred gold resources currently contained 110 000 oz of gold at a grade of 3.12 g/t.
Openpit gold resource grades systematically increased with the amount of drilling completed from 3.12 g/t in the inferred category, where drill spacing in the third dimension exceeded 25 m, to 4.05 g/t in the M&I category, where drill hole spacing provided greater confidence at 25 m. Grades also improved to 7.29 g/t (8.71 g/t uncapped) in the measured resources category, where there was the greatest confidence owing to more closely-spaced drilling.
“The company has significantly upgraded inferred openpit mineral resources to measured and indicated mineral resource categories in the upper portion of the deposit, where internal scoping studies indicate that the driving catalyst for potential future economic extraction is the viability of the openpit,” Robinson said.
He added that closely spaced composite surface channel sample grades were 81% higher, at 13.2 g/t, than the measured openpit gold resources, suggesting that additional drilling and sampling had significant potential to lift the contained gold ounces.
The updated resource statement was the result of about 70 000 m of drilling completed in the upper third of the deposit, demonstrating Eau Claire's potential for economic extraction.
With an updated resource statement in hand, Eastmain intended to start work on a preliminary economic assessment (PEA), overseen by Eastmain Mining Development Group’s technical adviser, Serge Bureau.
POTENT POTENTIAL
Robinson noted that there was potential to improve resource grades further.
Based on Eastmain's work to date, which clearly showed an increase in grade with increased drilling or sample density, there was substantial potential to continue to increase both grade and tonnage of the openpit and underground mineral resources at Eau Claire.
“There is excellent potential to add to openpit and underground M&I mineral resources, with additional drilling below and laterally, to the conceptual pit shell, used to constrain the openpit resources. There is also significant potential for additional discoveries within the Eau Claire belt, where anomalous gold-bearing rock samples have been defined along a key mineralised corridor for over 7.5 km,” Robinson advised.
Historical wide-spaced drilling, completed before 2006, had defined a large footprint of inferred resources, mainly within the lower two-thirds of the deposit, extending for 500 m east of the conceptual pit shell and to a vertical depth of 900 m, where no recent drilling had been completed.
Further, the complex Eau Claire deposit contained an abundant tellurium by-product. The resource update estimated the openpit to contain about 36 600 kg, grading 5.38 g/t of tellurium, which was most commonly used to make alloys, to manufacture solar panels and as a semiconductor in consumer electronics.
Robinson noted that potential buyers had already contacted the company with regard to the rare metal, which was in relatively short supply. It had a very strong correlation to gold at Eau Claire and might contribute to the future economics of the deposit.
In parallel with starting work on the PEA, Eastmain would also spend about $2-million on exploration this year to test areas below and next to the conceptual pit shell to expand openpit and underground resources. It would also comprise surface exploration along the ‘Eau Claire Gold Belt’, in search of a second gold deposit on the property.
Major miner Goldcorp also owned the Éléonore mine, in the James Bay region of Quebec, which was expected to produce between 290 000 oz and 330 000 oz of gold this year.
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