Exploration by junior firms reduced despite interest generated by mapping.

• Author: Wroe, John
• Position: Gold Mining Report

Exploration by junior firms reduced despite interest generated by mapping

Although there are an impressive number of mining and exploration operations in the Kirkland Lake gold camp, activity has reduced over the past few years.

Statistics from the resident geologist's office show a 20-percent reduction in active claims, with 22,554 active in January of this year, compared to 27,400 in January of 1988.

There appear to be fewer small companies active in the exploration field, something attributable to the discontinuation of the federal flow-through share financing program. Its replacement, the Canadian Exploration Incentive Program, was cancelled before the exploration community utilized it.

Much of the current activity has resulted from the Kirkland Lake Incentive Program, a federally funded geological mapping exercise undertaken in the early 1980s. The release of those maps sparked a great deal of exploration, particularly in Harker-Holloway Township north of Kirkland Lake along Highway 101.

There was a recent release of geological maps of the greenstone area further north, but there wasn't a similar response of exploration activity. The lack of interest can be traced to the changes in government funding programs and the lack of access to the land.

The adjoining area of north-western Quebec, including the popular Casa-Berardi region, has seen a great deal of exploration activity. However, Quebec still has a modified flow-through program, and the region has a well-developed infrastructure, the result of a post-war government road building program.

The current focus of exploration activity in Kirkland Lake continues to be along the Highway 101 corridor from Matheson to the Quebec border, an area where American Barrick began production at the Holt-McDermott Mine in 1988.

The mine, employing about 200 people, has reserves of about 600,000 ounces, or about 10 years of production at last year's level of 63,354 ounces. In addition, the company is exploring in the adjacent Mattawasaga and Three Star/Worvest zones, drifting from the 250-metre level of Holt-McDermott.

The Matawasaga Zone reportedly has 1.7 million tons of ore grading at .12 ounces of gold per ton. Three Star/Worvest has 1.75 million tons grading at .14 and .15 ounces of gold. Total reserves in both areas is an estimated 456,000 ounces of gold.

Canamax Resources suspended mining in 1989 at its Holloway Township property because of insufficient tonnage. In 1988 the company mined...