Shoal, Cameron Lake properties halted by environmental concerns and price of gold.

• Author: Costea, Thom
• Position: Gold Mining Report

Shoal, Cameron Lake properties halted by environmental concerns and price of gold

There's gold in northwestern Ontario and the Kenora district near the Manitoba border is no exception, but a few stumbling blocks are in the road of future developments.

The price of gold and environmental concerns have two projects in holding patterns. The Cameron Lake project southeast of Kenora is playing a waiting game with the price of gold and the Duport Mine property on Shoal Lake is surrounded by controversy over fear of water contamination.

"We're waiting for the price of gold to show a little upward movement," says Douglas Hume, president of Cameron Lake developer, Nuinsco Resources. "We need to see a little more joy in the gold market itself. It wouldn't be appropriate to attempt to arrange funding for the project with the present market conditions."

The Cameron Lake site has 3.15 million tons of estimated ore reserves down to the 2,600-foot level, grading at .168 ounces of gold per ton. Proven and probable reserves of 996,000 tons down to 1,000 feet at .184 ounces per ton will give the project a four-year life, with remaining possible reserves extending production to 10 years.

"Cameron Lake is our principal property in the area right now. We have other properties in the region with possible reserves, but we're waiting until Cameron Lake comes on-line before we move on anything else," says Hume.

The Cameron Lake deposit will require $22.7 million to bring in hydroelectricity to the site, construct a 1,000-ton-per-day mill and begin extraction. Nuinsco has already cleared a road to the site.

Nuinsco has done some drilling at its nearby Monte Cristo property with some "encouraging" results, says Hume, but no new ore has been found as yet. Cameron Lake is not showing high grade ore, but if the price of gold increases, the project could be worthwhile.

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