By NICK STEWART
Lake Shore Gold Corp. faces a year of change in 2007, as executives prepare for underground exploration at their Timmins-area properties.
“It’s an exciting year as we turn the corner from being a pure exploration company to getting this advanced project going,” says Brian Booth, president.
“We have a lot to look forward to.”
With a mineral resource estimate having recently been completed for its 395-hectare Timmins West Gold property, Lake Shore is looking to submit an underground exploration permit in the first quarter of 2007.
If approved, the company will spend the summer working underground on a comprehensive drilling program, spacing drill holes 25 metres apart, rather than 50 metres as was done above ground.
A bulk sample will then be collected and assayed, and a feasibility study will be conducted to determine mine potential.
Published in November, the mineral resource estimate for the Timmins West Gold property established an indicated uncut resource of 1.29 million ounces gold, representing a 78 per cent increase over its previous total. It also established an inferred resource of 207,000 ounces gold. The average grade for the indicated resource was 12.29 grams per tonne gold, a figure which Booth says elevates the company into a unique category.
“In the area, something that’s better than 10 grams is in the upper quartile of grade of deposits, so it’s very significant.
The ones in Red Lake are certainly higher grade, but if you look at the Abitibi from Timmins through to Val d’Or, we would be in the upper 25 per cent of grades.”
Lake Shore Gold will explore vein zones on the property, rather than just the ultramafic and footwall zones which represent nearly 90 per cent of the property’s mineralization thus far, Booth says.
Lake Shore Gold’s exploration budget for 2007 matches the 2006 total of $7 million, with four drills running across four of its eight sites. This includes one on Timmins West, one on the nearby Thunder Creek, one on its DeSantis property, and one on the Vogel-Schumacher site, all of which are located in the Timmins area.
As an example of the company’s focus on its Timmins holdings, Booth points to a 50 per cent joint venture with Superior Diamonds to explore Lake Shore Gold’s dormant Canopener site in the Neskatanga First Nation region in northwestern Ontario. Superior Diamonds will head up local gold exploration, enabling Lake Shore to focus its efforts on its Timmins-area holdings.
Booth credits exploration in the west portion of the Timmins camp to some of the company’s current success, as new technologies have enabled the company to deal with the strong overburden that dissuaded geologists and prospectors in the past.
However, Booth says technology is useless without the right people operating it and in that regard, Lake Shore is well-equipped for the future with a strong team made up of experienced personnel.
“Successful juniors are those with good people. It’s a competitive industry so we’re very fortunate to retain our excellent, skilled team of professionals and geologists.”
