Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Drilling at Nighthawk Gold’s (TSXV: NHK) 930-sqkm Indin Lake gold project, 200 km north of Yellowknife, has extended mineralization at the Grizzly Bear deposit ahead of a resource update expected later this year.
Nighthawk released results of 18 holes totalling 4,048 metres drilled at Grizzly Bear. The shallow holes, limited to 200 metres depth, targeted mineralization extensions to the north and south of current resources at Grizzly Bear, located in the Colomac Centre area, 2 km away from the Colomac main deposit.
The program was successful in extending the deposit along 175 metres of strike to the north, with drill highlights of 6.2 metres of 4.64 g/t gold in hole 13 and 10.3 metres of 2.77 g/t gold in hole 7.
Richard Roy, Nighthawk’s vice-president of exploration said in a release that results from the north extension were in line with expectations.
“The Grizzly Bear satellite deposit, although narrower than Colomac, remains attractive to the economic potential of the Colomac Centre as it is located less than 2 km to the southwest of the main Colomac deposit,” he said. “As part of the Phase II program, additional infill drilling will focus on delineating the extent and continuity of mineralization identified north of the current resources and to incorporate these results into the subsequent resource update at year end.”
Nighthawk has completed 18,200 metres of this year’s 41,420-metre phase 1 drill program at Indin Lake. The program began in March and is expected to run until the end of July.
Five drill rigs are at work – two at the Nice Lake target within Colomac Center, two at the Cass zone and Albatross target, and one at the northern section of the main Colomac deposit.
Indin Lake hosts indicated open pit and underground resources in three deposits – Colomac, Goldcrest and Grizzly Bear – of 38.7 million tonnes grading 1.81 g/t gold for 2.3 million oz. It also hosts inferred resources in the three deposits as well as the 24/27 and Damoti deposits totalling 11.5 million tonnes grading 2.13 g/t gold for 786,000 oz.
The Colomac main deposit was mined intermittently in the 1990s, producing 527,908 oz. of gold with an average head grade of 1.66 g/t gold.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
