PowerOre of Toronto has spent the winter poring over historical drill results and creating a 3D model of the past producing Springer and Perry copper mines. The geologists identified a number of wide - 20 metres or longer - disseminated mineralized drill intersections from the Springer mine.
Early in the mines' history, operators focused on high grade veins and much of the disseminated copper mineralization in the core was not sampled. "We are keen to evaluate this aspect of the historical drilling as it pertains to our attempts at estimating an open pitable resource on the Springer mine," said PowerOre VP exploration Charles Beaudry.
Drilling at Opemiska continues. Some of the holes will test for broadly disseminated mineralization suitable for a potential open pit mine. Others will twin the historical holes to validate earlier assays.
The Opemiska complex is located adjacent to the town of Chapais in the Chibougamau region. Falconbridge mined the Springer and Perry mines from 1951 to 1991, removing 23 million tonnes of ore grading 2.4% copper and 0.3 g/t gold.
This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal.