Our strategy is to re-evaluate properties that have been former producers in mining-friendly jurisdictions. Most of these types of properties have expensive infrastructure and permitting already in place. That makes them a lot easier to develop. Money has already been spent finding the mineralization, creating an historical data base, upon which we can expand. We then bring in our management team - people with experience with these types of properties.
We are not looking for mines that closed because they were exhausted, but ones that closed because of low metal prices.
The now-expanded Granada property has three other developed workings that were explored underground in the 30s and 40s. The property is located in northwestern Quebec on the prolific Cadillac trend, which is host to numerous multi-million ounce gold deposits.
Gold Bullion acquired the Granada property in 2006. After reviewing the historical geological data, a decision was made to undertake a bulk sample to evaluate the grade of mineralization. The bulk sample, mined from surface, comprised 140,000 tonnes, of which 30,000 tonnes were milled. The material milled returned a grade of 1.62 grams per tonne. As a result, the original land package was increased from just 71 hectares to over 11,000 hectares presently.
The mineralization is trending roughly east-west and dips towards the north at about 50 degrees. As the compilation of the historical data and current drill data evolves, a mineralization model is being developed.
At this time, we are simply drilling for structure to determine the extent of the mineralization.
The drill program to date indicates shallow depth mineralization with significant widths over a widespread area, suggesting that the Granada property has the potential to become another important discovery on the prolific Cadillac trend.
The mineralized zone on surface presently stands at 1.2 km long, and about 250 m to 500 m wide. Known mineralization has been historically mined to a depth of 300 metres. To date, we have yet to define the extent of the mineralization. It remains open in all directions.
Studies are being undertaken to evaluate what grade of gold is the optimum for the economic development of the property. Currently, we have obtained 90 percent gold recovery down to a grade of 0.5 grams per tonne.
In short, all the signs are there that Granada can become a major, low grade, bulk tonnage, open pit mine with the potential to then move underground in due course. We can work year-round on the property. Being located just 5km south of Rouyn-Noranda, it is surrounded by excellent infrastructure and is in one of the world’s premiere jurisdictions for mining and exploration.
Frank Basa