Spring 2011 - The Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia

e mined by open-pit methods.” He says
that although the deposit’s grades are
good, it was barely economic until prices
rose in 2006.
“Base metal mines need good roads,
power and labour, none of which was
close at hand at the time,” he said. “In
addition, the metallurgy is not simple
and getting a permit for massive sulphide
deposits can be challenging because of
the high sulphide content of tailings and
possibly some of the waste rock. If the
20 SPRING 2011
deposit were closer to infrastructure, it
would have been mined years ago.”
Barkerville Gold’s QR deposit is a
propylite gold skarn located in B.C.’s
Cariboo Gold District. Kinross Gold
Corporation built a mine and a mill
with a capacity of 900 tpd in 1994 for
an estimated $40 million. It operated
for three years before it closed due to
low gold prices. Cross Lake Minerals
Ltd. acquired the project in 2005 and
spent an estimated $34.5 million on mill
upgrades, mine development and a new
three-phase power line. Those expenditures
substantially reduced the start-up
costs for Barkerville Gold Mines, which
acquired the project in February 2010.
In March 2010, mining at QR began,
and ore from the West Zone was mined,
hauled and stockpiled at the QR mill. In
September 2010, commercial production
began with the pouring of the company’s
fi rst gold doré bar. Dean Nawata, Barkerville’s
vice-president of business
development, says the company is on
track to pour 50,000 ounces by September
2011.
Detailed planning is underway for
a development-drilling program at the
North Zone, which the company expects
will be the next zone developed for mining
on the property. It is the largest gold
mineralization zone found so far at the
QR mine, with a drill-indicated strike
length of over 1,000 metres.
In the 1970s,
there was more
interest in
molybdenum as
a lubricant in oil
and gas drilling.
Scott Broughton, president and CEO
of Roca Mines Inc., says the original
discovery at Trout Lake, now his company’s
MAX mine, was made in the early
1960s. In the late 1960s, the oil and gas
company Scurry Rainbow optioned the
property, which lies 60 kilometres southeast
of Revelstoke. It drilled a few holes
and found molybdenum at depth, but the
price of the metal was so low at the time
that nothing more was done.
In the 1970s, there was more interest
in molybdenum as a lubricant in oil
and gas drilling. Newmont Canada and
Esso Minerals Canada explored the
area and found good results in one of
the drill holes. Although a great deal of
engineering work was done, the price of
molybdenum was still low, and the project
was mothballed.
In 2004, with molybdenum prices rising,
Roca began a series of negotiations to