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MINING NEWS: Cassiar gears up for fall production Longtime Vancouver-based gold producer aims to bring Table Mountain on line to support exploration of new bulk gold mining target Rose Ragsdale For Mining News
You could say David H. Brett has Cassiar Valley gold production in his blood.
Brett is president of Cusac Gold Mines Ltd., a company with a history of finding and producing gold in northern British Columbia that dates back half a century.
Brett’s father, Guildford Brett, prospected for gold in the Liard Mining District in the 1950s, and began amassing mineral claims in the area. In 1965, he founded Cusac and led the company to become one of the few Vancouver, B.C,. juniors to take a gold mining project all the way from exploration to production.
Over the years, Cusac amassed about 5,100 acres in the Cassiar Valley, claims that cover an area twice the size of Manhattan, Brett says. Most of Cusac’s claims are owned outright. Some, however, are subject to option payments and net smelter royalties, or net profit interests.
With prices up, the company plans to resume gold production on its claims at the Table Mountain Gold Mine.
But Cusac is also eyeing a potentially shinier target — a large-scale, bulk-tonnage, disseminated gold mineralization called Taurus II that it says could deliver a much bigger payday.
Table Mountain and Taurus II are 92 miles southwest of Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, and 96 miles northeast of Dease Lake, B.C. The abandoned town of Cassiar is at the northwestern end of the property, and the unincorporated settlement of Jade City is on Highway 37 at the road entrance to the mine facilities.
Cusac Gold Mines Ltd. controls most of the hard rock mining claims and a number of placer claims in the Cassiar area, said Brett, who grew up in the Cassiar Gold Camp, spending summer vacations there since he was 9 years old.
Gold discovered in 1874 Gold was discovered in the Cassiar Valley in 1874, touching off one of British Columbia’s lesser-known gold rushes. The area developed into one of the province’s major placer camps with most of its production occurring between 1874 and 1895.
The largest nugget discovered in British Columbia, 73 ounces or 2,503 grams, came from one of these camps.
Though placer production in the area was significant, little was done prior to 1933 to locate lode gold deposits. In 1934, the first gold-bearing quartz veins were found in Quartzrock Creek. Still, more than 400,000 ounces of gold have been produced in the area, including 315,000 ounces at Cusac’s Table Mountain Mine.
Over the years, numerous veins were discovered and many claims were staked. The higher grade portions of these veins were exploited by small-scale mining until the 1970s. Cusac’s interest in the area began with the prospecting efforts of Fred and Guilford Brett, who formed Glen Copper Mines Ltd., which evolved into Cusac Industries Ltd., and in 1995, Cusac Gold Mines Ltd.
The first large operation started in 1978 when the Agnes and Jennie Mining Co. Ltd. and Nu-Energy Development Corp., which later amalgamated to become Erickson Gold Mining Corp., started gold production from the Jennie Vein in the Main Mine. Cusac and then Erickson continued to explore and produce gold in what became known as the Cassiar Gold Camp for the next six or so years.
In 1985, the French oil giant, Total Compagnie Francaise des Petroles, acquired operating control of Erickson, renaming the company Total Energold Corp. and launching gold production from the Eileen Vein in the Cusac Mine in 1986, and discovered additional veins in the area.
Total decided to sell all of its North American mineral assets in 1991, and Cusac purchased the assets, free and clear of any royalties to Total, re-opened the Cusac Mine, and in 1993, began gold production on the Bain Vein (Bain Mine) at Table Mountain. Exploration and production work continued until 1997 when declining gold prices forced Cusac to shut down the operation.
Table Mountain production to resume Though Cusac continued to do some exploration, only now is the company gearing up to resume gold production at Table Mountain as early as November, Brett said during a recent telephone interview.
“It’s 10 years later and we’re back. You have to be persistent in this business,” he observed.
The Taurus II project is designed to explore Cusac’s claims south of the Taurus deposit, where geology and previous exploration indicate the possibility of a large-tonnage, disseminated gold deposit.
Separately, American Bonanza Gold Corp. is developing a 100-percent-owned advanced-stage project on the Taurus deposit that hosts a 1.04 million-ounce inferred gold resource. More than 30 percent, or 316,000 ounces, of this inferred gold resource, lies on Cusac’s claims.
Cusac started exploring Taurus II in 2005 and reported encouraging drill results.
The company raised $5.7 million in financing in May and returned to the property this summer with a drilling program at Taurus II and plans to reopen the Table Mountain Mine, Brett said.
Geochemical samples at Taurus II At Taurus II, exploration crews have completed a 2,700-sample soil geochemical survey over the bulk tonnage target and results have defined numerous gold anomalies that are currently being investigated by trenching. Trench results to date have defined a number of alteration zones and quartz vein structures that warrant follow-up diamond drilling. Diamond drilling began earlier this month.
To assist Cusac in its exploration strategy, the company hired senior consulting geologist Mathew C.N. Ball, Ph.D. Ball worked for both Cusac and Erickson Gold up to 1994, and completed his doctoral thesis on the subject of the origin of gold mineralization at Table Mountain. He has identified more than 70 priority-ranked exploration targets on the property and the Taurus II area stands out on his data set as the highest priority. Ball also recommended new down-dip drilling to test possible gold bearing extensions of the major veins on Table Mountain.
With gold selling for more than $500 an ounce, Cusac plans to tap the ore in two high-grade quartz veins, Rory and East Bain, using the company’s debt-free 300-ton-per-day mill and mining complex.
According to Cusac’s pre-feasibility report, the Rory vein has an indicated mineral resource of 22,000 tons grading 0.355 ounces of gold per ton and containing 7,807 ounces of gold. The East Bain vein has an Indicated Mineral Resource of 22,157 tons grading 0.63 ounces of gold per ton and containing 13,923 ounces of gold. The resource estimates were calculated using a 2-ounce-per-ton capping.
The veins have total estimated gold reserves of 44,000 tonnes, grading 0.49 ounces of gold per ton.
The goal is to produce two gold products — doré bars of gold and silver and a flotation concentrate, or black sand that will be shipped from Vancouver to a smelter in Japan, Brett said.
“Our cost to produce the gold will average $260 per ounce. We’re projecting 20,000 to 25,000 ounces of production over the first 12 months,” he said.
Cusac also plans to continue exploration to expand the Table Mountain mine.
Cash flow would develop Taurus Ultimately, the company wants the small high-grade mine at Table Mountain to provide cash flow to develop the much larger Taurus II project.
“By the fourth quarter, we should realize some cash flow from the mine,” Brett said. “Our slogan is ‘an exploring producer’ and we have an equal emphasis on both.”
At Table Mountain, Cusac completed surface preparations this summer, and crews have begun stripping away waste rock to get to the ore in the underground mine.
“We are looking at an even busier fall as we ramp up our drill program at Taurus II and start to hit ore on the Rory Vein,” Brett said.
The company has employed about 30 workers, many of whom are members of nearby First Nations communities.
“This is not just another mining property to our family. We feel connected to the area and we feel like we’re responsible to develop it into something. You’ve got to believe it. To this day, no one can see into the ground.”
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