18 Terrace Review — Wednesday, November 6, 1991

E S kay C re e k — continued tom page 7 _

Drilling to date has disclosed a
lens-shaped deposit varying from
two to 11 metres in thickness
and dropping off at a 45 degree
angle underground to the north-
west.

Peter Busse: Remote area,
high expectations.

The underground exploration,
Busse explains, is a matter of
blasting and extending tunnels to
follow. the known areas of gold-
bearing ore identified by surface
drilling: Back in the main tunnel
he points up through water drip-
ping from the ceiling to a tiny
circle of light, sunlight coming
through an old surface drill hole
that the tunnel intersects.

The miners extend the tunnels,
and behind them come the dia-
mond drillers. Around the corner
is another short tunne], with a

_ diamond drill thrust into the wall
- at an oblique angle, looking like
some futuristic piece of artillery.
The mining and drilling crews
work alternating shifts so the
power generating system doesn’t
overload.

In another offshoot of the main
tunnel, Busse calls attention to a
niche in the wall, a cavity just
large enough for a man to stand

reserve estimate for the zone-
issued in September 1990, The
company said probable reserves
in the zone were in the order of
three million ounces of gold and
112 million ounces of silver.
The cut-off grade was .25
ounces of gold per ton, anything
less than that being considered
uneconomical to mine. During
that year two helicopters were
permanently stationed at the
camp and six more were on
standby at Bell H, exclusively
for the use of the Eskay camp.
If the mine goes, Busse
believes, it will be a conven-
tional underground operation,
there appears to be too much |
material laying on top of the ore

| body that would have to be

removed for strip mining to be
economical. The metallurgical
testing should be finished by the
end of the season this year. If
the venture partners decide the
mine’s a go, a Stage I report
will be issued in the spring, and
the access road should be fin-
ished by fall of 1992.

After permitting, feasibility
and design the mine could be in
operation by early 1995. Mean-
while, since the issue of the
prospectus in April 1990, one of
Busse’s jobs and one of his
priorities for this year has been
studying surface and under-
ground water flow in the area
and compiling a host of detailed
environmental data about Eskay.
"We want to be very explicit
about the hydrology and the
environment from the Unuk

‘River to Tom MacKay Lake. It’s

an extensive area, very high and
near the headwaters of signifi-
cant rivers,” he said.

_ explosions deep in the ground. |

in. The miners had removed —

about a ton of rock from the
cavity and shipped it to a lab in
Ontario to be analyzed for
everything. He explains that they
have to know not only about
precious metal content but about
anything in the rock — lead,
antimony, the whole mineral
house of potential horrors —
that will have to be neutralized
when the tailings disposal sys-
tem is designed. That informa-
tion will also be calculated as a
cost when it comes time to make
a production decision on the
mine,

_ he jury is still out on
whether Eskay will in fact
become a mine. Busse figures
~ about $20 million has been spent
on the project so far, all of that
to determine whether it can be
profitable. During the summer of
1989 140 people were working
on the site, six drills were in
operation, and 475,000 fect of
drill core was pulled out of the
ground, In 1990 attention

’ goomed in on. the 21-B zone,

where the underground workings
were eventually to 9e built,
culminating ina. geological

n the flight back,
belted into the plexiglass bubble
of the Hughes 500, Northern
Mountain Helicopters pilot
Robin Kennedy swoops along
the uninviting terrain of Volcano
Creek, which the access road
will follow when its final stage
is finished next year. He came to
the north from the Oregon coast,
where he had been helicopter
logging with a Sikorsky Sky-

crane before the spotted owls

kicked everyone out of the for-
est. When the mining shows shut
down for the winter, he'll be
going down to Chile for the
season, flying for a copper min-
ing company in the Andes. Like:
most pilots, he gets a base rate
of pay plus a set amount for
each hour he flies. The hours
this year have been a disappoint-
ment in relation to what he
expected from hearing about last
year’s activity. Like most pilots,
he’s taking it philosophically.
Near the place where Volcano
Creek flows into the vast,
muddy, meandering Iskut, the
road-building shock troops are

- clearing a path through the river

bank forest. The logging crews,
from Don Hull and Sons of
Terrace, appear to be ahead of
schedule, clearing the. way for
Ledcor Construction, grading the
road two kilometres behind
them, Kennedy drops low to get
a look at the fallers, who stop
work to gaze up at the intrusion.
"Maybe they think we’re from
the Sierra Club," Busse quips
over the intercom.

A\ bout now, at the end of -

October or beginning of Nov-—

ember, the camp at Eskay will
be virtually deserted.
the first winter the camp was
established about a dozen men
were left to look after it. The
site gets between 50 and 60 feet
of snow from October to May,
and the weight of the accumu-
lated snow can crush even build-
ings with steel rafters. All of the
crew were out. continually
shovelling snow off the roofs
and still coutdn’t keep up.

A flash of inspiration solved
the problem. Two BR400 snow
grooming machines, of the kind
used to smooth ski slopes, were
lifted in by helicopter. The win-
ter maintenance crew this year
will be two people. .

At Bell II rain has expanded
the puddles in the lot of the
helicopter base. The air seems
denser and more forgiving. Back
in the mountains, the black,
friable rock heart of 21-B waits,
along with the bears, marmots
and mice, for the somnolent
mantle of snow ... and then
spring, heralded by more

‘
a

step further:

\

A raat degeaean aad
AN AVIVNELALILT
KEN’S MARINE

a —. ~

a PERFECT SCENTS*MARY KAY*NORTHERN LIGHTS STUDIO*AMWAY*GRAFTS=

SNNTURETEEECEEEECCWABA ATE CUTEEEEEEIEEEIZ,

Some said
high-performance sled.

We proved them wrong.

Introducing the VMax-4, the
beginning of a new era of
performance from Yamaha.

When Yamaha put its
mind to building a high

"performance sled, the
designers went one

ae : Bob Quien

, “Creek
range ~~

[ g OR
;; >

—,

Stewart j

oo
,

Smithers

30. Miles
anna
30 kn

LEE MORGAN‘AVON>CRAFTS*PRINCESS HOUSE CRYSTAL:BABY CORNER

WANT A HOME PARTY..

«BUT HAVE NO TIME?
. Drop by
Canadian Women In Timber's

Christmas
Bazaar

. Featuring:
-Craits & craft supplies
*Goodies
-22 home based businesses
*no admission charge
Hosted by:

Canadian} Women,
ah in Timber .
Wednesday, November 13
7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Terrace Curling Club(upstairs)

3210 Schoo! Street
PPERWARE:DISCOVERY TOYS:INDISPOSABLE DIAPERS AND ACCESSORIES-+

SLIVHO-SNOIHSV4 SNIML LididS*WOOLSNANTVM-ONIHLOTO WSAIN NOLLOO-

Yamaha couldn’t build a

ahah ek chad Rah Red eh iQehehodehohed Reh chekehskcbedshehehembaheiegepegegegegeruge
eb acl Bed ch ekabed smomageGegegcgePegehegehGekeRegeheg see Qes Pek eFegF te eTeF teers t

They built the Future of
snowmobiling.
See the newest era of
performance at your
Yamaha dealer today.

a

THE \S
A
is AIDING OM US

4946 Greig Ave.
Terrace, B.C, V8G 1N4 —

Ken Gibson
(604) 635-2909