By JOHN YOUNG
'-- The Interior News
Smithers

SMITHERS — The image of a

prospector as a grizzled, deter- -

mined figure suffering gold
fever and. wandering through
wilderness with only his mule
for company has been
reprogrammed,

‘The late 20th century pro-
spector is more likely to be lear-
ning the latest in personal com-
puter applications than in per-
sudding his mule up a mountain
slope.

Recently, northwest prospec-
tors were among those atten-
ding a three-day seminar on
computer applications in the
mining industry.

Setting up spread sheets, ex-
amining mineral occurrence
data afid drawing maps were
among the computer uses
discussed at the seminar
organized by the Smithers Ex-
‘ploration Group, a non-profit
group encouraging mine ex-
ploration in northwestern B.C.

“It’s pretty hard to keep on
top of all that’s happeiing,’’
said Smithers prospector Dan
Ethier, who recently bought a
personal computer and wanted
to know what it could do for
him.

“‘That’s the way the
industry's gone. It’s pretty well
all high tech.’” ‘

His computer will help gather,
enough information to make an
‘informed choice on a mineral
property, Ethier said.

“The more information you
have, the better decision you
can make.'*

Seminar participants attend-
ed talks touching on software,
hardware and the latest in com-
puter programming as it applies
to mapping and geology.

“A guy would hate to walk
by a big gold mine, wouldn’t
he?’’ Ethier commented after
one session. ‘‘if this stuff can
help, we better pay attention.’”

Mineral search dips

TERRACE — Mining explora-
tion expenditures dropped in
1989 compared to 1988 but it
was still one of the best in recent
times, says the district mines
ministry geologist.

Dave Lefebure said the activi-
ty of last year must be con-
sidered in light of the cycle of
mining activity.

“It didn’t come as a
surprise,” said Lefebure of
1989 exploration and develop-
ment. expenditures. We had
large expenditures in 1987 and
in 1988, Historically, 1989 was
‘still a very active year.’?

He estimated that overall ex-
-penditures were down about
one third compared to 1988 and
that the number of exploration
‘programs also dropped by one-
third.

In the Iskut region north of

Mine decision —
coming soon

TERRACE — Newhawk Gold Mines will decide
sometime next month if its Sulphurets gold pro-
perty north of Stewart will become a mine, says
‘company president Don McLeod. _
_ The company Is in the final stages of determin-
ing how much ore it has at the location, he said.
That will lead to a decision on what size the
qmine’s mill should be and consequently what
kind of costs will be involved, McLeod added.
Newhawk already estimates there is enough
ore to justify a mill processing approximately 350

tonnes a day. -

“The most important aspect is the ore reserve.
It tells you what size the mill should be. It’s a
Catch-22. You've got to have the reserves first,’

said McLeod.

, Newhawk’'s major shareholder is CoronaCor- | .
poration of Toronto and it isa joint venture - |.
partner in the Sulphurets property with Granduc ~

‘Mines Ltd, of Vancouver,

|. ‘The company estimates it will need just over
110 people to work the property. .

| Should the mine go ahead, it will be run by a.
‘small hydro-electric plant using water. from. :.
Brucejack Creek and by regulat

from Brucejack Lake. .

| The company has been working the site for the.”

‘past four years. If a mine is approved, it will be
the fifth northwest mine to open in |

_ Ethie. provincial ‘approval’. proces shis, now
‘worked its way to the permitting stage.”

Pv -
THE NEXT gold min

Yr.
he

“Gb

rospecting takes on

a sophisticated flavour — ;

@ Could be found via computer technology. Telkwa computer program designer Dr.

Alan Campbell, seated, was one of those at a recent seminar pointing out the benefits of using com-
puterized data for prospecting. Behind him Is prospector Steve Howard who recently bought a home
computer to help him In his research.

' Although computers may
help a prospector doa faster job
collecting data and preparing
mine proposals, the machines
are no substitute for getting out
into the field, he said.

“Computers aren't the be al]
and end ali — they’re just a
tool.” : .

“When you’re in the bush
your hammer is: your best tool
— when you’re at home, it's
your computer.”’

But some of the more
sophisticated programs discuss-
ed at the seminar opened a door
to a world of ‘desk top pro-
specting’’,

MINFILE, a computerized
data-base developed by the
Geological Survey Branch,
gathers on disks information
about mineral occurrences so
far covering about half the pro-
vince. .

While this current technology.

provides the prospector easy ac-
« tess to mineral data, the future
, offers a realm of possibilities,

Stewart, considered the most
prominent gold and silver bear:
ing areas of the province, ex-
ploration and development
spending dipped to $27 million
compared to the $43 million of
1988, .

Lefebure attributed some ol
the decline to a drop last sum-
mer in the price of gold and @
change in federal regulations
which permit raising venture
capital for exploration.

As well, some of the major
exploration and. development
projects of the past three years
became working mines in 1989,
he said.

“The Lawyers (a property in
the Toodoggone operated. by
Cheni Mines} became opera-
tional in January, Golden Bear,
northwest of Dease Lake began
stockpiling from its open pit in

"A guy would hate to.
walk by a big gald mine,
wouldn't he?”

seminar speakers told par-

ticipants.

Geographic Information
Systems (GIS), discussed at the
seminar by Smithers computer
map maker Steve Howard, can
“‘Jayer’’ information on maps,
allowing data to be mixed and
matched in countless ways.

Alan Campbeil, a computer
program designer living in
Telkwa, suggested that com-
puter mapping using the GIS
system could be married to
MINFILE.

Applying that tool to geology
is logical, Campbell said, but
would “require so much com-
puter power it’s not realistic at
the moment. But it might be in

the summer, Westmin near
Stewart began in late May and a
small gold mine in the Toodog-
gone started last year,” said
Lefebure.

The geologist is predicting a
fairly healthy 1990 with sold
and silver exploration taking
place further north of the Iskut
area,

“You've heard of the Golden
Triangle (the Stikine-Iskut
area), this is called the Golden
Horseshoe,'’ said Lefebure of
the region bounded by north of
Stewart in the west to the
Toodoggone, northeast of
Smithers, to the east.

This contains what is called
the Hazelton group of rocks
and was the subject of
grassroots exploration — taking
samples and mapping — in
1989. :

five or 10 years.’”

Mines ministry ‘district

geologist Dave Lefebure said. he

“expects a gradual shift to more

sophisticated.. computer
technology in the mineral in-
dustry,

In 10 years, said Lefebure,
computers will be so user

friendly people will take them -

for granted, ‘much like
telephones today.

Three-dimensional geological
computer mapping could .be
part of prospecting in the
future, map maker Howard
said. A digitalized three-
dimensional map of B.C. will be
available within a couple of
years.

Called the Terrain Resource
Information Management pro-
gram, the system could con-
ceivabley be combined with a
variety of other base data infor-
mation and applied to mining.
The results would be a moving
3-D view of properties on a
computer screen, said Howard.

a bit

““We can expect some drilling
programs to take place this year
based on those findings,’’ said
Lefebure, ©

There will also be a reversal
of the situation of the past four
or five years when major com-
panies formed partnerships with
cash-rich junior ones to work
on exploration programs,
Lefebure added.

He said 1989 also saw an in-
crease in the search for base
metals such as copper, lead and
zinc and expects that to con-
tinue.

“The major companies are
looking and they normally want
gold associated with that,’’ said
Lefebure.

One of the base metals pro-
perties has been bought by
Cominco and lies just to the
west of Newhawk’s Sulphurets
gold project. .

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ENT: PROPERTIES:

Terrace Standard, Wednosday, January 24, 1990 — Page AS -

___ LETTERS

TO THE TERRACE STANDARD

| Bill wonders —

about Hubert ©

Dear Sir:
An open letter to
Hubert Beyer

You must have written
your Christmas sermon on
love and tolerance with
tongue in cheek, Nobody is
more full of hate against the
premier than you,

You are Mr. Hypocrite a la
Adolf Hitler himself, He said
one thing and did the other.
Everything sounds so
familiar.

’ Are you speaking up for
the Jews now and against the
Christians? Nice try. Sure,
blame the Christians for kill-
ing the Jews. Blame the
Christians for everything.
Hitler blamed the Jews for
every thing. Same principle,

It happened because your
Deutschland turned its back
to God. It still does. The
Christians were about the on-
ly ones that risked death by
hiding the Jews from your
murderers Vaterlanders,
whose God was the Fuhrer,

Who is yours? Not Bill
Vander Zalm! Here is a de-
cent honest premier who

By what standard do you
live and write? Not the Chris-
tian standard of true love. By
the way, Jesus was not
tolerant, certainly not of
characters like you, who
speak out of two corners of.
the same mouth., — .

We never had such a fine
premier and the fact that the
people of B.C. don't want.
him, proves the immorality
of the majority of the people |
of our province. May God —
have mercy!

“Here is a decent
honest premier who
keeps smiling in the
faces of them that want
to shred him to pieces,
like you.”

The old Jews, too, believ-
ed in choice. They chose
criminal Barabbas above
Jesus of Nazareth. The same
thing happens to the follower
of Jesus, named Bill Vander

keeps smiling in the faces of Zalm. ;
them that want to shredhim Study some history
to pieces, like you, and you Hubert. You might see

prefer people like Svend history repeating itself.
Robinson in your NDP Bill Homburg
future government. ' . Terrace, B.C.

Condom proposal
a moral crisis

Dear Sir:

A news item in The Ter-
race Standard has school
board chairman, Mrs. Edna
Cooper expressing her sup-
port for installations of con-
dom dispensers in public
schools.

She is quoted as saying,
‘we are in a crisis situation,
and we have to react with
everything we have, not just
one thing.’’

Certainly, we are in a crisis
situation. It is the crisis of
both morals and com-
monsense. Let me elaborate,

restaurants, daycare centres,
etc., to provide the protec-
tion they demand? Why not
encourage them to patronize
those stores that handle such
necessities?

If the need is so urgent that
they cannot slip over to the
drugstore, then it seems to.

“If those male and
female ‘punks’ wish to
indulge their lusts, why
does it fall upon us, the

The moral crisis has been ‘@XPayers, fo set up
building for decades, Itstems 2/SP ensa ries in
from a general drifting away schools,

from Christian values, aided
and abetted by the public
school system, as well as
many other agencies.

The commonsense crisis is
more complex. We are
gradually losing our ability
to see things as they really
are. In short, we are in the
Age of Unreason, Example:
we seek to outlaw guns,
forgetting that it is people
who kill, not guns.

If those male and female
“punks” wish to indulge
their lusts, why does it fall
upon us, the taxpayers, to set
up dispensaries in schools,
(and [ presume) post offices,

Paying lawyers

Dear Sir:

The Law Society of British
Columbia is inviting public
comment on contingency

"fees.
- Contingent fees are
agreements that pay s lawyer
percentage of any. court
award or settlement. They
are frequently used in ICBG
-and other personal injury
_¢laims, product liability cases
_ and wrongful dismissal ac-
_, tions,
~- Recent amendments to the
Legal Profession Act em-
power the Law Society to
establish maximums for con-

About

_ The Terrace Standard
welcomes letters to the editor
‘On all topics, All letters must
be. signed and carry an ad-

dress and local telephone
“mumber, Addresses or phone
.Mumbers won't be printed
-with the letter, but they are
Necessary. for. confirmation’

‘of: ;the -letter’s ° authenticity

The writer's ‘name. will ‘be
ublished,’; Requests - for

me that the ‘‘crisis’’ demands
that we set up separate
schools to keep them
separate, at least during lear-
ning hours,

It also seems clear to me
that if the schools could be
redesigned to become ‘“‘learn-
ing factories’’ those Little
hotheads would never have
the time or the place for their
extracurricular activities,

What do you think, folks?
Let's have your views.

Yours truly,
Thomas Atrill
New Hazelton, B.C.

tingency fees and to prescribe
the form and content of con-
tingent fee agreements,
Those who have views on
the matter are asked to send
written. submissions to the
Contingency Fees Commit-
tee, Law Society of B.C.,
300-1148 Hornby Street,
Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 204.
Those who wish to meet
with the Committee to make
oral presentations should say
so in their submissions.
The Law Society of
British Columbia,
Keith Hamilton, Vancouver
669-2533

letters

granted in extraordinary cir-
cumstances, =.

Thank you letters should
be submitted to the ‘Card of
Thanks’ section of the
classifieds,

Letters containing libelous
or objectionable: matter will
be edited or returned to the

_ writer, All letters are run on
a space available basis, with
- shorter lettets likely to be -

published soonest.

;;Muamhes to be withheld may be