It is my pleasure to share the transcript of an interesting conversation I had about one month ago. I will refer to the man as “The Unknown Geologist”. He worked on the Goldboro property in Nova Scotia in the late ‘80s during a short career as an exploration geologist. He has moved on, but he still remembers the Goldboro property well. It is not the sort of thing that one forgets.
Read on for the first interview with the Unknown Geologist!
Newton: How did you get interested in mining and geology?
Unknown Geologist: Well, I took a geology degree in the Maritime. I was always interested in the outdoors, so that's that. I did a couple of summer jobs here and there with various companies, then I worked for Seabright Resources in Nova Scotia. They were doing underground mining at Forest Hills in Nova Scotia. I spent a couple years on underground mining there and then moved to Goldboro from 1988 to 1991 as a project geologist there.
Newton: How long have your family been in the Nova Scotia area and yourself?
Unknown Geologist: I’m over 50 now and I’ve been here all my life. I’ve seen the busts and booms in the gold industry here. The biggest one was in the 1980s when every geologist in the province was basically hired and then fired shortly after that in the early 1990s as metal prices went down. Interested in gold out here waned greatly.
Newton: And then natural gas became more important than mining in Nova Scotia, right?
Unknown Geologist: Yes. As in British Columbia, there were large promises from the provincial government about that industry. A lot of those never happened.
Newton: I've been reading that now that the interest is back in that area with every piece of land being staked. Are you aware of that, and is that the truth?
Unknown Geologist: That may be a bit strong, but there is definitely a lot of interest in the province again now. Atlantic Gold is probably the most well-known story. It has been in the news now for a year and a half. I believe they are financed and permitted to start mining at Moose River in September this year. They are also advancing Cochrane Hill, Beaver Dam and Fifteen Mile Stream. Their stock price has moved along nicely as a result of all that.
Newton: Do you have a sense for the grade that Atlantic Gold is expecting?
Unknown Geologist: There are some areas where it's 5 grams but in general overall the pit will be less. I believe their grade will be somewhere around 1.5 grams. I've seen the core from there and what I saw did not have much quartz. It was strictly argillite, with a little quartz here and there. You usually have a higher grade of gold where the pyrrhotite is basically in the argillite, with some arsenopyrite mineralization.
Newton: That grade is comparable to what Anaconda is producing at Point Rousse, right?
Unknown Geologist: Correct, but Atlantic Gold has a much bigger tonnage lined up. Not to mention the other deposits they have, like Beaver Dam, Fifteen Mile Stream, and Cochrane Hill. I believe they are talking about 80,000 ounces of gold production per year, whereas Anaconda currently produces around 16,000 ounces.
Newton: Any sense for what kind of rock they will be running when Goldboro sends it over?
Unknown Geologist: It's hard to say because I'm not involved at Goldboro at this time. I have seen some of the preliminary economic numbers but I won’t discuss those. The historical grades from the Boston-Richardson was 5.4 grams. I panned the tailings there several times and there's probably at least a gram of gold that they missed because they were using old mining technology. They probably lost 15-20%, which means that they were really mining probably over six grams per tonne. All things being equal, which they generally are on Goldboro from what I've seen if of the ore chutes, you're talking well over 10 grams per tonne.
Unknown Geologist: If you take the larger belts outside and including the ore chutes you're going to get approximately 5-6 grams in the pits. They could probably high-grade that area of mineralization and get over an ounce. It depends where they put the pit, but there are some wide zones where they'll probably get around 5 grams per tonne gold if they mine it as a pit. If they go underground, then they'll be probably get 8-10 grams. Maybe even higher in some spots. There are a lot of good targets.
Unknown Geologist: One interesting thing about Goldboro is that all the high-grade comes to surface somewhere. I know there are at least 30 belts like the Boston-Richardson. There is one that has 50,000 tonnes with 5 grams. They're not all the same size; some are bigger, some are narrower. Then there are isolated high-grade veins that are localized all by themselves that you can mine separately. Very interesting deposit.
Newton: At the time of this call, Anaconda Mining has assay results pending from their first drilling at Goldboro. Do you have a sense for what they may get?
Unknown Geologist: Again, my insight is limited because I was not involved in the planning. I have no idea where they drilled them or why. They could be trying to do some due diligence to replicate historical numbers. They may want to verify some of the previous drilling results. Or, they may be drilling to delineate a potential target for bulk sampling, or to delineate a potential pit target. It depends on which areas of the deposits they were looking at.
Unknown Geologist: The drill results could come back with can be anything from 10 meters at 3 grams or 10 meters of 8-10 grams, depending where they target it. I would expect that they're trying to replicate some numbers and get a feel for a sample target or two. Again, I’m not involved in any of that planning at this point.
Unknown Geologist: One of the key things about Goldboro is this: although it's been drilled, drilled, and drilled, it’s always been drilled from an open-pit, low-grade, high-tonnage perspective.
Unknown Geologist: Osisko did that, Onitap did that, and Orex did that. The only real definition drilling that was ever done was below the ramp into the underground workings. I actually did that drilling there on the ramp in 1989. We drilled fan holes. That is included in the measured and indicated resourcces.
Unknown Geologist: When you drill a hole say 250-300 meters long, you're going to get several intersections within that hole. Generally, you encounter three or four of these high-grade zones. By high-grade, I mean 6 grams or more over a meter and a half. Those numbers are based on my knowledge from working at Seabright Resources mine at Forest Hill, which was just 20 kilometers north of Goldboro.
Unknown Geologist: When they did all this drilling, they were looking at this as a big open pit scenario. They never really followed a high-grade intersection to say, “Does that single high-grade intersection continue up and down dip?” They never did that. As a result, you can bring a new interpretation to Goldboro simply by looking at both high-grade underground mining and open pit mining.
Unknown Geologist: They don't yet have data to show the continuity of the high-grade because of how it was drilled in the past. It was never drilled as a high-grade mine. It was always drilled as an open pit.
Unknown Geologist: My take on this whole thing is that the resources they have today can be vastly increased just because of the block model. If you look at the current models, then you'll see all these blocks of high-grade that don’t have as much continuity as the Boston-Richardson mine did. When someone does proper infilling drilling there, they should be prove-up the continuity of these high-grade zones. The Boston is a perfect model for these other deposits because it had an ore chute from surface all the way down to 700 feet. It’s even been drilled down to 1250 feet.
Peter: Was that chute was mined?
Unknown Geologist: Yes, they took most of the belt and the ore chutes. The ore chute was documented in the historical information. They thought they were on the nose of the anticline as you want to be with these types of deposits, but I believe they were well down both the north and south limbs.
Peter: Right. As you said before, these zones do come to surface.
Unknown Geologist: Yes, and they were down on the limbs.
Unknown Geologist: I know you were asking me about my theory on where the high grade is located, Peter. Quite a few years ago I did some calculations on paper -- paper and pencil, not pen -- and they should be kept with the Orex files. I believe that the viewing Goldboro as a high-grade could be it’s saving grace. If you're going to do infill drilling and target these high grades zones, then try to prove that particular model. If you can, then you're going to be laughing. If they proceed differently and start pitting, then they will likely see the controlling structures for these high-grade zones anyways.
Peter: Right, that ability to actually see structure in the side of a pit is a big deal.
Unknown Geologist: Certainly. Just keep in mind -- it’s never been drilled as a high-grade mine. There are many spots that they need infill drilling. I think the PEA said it would support 10 years of mining but there are many other targets that can provide significant grade and the tonnage. This thing is a monster.
Unknown Geologist: They don't know how deep it goes, either. The deepest hole they ever drilled was 1250 feet and it was targeting the extension of the Boston-Richardson zone way out at Goldbrook. If I remember correctly, then they hit a half an ounce at that hole. I believe it amounted to several ounces over five feet at depth in the deepest hole at site, which targeted an extension of the Boston-Richardson zone that was mined historically.
Unknown Geologist: I never really looked to see if it was the same ore chute or not. The ore chutes are typically over 10 grams, but they mined the whole belt. The whole belt was around 2-2.5 grams and then it was up to 12 grams in the ore chute. When you take the whole thing, you get approximately six grams per tonne.
Unknown Geologist: The Boston Richardson was a high-grade mine where they started to open pit when they found it on surface. They just decided to go underground there and stuck a whole down there. They sunk the mine down to 400 feet and then they did a decline ramp from 400 down to 700 feet. It has flooded, but there is still ore in the stopes there.
Peter: What do you understand about the structural controls and stratigraphy there? If they get access to the historical workings, then will they be able to get some interpretations that they can apply elsewhere?
Unknown Geologist: When I visited with the Anaconda team, I told them that they could go to the old pit, clean it off, stand back, and look at what you see. There are certain features that would line up with my structural control theory that should just jump out at you. Maybe it won't if you're not familiar with gold in Nova Scotia, but there are a lot of historical accounts. I've seen it at Caribou, Mount Uniacke, which is a perfect example of a subordinate flexor on the anticline.
Unknown Geologist: The anticline is one fold and you get another fold in the limb, where you have the what they called the Acadian Orogeny. When the Moroccan plate slammed into the North American plate, it folded like an accordion and there was probably one last push that caused the different angle where the high-grade gold is located.
Peter: Do you think that the contact between the Moroccan and North America plates was post mineralization?
Unknown Geologist: They don't really have a good handle on how or where the mineralization came from.
Peter: Really?
Unknown Geologist: Yes, it's quite interesting. There are five phases of deformation that they've identified so far. At which phase did the gold come in and why? We don’t know yet. It's a little tricky to figure it out. I've talked with the government officials when I was at the site from 1988-1991 and some of the key geologists at the time had papers on the topic but the jury is still out.
Peter: I wonder if there could be multiple mineralizing events?
Unknown Geologist: Based on the deposit type, there should be only one that basically went into every belt. When I was on the board of Orex, we had a bunch of Osisko holes done. I said, “this pit that they're looking isn't here at these widths, but just look at the high-grade.” I said that we needed to have a high-grade model and they largely ignored that. Now, we finally have the workings of a high-grade model.
Peter: This point you’re making about reinterpreting the geological model at Goldboro is one of my favourite ideas in exploration.
Unknown Geologist: As I say, the one thing they need to do is strip it off to see what this thing looks like. It's one thing to look at the core, plot a 3D model, but if you can stand back and look at it then you can begin to see these subordinate flexures. As you map those while you are mining the pit, then you'll be able to see what is happening on three-dimensions. You can follow it underground and establish drill targets based on that.
Newton: Wow. That’s a new one for me. I guess the wall of the pit does change as you mine it, so you do get a 3rd dimension there. Wow.
Unknown Geologist: I'm one of a very few people who have ever been underground. I know what it looks like. I mapped the damn thing inside and upside down. I logged countless miles of core from there. I know it very well and I've seen many other places in the province as well -- Forest Hill, Moose River, Caribou, and I've read a lot about Nova Scotia gold over the years. I worked on an open pit at Forest Hill. I know what they look like, I know how the gold is controlled. I haven't forgot this thing. I can't imagine why they never mined it! If you compare it to Forest Hill, then Goldboro is just a beast.
Newton: Well, it’s great that we can share this interview with you to help get the word out there about the project.
Unknown Geologist: The other thing is Dolliver Mountain. It's way out in the west end of the Goldboro property. It had the biggest stamp mill in Nova Scotia there.
Unknown Geologist: When Orex owned Goldboro, Osisko drilled five holes there at Dollivier Mountain. They were spaced 200 meters apart and they hit nothing. After the fifth hole, I was down on the property and asked them to line up all of these holes for me to look at. They laid out one box and I said, “You haven't even come close to the anticline.” They said, “What are you talking about?” And I said, “Well look at the X-solution cleavage in the core I said it's the same from top to bottom. It hasn't changed.” It hadn’t even budged. It was angled to the core axis throughout.
Unknown Geologist: They went back and looked at where they had lined up these holes and it turns out they had mistaken a ventilation shaft with another working. They missed on all five holes.
Unknown Geologist: Had I seen the core from the first hole, I could have helped them just based on visual inspection. I’ve explained how to identify where the anticline is located based on drill core so that we don’t have the same mistake again. Keep in mind that they had the biggest stamp mill in the province at Dolliver Mountain. They must have produced quite a bit of material. It is actually quite hard to find historical information on it, but it would be pretty nice to poke a few holes there to see what it looks like.
Unknown Geologist: And in between Dolliver and West Goldbrook, I believe that they did 200 meters spacings and hit one intersection that was over 1000 grams per tonne. I think it was about 200-250 meters deep. It's been awhile, but I didn’t forget that hole. From what I’ve seen historically, if you're in the hundreds you're probably in an ore chute. If you're in the thousands of grams per tonne gold, then you're in a really nice ore chute. You don't forget those things.
Unknown Geologist: To do some real drilling up dip and down dip from there would be very exciting. It could extend that or even project it to surface. Just a 25-meter hole would be all that you need to test that. If you can show that this thing is on surface right where it should be in connection to the hole that hit over 1,000 grams, then you’re off to the races. You could strip it off, channel sample it, and you would probably get material in excess of an ounce per tonne. And there are many other targets like this up there. I mentioned that there are probably over 30 targets there, but a more fair number is probably more like 80 or 90 if you include West Goldbrook. They have very little data there, other than knowing that there formerly gold-producing mines located there.
Unknown Geologist: I hope it gives you a sense for why I'm still following the property. When I reached out to Orex and offered to provide info, they told me that needed a geologist on the Board. I became a member of the board for seven years, but they didn't have any clue about what they really had here.
Unknown Geologist: I've seen a lot of properties, but I remember when I first went to Goldboro and started working there as a geologist in 1988. When I first when underground and I saw this thing I said, “Whoa, geez.” Then, we drilled it and it was like nothing else. Nothing that I know of compares to it.
Unknown Geologist: The belts I’ve seen in the Boston-Richardson at this 400-foot level where 28 feet wide. I don't know where else in the province they mined a mineralized zone that was 28 feet wide. And when it is that wide, the grade doesn’t peter out very quickly. It's a pretty uniform material and it may continue for kilometers. Forrest Hill had one zone that they lost into the floor as they couldn't go any deeper -- it was a 1.5 kilometers long but was only 20 centimeters wide.
Peter: Can I just ask about all these numbers there, again. You’re talking about kilometers of strike, 10 meters or 30 feet of width, and substantial depths as well. Do we have a sense for the volume of potential ore there?
Unknown Geologist: I think they took 50,000 tonnes from the Boston-Richardson mine. It was 28 feet at the 400-foot level and they mined 100 meters down the limb,
Unknown Geologist: I went back and showed some of the results to the geologist who did one of the technical reports at Goldboro. When I sat down with him on the first day, I asked him: “suppose that you could come up with a half a million tones at 5-8 grams, would that be pretty good?” He said, “Yes, that would be great. But you’re not going to find that in Nova Scotia.” After he did the report we sat down again and he said, “Goldboro is probably one of the best things in the province.”
Please note that Anaconda Mining (TSXV:ANX) now owns the Goldboro property. At the time of this interview, neither the Unknown Geologist nor myself were compensated by or represent the company.
