Gone but not forgotten, Paymaster may reopen.

Placer Dome Inc. in Timmins is evaluating assay results from a recent drilling program at the long-closed Paymaster Mine near the city.

If the assay results are favorable, then the mine could be reopened more than 20 years after it was shut down.

Paymaster was closed in 1968. From 1915 to 1966 the mine produced a total of 1.19 million ounces of gold.

Bill Hocevar, project supervisor at the mine, said Placer Dome is contractually obligated to determine by July the feasibility of reopening the mine.

Placer Dome has a 64-per-cent interest in the South Porcupine property under a 1989 joint-venture agreement with American Reserve (36 per cent).

The mine shaft was dewatered and rehabilitated in January. A drilling program targeting a deep ore zone, which had been mined as recently as 1966, began in May.

Within two months the program, conducted by Ross-Finlay and Company of Val d'Or, Que., had determined that there was an extension of the ore body.

POSITIVE

According to Hocevar and American Reserve president Carl Zuber, the initial findings were positive.

"They were better than expected," Zuber said during an interview from his Vancouver office.

Hocevar was somewhat more understated in his assessment of the results.

"There were no expectations to begin with. There were no surprises," he commented.

The initial program went as deep as 800 feet below the 6,025-foot level of the mine. The program intersected an extension running about 97 feet in length which had an average grade of .29 ounces of gold.

In June the companies reported that muck assays from a drifting and cross-cutting program at the 6,025-foot level had turned up a grade of .31 ounces.

The drilling program was continued throughout the summer to determine the eastern limits of the ore body. The core sample results, taken at a station on the 6,025-foot level, were released in early September. The drilling program targeted the eastern portion of the known ore body and determined the centre.

Grades from the drilling ranged from .142 ounces over 22.5 feet to one ounce over 2.5 feet. One core sample also turned in a grade of .212 ounces over 215 feet. One drill hole intersected the ore body at about the 6,200-foot level.

Drilling at the crosscut of the 6,025 level, which is intended to determine the width of the ore body, uncovered grades ranging from .203 to .613 ounces.

Subsequent drilling eastward from the station confirmed the boundary of the ore zone. Earlier assays of .495 over 34.7 feet had been turned in from samples taken from an adjacent zone about 200 feet lower than the station.

Even if the officials of the two companies opt to put the mine back into operation, it will likely be 1993 before production commences.

Hocevar explained that buildings at the site will have to upgraded and ventilations systems will have to be installed in some areas of the mine.

"It will be at least a year before full production if a positive determination is made," he said, adding that the work will likely carry a hefty price tag. "Anything in mining is fairly expensive."