Thinking outside the ore body in Kirkland.

Kirkland Lake -- Keeping an open mind and going beyond the myths and old wives tales built up in mining exploration has led to significant discoveries for Kirkland Lake Gold Inc.

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Located in the Abitibi Southern Greenstone Belt, the Kirkland Lake mining camp produced 24 million ounces of gold from the world-famous Kirkland Lake-Larder Lake Break, which helped make Sir Harry Oakes one of the richest men in the world. This mining camp is known to be the second largest gold producer in Canada, with an average grade of 0.45 ounces per ton.

In December 2001, Foxpoint (now called Kirkland Lake Gold Inc.) purchased five of the seven mines in the camp. Of the five mines--Macassa, Kirkland Minerals, Teck-Hughes, Lake Shore and Wright Hargreaves--Kirkland Lake Gold is presently producing from two operating shafts at the Macassa mine and from the ramp at Lake Shore. The workforce has increased from only a few to 258 full-time employees plus contract workers.

The aggressive three-year, $21-million exploration project has increased its reserves and resources to almost two million ounces of gold with a target of five million ounces, says chief geologist Mike Sutton.

As the company continues to build up its reserves and resources, thinking well outside the "ore body" has proved fruitful in the discovery of four new north- and south-trending zones.

"The ore in the Kirkland Lake camp has all been in quartz, historically," says Sutton.

But he adds they are finding pyrite, different from previous ore zones in the southern part of the property.

They are also finding gold in conglomerate, which has always been thought of as a poor host rock for gold in this camp, but drill results have indicated otherwise.

"In exploration you always have to have an open mind," he added.

With this view, two predictions were made. First, after they found the first new zone (D Zone), was that there would be more zones, and second, that richer zones would be found where the faults intersect mineralized zones.

Both predictions are coming to fruition as the company continues to find gold-bearing zones.

Sutton says the D Zone is part of a shear zone between the two main structures. He added they are also finding better results where the two structures come together.

"We're within 200 feet (where the zones come together) and we're getting all kinds of other zones."

While 30 per cent of the work is exploration and development, the Macassa mine has slowly been brought back into production. There has been an extensive dewatering program of two billion gallons, originally predicted to be 400 million gallons of water.

Sutton says they've been doing more work at the east-end properties of Lake Shore and Wright-Hargreaves with the intent to advance west underground toward Macassa. Conversely, with the rehabilitation of Macassa, they are advancing east into Kirkland Minerals.

"We're going to access those properties to do exploration from Macassa and Lake Shore."

Another proactive approach has been the company's effort to build up their workforce. Human resources co-ordinator Vicki Boulley says 16 people graduated from their Mining Development Training program, which will be offered again in the New Year. The company is seeking out more workers, preferably those living in and willing to stay in the North.

In November 2005, Queenston Mining Inc. and Kirkland Lake Gold announced a joint venture to explore the Kirkland Lake west property owned by Newmont Mining Corporation of Canada Limited. This will allow westward exploration as the property adjoins the western boundary of the Macassa mine and is thought to contain the western extension of the Main 04 Break ore horizon.

www.klgold.com

By ADELLE LARMOUR

Northern Ontario Business