North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Darnley Bay Resources Ltd. March 9 said it is ready to begin a 3,500-meter initial phase of 2017 drilling at its Pine Point lead-zinc project near Hay River, Northwest Territories.

Home to the historical Pine Point Mine, this property hosts 54 undeveloped zinc-lead deposits over a strike length of roughly 68 kilometers (42 miles), 15 of which have zinc-lead resources that meet NI 43-101 standards and are included in a technical report completed earlier this month.

Several of the remaining 32 deposits have historical resources, which make them potential additions to a long term mine plan, according to the report. Roughly 1.3 million meters of core drilling in 18,406 holes has been completed by past explorers of the Pine Point property.

Darnley Bay has three objectives for this year's drilling at Pine Point: upgrade some of the historical resources to NI 43-101 standards; explore for additional deposits; and obtain sufficient samples for metallurgical testing for a feasibility study.

From 1964 to 1987, former operator Pine Point Mines Ltd and Cominco (now Teck Resources) mined 64 million metric tons of ore grading 7 percent zinc and 3.1 percent lead along three trends - North, Main and South. Roughly 30 percent of the ore was mined along South, a trend that was discovered after the town of Pine Point was built across a portion of it in 1964.

As a result, certain parts of South Trend remain largely unexplored.

The town of Pine Point has been largely abandoned and reclaimed and Darnley Bay's new claims cover approximately 10 kilometers (six miles) of the South Trend.

Darnley Bay intends to begin an induced polarization geophysical survey on the new claims, followed by drilling of any targets which are found, once permits are obtained for the newly staked property.

The first phase of 2017 drilling at Pine Point is scheduled to begin soon and will be followed by at least two additional phases this year.

-SHANE LASLEY