During mid-September, 2009, as part of an analyst and geologist tour, we were able to re-visit the magnificent country surrounding the Cassiar Gold Camp located in far northwest British Columbia and be updated on Hawthorne Gold Corp.'s work to develop the company's Table Mountain and Taurus projects in that area. Their specific goals are to enter production from these Cassiar-area projects at the earliest opportunity and to continue exploration and development of these projects as well as their Frasergold Project located in the Quesnel Trough east of Williams Lake and south of Barkerville.
With the early 2008 acquisition of Table Mountain from prior owners Cusac Gold Mines Ltd. and the subsequent acquisition of 100% ownership of the Taurus Project, the company was able to clearly define its goal as: "...to build another successful gold company through focused exploration initiatives, continued development of the Table Mountain, Taurus and Frasergold mineral deposits and potential acquisition of other projects."
Table Mountain has a lengthy history of exploration and past production going back more than half a century, starting in the 1940s with a prospector named Pete Hamlin who exposed auriferous quartz veins in an area now known as "The Pete." Hamlin then shared his information with brothers Guilford and Fred Brett who were instrumental in creating Cusac Industries Ltd., which later became Cusac Mines in 1995.
During the various periods of exploration, several important veins have been discovered at Table Mountain, beginning with the Vollaug and followed up by the Jennie, Maura, Devine, Bear, Goldie and Dease. In fact, through the years, more than twenty veins have been discovered and underground operations have taken place at several, including Jennie, Eileen, Michelle High Grade Zone, West Bain, Vollaug, Bear and Rory.
Total production through the years 1979-2007 from Table Mountain amounted to 315,651 ounces of gold with an average grade of approximately one-half ounce per tonne. In addition, low grade recovery from the Taurus Property from 1981-1988 added another 35,000 ounces and placer activity from nearby McDame Creek from 1874 through 1988 recovered another 74,500 ounces.
Hawthorne's goal is to advance Table Mountain as quickly as possible toward production, utilizing the substantial body of information accumulated through the years and combining that knowledge with current exploration efforts which includes a recently completed 6,355 line-kilometer geophysical survey, consisting of a magnetic gradiometer with VLM-EM geophysics.
To further that goal, Hawthorne announced in December 2008 that their technical team was advancing toward completion of the first ever fully digitally compiled database combining data from their 2008 drill program with over forty years of historical development information. The 2008 program involved 15 completed diamond drill holes (DDH) totaling 2,536 meters.
The company will be completing some minor renovations to the fully permitted mill facility and is planning to process ore at the rate of 270 tonnes per day (tpd) when operating at full capacity. Estimated replacement value for the mill is approximately C$30 million. Hawthorne plans to start production in the latter part of 2009 or early 2010 and initial mill feed would likely come from the Bain Veins with plans to process ore from other Table Mountain veins as resources are developed across the extensive quartz-carbonate-gold vein systems which are similar in nature to some of Canada's largest gold camps such as Timmins, Kirkland Lake and Val d'Or. Thirteen underground adits and approximately 25 km of underground workings are located on the property and would be available to further exploration and resource development.
An NI 43-101 compliant Mineral Resource Estimate for the East Bain vein area was completed in 2008 and shows indicated resources of 20,101 tonnes grading 21.21 grams per tonne (gpt) containing 13,708 ounces of gold in the Indicated category and an additional 1,158 tonnes grading 68.57 gpt gold containing 2,552 ounces. Hawthorne believes the potential exists for the addition of significant additional ounces at Table Mountain, and, as reported in July, 2009, is in the process of advancing one of the ramps by 160 meters from the previously-mined West Bain zone into the East Bain.
The Taurus Property is located just to the north of Table Mountain and a recently completed NI 43-101 compliant estimate showed an inferred gold resource of 1.04 million ounces consisting of 32.4 million tonnes at a gold grade of 1.0 grams per tonne. Hawthorne geologists believe that within that resource, there are areas of high-grade ore which will be suitable for additional mill-feed from open pit operations.
One area of particular interest at Taurus is the Sable Zone where initial results from the prior Phase I program identified a high grade mineralized gold zone near the surface. The company has now proceeded with its Phase II program and assay results from 21 holes covering some 1,513 meters were recently announced. Commenting on these results, company President Richard Barclay noted, "Final results from the Sable Zone have exceeded our expectations and have confirmed that high grade mineralization exists immediately north of the test pit. Also, several high intersections at depth directly below the test pit confirms that mineralization is continuous from near-surface to a depth of 85 meters."
Some of the assay results include 7.97 meters at Hole TA09-017 grading an average of 4.6 gpt; 4.73 meters at Hole TA09-018 grading 7.2 gpt and 3.25 meters at Hole YA09-019 grading 7.0 gpt.
Hawthorne geologists commenced the extraction of ore for a 10,000 tonne bulk sample from the Sable Zone during mid-summer 2009. The ore is being stockpiled adjacent to the Cassiar Gold Mine mill facility for processing upon the opening of the mill. Concurrent with this work, the company is conducting metallurgical work to determine if feed from the Taurus area is compatible with Bain Vein ore with the goal of ultimately using high-grade ore from Taurus to supplement underground ore from the Bain and other veins.
The Taurus Project also contains several other areas of interest, particularly including the unusually scenic Wing's Canyon Zone.
The company's other major resource is the Frasergold Project, located in the historic Quesnel Trough east of Williams Lake and south of the famous mining town of Barkerville. The project covers some 2,866 hectares and is currently optioned from Eureka Resources. Hawthorne will own a 51% interest upon completion of a full feasibility study with the potential to be increased to 60% upon the arrangement of project financing. Access to Frasergold is excellent through a series of paved and gravel roads from Williams Lake and future connection to the electric power grid would be available. At present, due to heavy area snowfalls, exploration work can be conducted only from mid-spring through late October.
Las summer Hawthorne issued a release noting, "We are extremely pleased with our progress to date at the Frasergold Property. We are ahead of schedule on drilling, our team is aggressively logging core and evaluating our exploration targets and we are making ready an exploration team to review extensions to the Frasergold mineralized system."
Several notable ore zones have been discovered and a fully compliant estimate is planned for the project. Given the proximity of Frasergold to other area properties as well as the fact that exploration to date has been conducted on only a small portion of their own holdings, Hawthorne is working toward developing buyout or joint venture interest at Frasergold.
The company's financial plans include raising capital via the exercise of those existing warrants which are now profitable; conducting a future equity offering and raising revenues from processing the bulk sample and renewed production operations.
Hawthorne Gold is led by experienced company builders Richard Barclay and Michael Beley. Mr. Barclay, currently President and CEO of Hawthorne, was co-founder, CFO and director of Bema Gold from 1976 to 1992 and also founding President and CEO of Eldorado Gold Corporation from 1992 to 1999. Working next to Mr. Barclay for close to 35 years, Mr. Beley, Hawthorne's Chairman, was a co-founder, VP and Director of Bema Gold Corporation from 1976 to 1992 and Executive VP and Director of Eldorado Gold Corporation. Together, the "Barclay/Beley Team" has worked on various projects around the globe including South America, USA, Canada, Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia. Bringing an entrepreneurial spirit, the experienced team is known for recognizing opportunities, acquiring and developing strategic assets, and putting together the pieces that create the foundation for successful gold companies. Alongside Richard and Michael, Hawthorne has put together an experienced senior management team that is made up of industry veterans including Michael Petrina, VP Mining and Peter Ball, VP Corporate Communications.
With their recent advancement toward renewed production from underground resources at Table Mountain and additional work to develop high-grade zones at Taurus, in our opinion, Hawthorne Gold Corp merits close attention by the mining investment community.
For further information on Hawthorne, contact Todd Hanas toll free at at (866) 869-8072 or the company at (604) 629-1505 or toll free at (1-888629-1505, or you can visit Hawthorne's website at www.hawthornegold.com.
Leonard Melman
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