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Gold Is where You Find It It's been said time and time again, that the best place to find a mine is where there already is a mine. These days with newer technology exploring old mines for new ore is a great way to eleminate a lot of risk and conserve a lot of money. With juniors all over today trying to just stay afloat, raising extra capital is probably one of the hardest parts of the job.
So when it comes to looking for juniors with a good upside potential we like to look at ones that have properties that are located in old mine areas that have a rich history and most of all has some of the infastructure already in place. Old hard rock mines with a good history sometime just need a new set of eye balls looking over the data and modeling. Throw in newer technology and you end up with small miners like the one in this article.
Before I get started I would like to point out the map in the picture above. See the May Mac mine? It's the one with the red star and it owned by Golden Dawn Minerals. Golden Dawn Minerals GOM is a small junior company that has the old May Mac Mine in the Greenwood mining district of British Columbia. The original May Mac showing, discovered and staked in 1894, was developed by several shafts and three adit tunnels. Some 32 tonnes (metric) (35 tons) of mineral were shipped over the subsequent nine years, grading 319 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (9.3 ounces per ton [oz/ton]). By 1904, a new parallel vein, termed the Upper Skomac, was discovered, developed by a new adit tunnel (Adit #4) and mined, sporadically yielding 670 tonnes (790 tons) over the ensuing 33 years, grading in the range of 3,000 g/t (100 oz/ton) silver.
Between 1961 and 1965, a fifth adit tunnel (Adit #5) was developed on the Upper Skomac vein, from which some 553 tonnes (609 tons) of mineral were extracted, averaging 1.37 g/t (0.04 oz/ton) gold, and 185 g/t (5.41 oz/ton) silver, plus 2.1% lead and 1% zinc. During the same period, a diamond drill hole apparently intersected a new vein, with an intersected width of six feet, grading 21.5 g/t (0.62 oz/ton) gold, 14,400 g/t (420 oz/ton) silver, 19.9% lead and 2.1% copper. Then in 1972, Robert Mine Ltd. acquired the property and between 1974 and 1976, developed another tunnel (Adit #6) on the Upper Skomac vein. Four mineral shoots were encountered and mined above the Adit #6, producing 950 tonnes (1,050 tons) of mineral averaging 3.66 g/t (0.107 oz/ton) gold, 593 g/t (17.3 oz/ton) silver, 3.2% lead, 2.0% zinc and 0.25% copper. The following year, another adit tunnel (Adit #7) was collared and driven for some 215 m (700 ft). According to verbal communication with the operator who owned the mine at that time, a vein was encountered some 60 m (200 ft) in the tunnel from the portal, which averaged in the range of 15 g/t (0.43 oz/ton) gold over a length of 15 m (50 ft) and an average width of 60 cm (2 ft).
An 80 tonne per day flotation mill (90 tons/day) was installed in 1982. In 1983, some 1,570 tons of low grade ore were milled, yielding 100 tonnes (110 tons) of bulk concentrate averaging 15.5 g/t (0.43 oz/ton) gold, 2,194 g/t (64 oz/ton) silver, plus lead and zinc. The mine has been inactive since that time. The May Mac Mine, mill and tailings pond are all currently permitted.
Golden Dawn has around 36 million shares O/S plus around 19 million warrants. Management & directors own about 12%. A quick look at the chart above will tell you things have been getting a bit active and with a good turn in gold prices, this could be an exciting play. his is also a play that is not at 52 week lows like so many other juniors we see out there.
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GAdams