Last year was a busy year for Probe Mines Limited. With projects in some of Ontario’s hottest regions, company CEO Dr. David Palmer says he’s confident that 2011 will be the year the company starts to realize the value from all of the work done to date on its base and precious metals projects, and this value could be considerable.
“Our Black Creek chromite project is at a stage where the value is now apparent and the Borden Lake gold project has a significant amount of potential based on our early results,” he said.The Borden Lake Project is situated near Chapleau, Ontario within one kilometre of a major highway. It is a significant, new gold discovery in a previously unexplored area. Airborne geophysics located a 1.5 kilometre horizon entirely within Probe’s boundaries and results from the 2010 drilling program yielded significant intersections including 91metres averaging 2.0g/t Au. A second phase, 5,000-metre drilling program, currently underway, has identified promising gold grades starting at surface and extending over significant thicknesses. Drilling has delineated a gold horizon over 560 metres of strike length and the mineralized zone has been intersected over widths of up to 200 metres, to a depth of 200 metres and remains open along strike and at depth. In each section, the mineralized zone is described by higher-grade zones contained within a broad, low-grade envelope.
The results suggest gold mineralization is improving with depth, said Palmer. Holes were drilled at 100 metre-spaced sections with each section comprising two holes designed to test the gold zone at depths of 150 and 200 metres depth. Significant widths of mineralization included 182 metres of 1.1 g/t Au. A number of high-grade zones were also detected, with individual samples returning up to 26.4 g/t Au.
“We have a great deal of upside potential on the Borden Lake Project,” Palmer remarked. “We’re in the initial stages of realizing significant growth and value for shareholders.”
Probe’s 100 per cent-owned Black Creek Project is strategically located between the Black Thor and Big Daddy chromite deposits which Cliffs Natural Resources owns or controls. Last year, Probe concluded drilling on the Black Creek chromite deposit and updated its NI 43-101 resource estimate. At a cut-off grade of 20%, the deposit includes a measured and indicated 8.645 million tonnes averaging 37.41% Cr2O3 and an additional inferred 1.6 million tonnes averaging 37.78%. Black Creek appears well- suited for open-pit extraction as one drill hole intersected the chromite horizon under less than 4 metres of overburden.
Cliffs has stated its commitment to developing its chromite deposit and production is expected to commence as early as 2015.
“Black Creek is a deposit of significant size and high quality. We have added considerable value to Black Creek in our updated resource estimate,” said Palmer.
Other properties in the McFauld’s Lake area include the Tamarack Project, where Probe intersected high-grade copper mineralization in 2005. It also includes the extension of the interpreted mafic complex that hosts Noront Resources’ high-grade vanadium deposit. The Victory Project, the company’s largest property in the area, is located along a more than 70-kilomete V-shaped greenstone belt. It’s made up of 452 claims staked in two blocks. Exploration to date has identified the potential for nickel, copper, platinum and palladium deposits.
Other assets include the West Timmins JV Project, which is strategically located adjacent to Lake Shore Gold’s 1.2 million ounce Timmins Mine and less than 800 metres from Lake Shore’s recent high-grade gold intersection (83.4metres @ 12.75g/t gold), one of the broadest intercepts reported from the West Timmins camp. Alteration similar to that associated with these discoveries has been identified on Probe’s property and a drilling program is planned for Q1 2011. As well, the Company holds a five per cent net smelter royalty on a portion of Agnico Eagle’s Goldex Mine near Val d’Or, Quebec, which began production almost three years ago. This represents a tangible, non-dilutive revenue source for the company.
A second phase diamond drilling program recently commenced at Probe’s Cree Lake Gold Project near Timmins, Ontario. Currently under option from Mantis Minerals Corporation, the program follows up the 2010 exploration activities that identified several zones of gold mineralization, including a five-metre section grading 2.3 g/t Au and numerous, narrower zones grading up to 8 g/t Au. The property hosts a 15.
5-metre near-surface gold zone averaging 2.05 g/t Au and encompasses the historic Flint Rock gold occurrence, a high-grade showing that produced bonanza grade samples up to 1,300g/t Au.
Trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol PRB, Probe has approximately $3 million in the bank and only 37.6 million shares outstanding.
“Probe’s properties have progressed from grassroots to more advanced stages,” said Palmer. “We’re just on the cusp of significant growth in 2011, so it’s going to be an interesting and exciting year.”
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