SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
April 7, 1998
ROYAL OAK MINES INC.
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(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Commission File Number 1-4350
ONTARIO, CANADA 98-0160821
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(State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer Identification
incorporation or organization) No.)
c/o Royal Oak Mines (USA) Inc.
5501 Lakeview Drive
Kirkland, Washington
U.S.A. 98033
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(Address of principal executive offices) (Postal/Zip Code)
(425) 822-8992
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Registrant's telephone number, including
area code
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Item 5. Other Events
On April 7, 1998, the Registrant issued the following press release:
[Royal Oak Mines Inc. Press Release Letterhead]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM KIRKLAND
April 7, 1998
Royal Oak Outlines Exploration Program for 1998
Royal Oak Mines Inc. (TSE and AMEX: RYO) announced today a review of its
1997 exploration program. The Company is giving priority to expanding
reserves and resources at its Kemess porphyry gold-copper property in
British Columbia and at the Namosi porphyry copper property in Fiji.
Kemess Property, British Columbia
The Kemess porphyry gold-copper property in British Columbia lies at the
south end of the Toodoggone area which is known for its significant gold
enrichment. The Company's Kemess South deposit is enriched in gold and
contains an estimated 4.2 million ounces of gold in addition to
approximately 996 million pounds of copper in its mineable reserve. The
porphyry deposits in this area frequently intrude older, mixed sediments
and volcanics that include significant amounts of limestone and
therefore have the potential to host high-grade copper gold-skarn
deposits.
The Company's Kemess property also includes the Kemess North porphyry
gold-copper deposit, which hosts a resource containing an estimated 1.9
million ounces of gold and 623 million pounds of copper. This property
also hosts another four known porphyry prospects. In addition, one
skarn and two epithermal prospects are known to exist between the Kemess
South and Kemess North properties. The Company's Riga property, located
12 miles north of the Kemess property, also contains a porphyry deposit.
In 1997, Royal Oak completed a multi-parameter airborne geophysical survey
over claims staked in 1996 adjacent to, and north of, the Kemess property.
The survey revealed large, coincident magnetic, resistivity and radiometric
anomalies situated three miles northwest of the Kemess North deposit in an
area of favorable limestone and intrusive rocks. In the 1998 field season,
the Company plans to explore this highly prospective target in anticipation
that it could represent another porphyry system and/or a high-grade copper-
gold skarn deposit. The Company's budget for exploration at Kemess in 1998
is $450,000.
Namosi Property, Fiji
In April of 1997, Royal Oak acquired the mineral licenses of the Namosi
property in Fiji. The Namosi property contains a number of separate
deposits. The one billion tonne Waisoi deposit that is located on the
Namosi property underwent prefeasibility work in the early 1990s by
Placer Pacific. The results of the feasibility study show that
development of the project would be economically feasible at power costs
typical of those in British Columbia. The island of Fiji does not
generate enough power for the project so the next steps Royal Oak plans
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to take will focus on power generation by hydro or gas cogeneration.
Further potential exists to expand the deposit to twice its current
size. The area may include epithermal vein and skarn type deposits as
well as the known porphyry copper deposit that has been outlined. The
deposit is favorably located approximately 30 km by road from the port
and capitol city of Suva.
Exploration work in 1997 consisted of compiling the geologic and
geographic data with the assistance of a GIS program. This allowed
several significant historical drillholes to be retrieved from
historical records and correlated with recent data. It also allowed the
huge database to be examined in a logical manner.
The billion tonne Wasoi deposit is flanked by coincident high
chargeability IP anomalies and gold-in-soil anomalies. The area
immediately north of the Waisoi deposit may represent the center of the
hydrothermal system with potential for an additional 700 million-tonne
resource. The potential for a gold-rich ore zone is indicated by a
1000m by 150m east-west linear soil gold anomaly to the south of Waisoi
east. Previous drilling has returned 23.4 m grading 1.82 g/t (0.053
opt) of gold. A significant tonnage grading 2.0 g/t (0.058 opt) of gold
containing several million ounces is envisaged for this target which the
Company plans to drill this year.
The Wainabama area, located south of the Waisoi deposit, has a
significant copper and gold resource of approximately 11.9 million
tonnes grading 0.72% copper and 0.46 g/t (0.013 opt) of gold which
occurs in a quartz-magnetite stockwork porphyry system that is open in
all directions and has coincident soil geochemical and IP anomalies.
The company plans to expand this resource in this year's drilling
program.
The Namosi property also contains the Waivaka Corridor, an 8km by 1.5km
zone of alteration, which hosts porphyry type, and structurally
controlled zones of high-grade vein mineralization. Limited
reconnaissance drilling has indicated a potential resource of over 200
million tonnes grading 0.70% copper. Previous widely spaced drill holes
have intersected 1.49% copper over 110 meters and 0.80% copper over 135
meters.
The Wainadoi Northeast prospect is also located on the Namosi property.
The Badger's Bridge target shows strong alteration over appreciable
widths with a strong IP response and trench intersections of 4 meters
grading 8.7 g/t (0.254 opt) of gold and 7 meters grading 2.68 g/t (0.078
opt) of gold. Drilling has not tested this anomaly.
In 1998, the Company plans to carry out a Phase I exploration program
consisting of grid work, geological mapping, geophysical surveying,
reverse circulation and core drilling to test these high priority
targets. Further feasibility studies of power generation by both
hydroelectric and gas cogeneration will be undertaken. A budget of
$F2.0 million has been allocated to Fiji for 1998.
Giant Mine, Northwest Territories
In 1998, the Company plans to continue to fund an exploration program at
the Giant Mine that commenced in mid-1995. To date, over 2,000 feet of
exploration drifting, 30,000 feet of underground drilling and 23,000
feet of surface drilling have been completed to delineate higher grade
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ore in close proximity to existing development.
An extension of the high grade LAW zone was discovered by the 1997
drilling program which returned best intersections of 0.455 opt of gold
over 20 feet and 0.58 opt of gold over 19 feet. These grades are
significant compared to the average mill head grade of 0.270 opt of gold
at the Giant Mine in 1997. A total of approximately 5,000 to 8,000 feet
of drilling are planned for 1998 to better define the mineralization in
this area.
Additional exploration drilling is planned from a second exploration
drift that will be driven south from the main C-shaft area on the 1500
level to allow testing of the southern strike extension of the large
Lower East Alteration Zone outlined on the 2000 level in the 1960s.
Several holes completed to date have intersected widths greater than 150
feet of mineralized and altered volcanics indicating that the extensive
alteration system defined by previous drilling on the 2000 level is
continuous to the south. No economic zones of mineralization have been
intersected by the limited amount of drilling completed to date,
however, the numerous low but anomalous gold assays, and the size and
type of the alteration system is encouraging. Drilling is scheduled to
commence in this area following completion of another 1,000 feet of
drifting and drill cut-out excavation that will allow testing of this
structure close to its intersection with the Townsite fault. This target
requires an additional 25,000 to 30,000 feet of drilling before a
preliminary evaluation of exploration results can be undertaken.
The Company plans underground exploration expenditures of $1,000,000 at
the Giant Mine in 1998.
Margaret K. Witte, President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Oak,
said, "Our immediate priority is to complete construction of the Kemess
project and commence production at the mine in early May. The Company
has an excellent land position on its Kemess property with the potential
to host another porphyry gold-copper deposit. We also plan to explore
the potential of the Namosi porphyry copper property in Fiji later this
year."
For further information contact: or in Europe contact:
Mr. J. Graham Eacott Mr. David Williamson
Vice-President, Investor Relations David Williamson Associates Limited
Royal Oak Mines International Investor Relations
5501 Lakeview Drive 5 St. Helen's Place, 3rd Floor
Kirkland, WA 98033-7314 London, England EC3A 6DE
Telephone: (425) 822-8992 Telephone: 011-44-171-628-3989
Facsimile: (425) 822-3552 Facsimile: 011-44-171-920-0563
Internet site: http://www.royal-oak-mines.com
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 12 of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report
to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized.
ROYAL OAK MINES INC.
Date: April 7, 1998 By: /s/ Margaret K. Witte
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Margaret K. Witte
President and Chief Executive
Officer
