Resource World Magazine

32 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 2 0 R on Netolitzky is a well-known and respected Canadian geologist with an impressive track record of gold dis- coveries. So impressive that he received the Bill Dennis Prospector of the Year Award in 1990, the E.A. Scholtz Award in 1996 and has been inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. To date, he has been at the helm of about 17 junior exploration compa- nies – but let's start at the beginning. Netolitzky graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.Sc. in geology in 1964 and received a M.Sc. from the University of Calgary in 1967. As a young geologist he worked in Saskatchewan and now, 50 years later, he is back in the prairie province exploring the La Ronge Gold Belt. Two of his most successful projects were what became the Snip gold mine and the Eskay Creek gold-silver mine located in the Golden Triangle region of north- western British Columbia. Discovered in 1988, the Eskay Creek Mine produced some 3.3 million ounces of gold and 160 million ounces of silver at average grades of 45 g/t gold and 2,224 g/t silver. It was once the world's highest grade gold mine and the fifth largest silver mine by volume. Between 1991 and 1999, the Snip Mine produced approximately 1 million ounces of gold at an average gold grade of 27.5 g/t. Today, both the Eskay Creek and Snip properties are held by Skeena Resources Ltd. [SKE-TSXV; SKREF-OTCQX] He then went on to be President of Loki Gold and transformed the Brewery Creek gold project located 55 km east of Dawson City, Yukon into an open-pit, heap leach operation. This was considered quite the technical accomplishment as heap leach- ing depends on liquid flowing despite the location above the Arctic Circle. Brewery Creek poured it first gold bar in 1996. The Brewery Creek Mine operated from 1997 to 2001 and was the largest lode gold mine ever constructed in the Yukon. It was a year-round operation with a sea- sonal open-pit mining capacity of 11,000 tonnes of ore per day. It closed due to low gold prices and not because ore ran out. The property is now held by Golden Predator Mining Corp. [GPY-TSXV; NTGSF-OTCQX] and has a positive PEA at US $1,250/oz gold. Netolitzky was also involved with the Galore Creek copper-gold-silver project in northern British Columbia, the Hammond Reef gold project in Ontario and the Segala gold project in Mali, West Africa as well as the Onca-Puma nickel deposit in Brazil. Now he has come full circle back to the La Ronge Gold Belt in north-central Saskatchewan where he worked as a stu- dent for government geological surveys in the 1960s. Today, he is Chairman/ President/CEO of MAS Gold Corp. [MAS- TSXV] which is exploring a "string of pearls" in the La Ronge Gold Belt. See Saskatchewan feature page 64. Netolitzky is of the view that Saskatchewan has a great deal to offer – not just in geological potential – but also because the province is pro-exploration and pro-mining. The MAS gold prospects are con- veniently strung out in a line along Highway 102 trending in a southwest- northeast line, cover 40,641 hectares, and include – from south to north – Elizabeth Lake, Preview, North Lake, Point Lake, Greywacke, Wierzycki Lake and Henry Lake. Netolitzky said that the objective of MAS Gold is to develop over 1 million ounces in gold resources from the com- bined properties along the belt. MAS Gold's La Ronge area projects are focused around Proterozoic-age island arc volcanic, back arc volcano-sedimentary and ophiolitic assemblages and associated intrusive complexes within the Reindeer VETERAN GEOLOGIST EXPLORING SASKATCHEWAN'S LA RONGE GOLD BELT RON NETOLITZKY by Ellsworth Dickson Geologist Ron Netolitzky, Chairman, President and CEO of MAS Gold, examines at rock sample from the La Ronge Gold Belt in Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy MAS Gold Corp. MINING

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