Stephan Burnett
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 24/04) - Tyhee Developments is busy at the Discovery Mine.

The company is hauling $2 million worth of underground mining equipment into the site.

A 25-man camp has been set up, along with all the services required to keep the camp going, said Tyhee president Dave Webb.

Tyhee plans to start a surface drill program for gold on 50 holes for a total of 10,000 m in vertical drilling.

Another 30 holes will be punched underground at Discovery for another 6,000 m in vertical depth.

New crushing facility

Tyhee has also announced that Acme Analytical Labs is opening a facility in Yellowknife.

"Seabridge Resources and Tyhee Developments have been instrumental in bringing it up to town," said Webb.

"They'll do the initial crushing of the rock and will ship the concentrate down to their big lab in Vancouver," he said.

Two to three positions are expected to be created within the lab. The lab will crush rock down to a fine gravel.

"They only take what would fit into the palm of your hand and then crush it down. Typically it's only about a tablespoon that's sent in," said Webb.

Webb was unsure of where the lab would be located, but he did note it would be up and running by May.

Environmental work

Tyhee has also been busy with a host of environmental baseline studies.

The company has received permits to work at the mine, but the environmental studies are being performed to protect the company against any possible litigation, said Webb.

A 600 m decline at the Ormsby Zone, originally tunnelled seven years ago, will be extended.

Once the decline is extended, five mineralized zones will be undercut. Undercutting is a process through which mining companies demonstrate they can follow the mineral trend.

Once Tyhee proves it can follow the continuity of the gold trend, the company will look for further financing.

"Once you have that you can go to the finance group and say, 'Here we have all this gold and we can mine it. Give us money,'" said Webb.