Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (36 page)

C
hapter
3
3

M
y cell phone went off as I was unlocking my office. I looked at the caller ID
;
it was Fish.

“
Damn, Fish, you
’
re out of the gate early today.
”
I
said with a
chuckle.

“
I
’
ve got some news I thought you
’
d want to hear,
”
Fish replied.

“
Do I need to sit down?
”
I
asked
, blowing my breath out.

“
No, no worries, Trace
. I
t
’
s damned go
od news.
”

“
Okay,
Fish
, lay it on me.
”

“
The core hole
Red
’
s drilling
,
at a
seventy
-
five
-
degree
angle
,
hit the vein around six
hundred
ninety
-
eight
feet
. We
cored about thirty
-
five feet of high
-
grade pitchblende.
”

“
I like it so far
. I
s there more?
”

“
Yeah, it gets better.
As you know,
I usually drill about ten feet into the footwall schist just to be sure we
’
re completely through the vein.
”

“
Yep. What
’
d you find?
”

“
Well
,
about three feet into the foot
-
wall
,
we hit a second vein.
”

“
A splinter off the main vein?
”

“
No, it
’
s a totally different system, Trace.
”

“
Uranium?
”

“
No.
T
his vein is about five feet of quartz with c
hal
copyrite and specs of visible gold.
”

“
No
kidding
?
Visible gold with copper sulfide?
”

“
I
kid
you not.
I reckon the vein
is
about sixty
-
five percent c
halco
pyrite. Plus
,
there
’
s visible free gold
,
and I
’
m sure the c
halco
pyrite will carry gold values as well.
”

“
Great news,
Fish,
but not a total surprise
.
Remember
,
the Sullivan was originally a copper and gold mine. We
’
ve been drilling in a high
-
grade uranium zone but it figures we
’
d
hit some
copper and gold
,
sooner or later
.
”

“
It could be the two veins merge above where we
’
re
drilling
,
”
Fish replied
.
“
Remember
,
this hole is at a seventy
-
five
-
degree angle
. W
e
’
re well below the second level of the original mine workings.
”

“
This new vein didn
’
t show up in the forty
-
five
-
degree hole we drilled from this location
, did it?
”
I asked.

“
No. All we saw in the core was the
same
uranium vein we
’
ve been chasing.
”

“
Okay, drill another hole from the same location
, t
his time at sixty degrees. Let
’
s try and get an idea if the veins merge or if the copper-gold zone pinches out towards the surface.
If we keep intersecting the gold zone along strike, we may want to go back and deepen some of our earlier holes.
”

“
I
’
m all over it, Trace. I
’
ll get the
cor
es split and off to the lab in the morning. I think the gold values are going to knock our socks off. Plus we
’
ll have the copper as a kicker.
”

“
Good work, Fish. Keep after it and keep me posted. I
’
ll get word to the rest of the board. I
’
m sure Jim will be on the next flight to Spokane,
”
I
said with
a laugh.

I called Wally and Will
,
and filled them in.
They both about busted at the seams.
Jim was in a meeting in Chicago
,
so I left him a
m
essage.
This time
th
e Virus
would have to wait for the press release
,
like all the other shareholders.

That evening I received an
e-mail
from Jim. He
’
d fly into Spokane in a couple of days and wanted to know if I could go up to the mine with him. I
e-mailed
him back to let me know his flight
info so I could pick him up.

Three days later, I met Jim at the Spokane airport and we headed for Winthrop.

“
Have you got any assays back yet from the cores in the
gold-
copper intersection?
”

“
Not yet, Jim. But
they
could
show up anytime.
I put an expedite order on the assays. It costs a bit more, but I figure it
’
ll be worth it
, e
specially if the assays are as good as Fish thinks they
will
be.
”

“
It
’
ll make a nice press release. Gold and copper on top of the extraordinary uranium grades. The bloody share price should make a healthy move upwards.
”

“
My thoughts, exactly.
”

“
Anything new from Cyrus on our Chinese friends?
”

“
Not too much. His trader buddy in Hong Kong says they
’
re still buying. Nothing huge, just steady day
-
to
-
day buying. Especially on any dips.
”

“
They could be a problem down the road, Trace. I
’
ve seen them in action in the Australian uranium market. They
’
re sharp guys
,
with deep pockets
,
and they
’
re ruthless. No quarter asked, non
e
given.
”

I started to reply when my cell phone went off.

“
Trace Brandon.
”

“
Trace, Steve Bennet, Mineral Valley Labs. Got a sec?
”

“
You bet
. What
’
s up, Steve?
”

“
I have some assay info for you. The formal reports will go out to day
, f
rom my office.
”

“
How
’
d the gold values look?
”

“
Are you driving?
”

“
Yes.
”

“
Buckled up?
”

“
Yes,
”
I
said with
a laugh
,
glancing
at Jim.

“
Okay. Looks like you
’
re averaging about eight
-
tenths of an
ounce gold and about two and a
half
percent copper.
”

“
Wow
!
Not too damn shabby.
”

“
You can say that again. I thought you
’
d be pleased.
”

“
Yeah, it
’
s really good news, Steve.
”

“
W
ell
,
while you
’
re in such a good mood
,
let me run one other item by you.
”

I raised my eyebrows and glanced at Jim
.
“
O
kay
,
shoot.
”

“
I found the leak he
re
at the lab.
”

“
Good.
”

“
Well, it
’
s good and bad, Trace.
”

“
How so?
”

“
The leak came from one of our senior people. A gal named Mary Johnson.
”

“
Okay. And
?
”

“
And
,
her daughter has terminal brain cancer.
Mary
’
s
about
exhausted her med insurance and is between a rock and a hard spot. She took the money for the assay data to keep her daughter alive.
”

“
I see. So what
’
s your plan?
”

“
She
’
s a good gal, Trace. I
’
m not sure any
one of us wouldn
’
t have done the same thing in a similar situation. But
,
I leave it to you. If you say prosecute, we
’
ll file a complaint.
”

“
Are you going to keep her on?
”

“
Yes. On probation. If she screws up again, she
’
s history.
”

“
Okay, here
’
s my thought. Keeping her on is your decision. I don
’
t want to be telling you how to run your business. But I don
’
t want her anywhere near our data. Understood?
”

“
Understood.
”

“
Secondly, have her set up an account with a stock brokerage firm in Coeur d
’
Alene.
When it
’
s done, send me the account information
,
and I
’
ll transfer one hundred thousand shares o
f
Montana Creek Mining stock into her account. To use as she sees fit. Remember, she
’
ll be a shareholder in Montana Creek. Another reason she can have nothing to do with our assays.
”

“
Damn, Trace
. T
hat
’
s a hell of a nice thing to do.
”