Gold & Base Metal Stock Picks For 2003

Asset-Rich Doublestar Sets Sights On Near-Term Gold and Copper Production

Marc Davis, Managing Editor

Doublestar Resources Ltd. (TSX.V-DSR) is a Canadian junior mining company that has a large, enviable portfolio of both precious and base metals projects spanning from northern Canada to Central America. Two of its advanced-stage projects, located in Canada's Northwest Territories and British Columbia, are expected to soon reach the threshold for commercial production.

This is not surprising since Doublestar's management team has a solid track record for building considerable hard asset value into emerging mining companies. Specifically, this resource-rich mining junior is headed up by two accomplished mining industry veterans with a combined 50 years of experience. The Chairman and CEO, Alan Savage, has been involved in the development of British Columbia's Windy Craggy and Huckleberry copper mines. In turn, Doublestar President, Paul Saxton, has played a crucial role in bringing a number of prolific gold mines on-stream, including California's Castle Mountain Mine, the Brewery Creek Mine in the Yukon and the Nickel Plate Mine in British Columbia.

Meanwhile, Doublestar's best near-term prospects for a mine involve a high-grade copper deposit in northern British Columbia and an underground, high-grade gold deposit in the Northwest Territories. We'll discuss these "company-building" projects later. However, many readers are no doubt particularly interested in first learning about Doublestar's flagship Honduran project, which has the "blue sky" potential to become a world-class gold discovery.

The Zopilote Property is a wholly owned 155-square-kilometer (60-square-mile) gold concession located in western Honduras. Not coincidentally, it is situated along the same geological fault structure as at least two major gold deposits. By way of a little background, gold was originally discovered in the Zopilote area by local natives and the Spanish during the colonization of Honduras. During the 1800s and the early 1900s, companies from different nations prospected and mined gold in the area. Since 1989, various optionees and operators of the Zopilote Property have completed extensive exploration work, culminating in 109 drill holes over nearly 15,000 meters (49,000 feet). Also of note, the property has good infrastructure. It is well-situated with regards to roads, power and labor, thereby presenting the prospect for a low-cost mining operation.

At present, the Zopilote Property has an outlined geological resource estimate of 10.5 million tonnes grading 0.043 oz/ton (1.32 g/tonne) gold, containing an estimated 446,000 ounces. This constitutes an advanced open pit, bulk tonnage gold project with considerable potential for a mine.

Notably, only 20 per cent of the property has been systematically explored to date. Moreover, largely untested areas of this sizable property are covered by several gold-in-soil anomalies that have proved to be reliable indicators of underlying gold resources. They include the El Rincon anomaly. It is an especially large 3,000-meter by 500-meter (9,800-feet by 1,600-feet) target which has revealed the potential to host gold resources that far exceed the existing estimates. A recent 17-hole reconnaissance drill program in these gold-in-soil target anomalies has also intersected encouraging gold grades along strike. Accordingly, a multi-phase drill program through 2003 is expected to better delineate the grades and size of these compelling new mineralized targets. Additionally, it is anticipated that the drilling will also increase the tonnage of the property's higher grade Central Zone, where ore-grade intercepts have already been encountered. All told, approximately Can. $3 million (U.S. $2 million) has already been spent on exploration and development of the Zopilote Property since the early 90s. And Doublestar's management believes that 2003 will be the year that a significant enough resource will be outlined (with the potential for a further 500,000 ounces) to bring the property to pre-feasibility study readiness.

It is worth noting that the exploration of similar fault structures and associated hydrothermal and epithermal activity has led to the discovery of a number of exceptional gold mines and undeveloped deposits in Honduras. These include the San Martin, Vueltas del Rio and San Andreas open pit deposits which together host over 2.7 million ounces of gold.

Finally, the country's attitude toward mineral exploration and development is encouraging. In fact, the government and the people of Honduras have a rich 500-year mining history. Gold is the country's third largest export and Honduras has proved to be a very mining-friendly jurisdiction for foreign companies.

Now let's return to Doublestar's best near-term prospect for a mine. The Sustut Copper Deposit, which has advanced as far as the feasibility study stage, is located in northeastern British Columbia, 40 kilometers from Northgate Exploration's Kemess Mine. Sustut is wholly owned by Doublestar subject to a nine per cent net profits interest for Falconbridge Ltd. (the major mining company that discovered and developed Sustut over a number of years).

Doublestar acquired the deposit from Falconbridge in January 2000 as part of a larger portfolio of properties in return for cash and shares.The deposit is comprised of three mineralized zones which host a combined mineral inventory of 43,545,000 tonnes grading 0.81% copper within which exists an open-pit resource of 21,075,000 tonnes grading 1.11% copper. However, during 2003, the company is focused primarily on the development of the southeast zone, where the engineering firm Snowden Mining Industry Consultants has provided a resource estimate totaling 5,940,000 tonnes grading 1.87% copper and 6.11 g/tonne silver.

In 2002, Doublestar, Northgate and Procon Mining and Tunnelling Ltd., announced a partnership that contemplates bringing Sustut to production as a quarry. Under the terms of this agreement, Procon will conduct mining operations while Northgate will treat the ore at its Kemess Mine. Accordingly, Doublestar and Northgate intend to equally share the projected profits from this venture. Of course, this arrangement is subject to the completion of the final feasibility study. On that note, in July 2002, Doublestar began an in-fill and confirmation drill program of approximately 20 holes designed to bring the entire resource in the southeast zone to a recognized standard of a "measured resource." Presently 70 per cent of the deposit can be classified as being in the measured category. The feasibility study is expected to be completed by early spring 2003 in anticipation of a construction start in the summer or fall, with production commencing by mid 2004.

Both Doublestar and Northgate recognize that considerable economies of scale can be achieved by mining the Sustut deposit and delivering the ore directly to the Kemess Mine. The project is conceived as a quarry in which the ore will be mined and trucked to the Kemess Mine at a rate of 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes per day for a period of five years. This would allow Doublestar's high-grade ore to be mixed with Northgate's low-grade ore, resulting in a very economic overall grade. This is a significant strategic benefit both companies. In particular, it precludes the need for Doublestar to build its own multi-million dollar milling facility.

The company's other leading Canadian venture is the Damoti Lake Property which is approximately 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territories. This expansive property covers 74 square kilometers (46 square miles). Significantly, it was one of Canada's most closely watched discoveries during the mid 90s and has benefited from over Can. $14 million (U.S. $9 million) that was spent on exploration and development. This includes 358 drill holes, mainly at surface but also underground. At present, Damoti Lake has an outlined geological resource estimate of 2,084,164 tonnes grading 0.3 oz/ton (9.3g/tonne) gold, containing an estimated 618,000 ounces. This resource calculation was provided by an independent engineering firm, Sierra Mining and Engineering.

Doublestar has modified this resource calculation to suit National Policy 43-101 standards and has limited this resource figure to those areas of concentrated drilling. The effect is to reduce Sierra Mining's mineral resource calculation to 480,000 ounces of contained gold - made up of a measured mineral resource of 75,891 ounces, an indicated mineral resource of 240,654 ounces, and an inferred mineral resource of 164,015 ounces. In spite of Doublestar's more conservative approach to determining the economic potential of this property, the Damoti Lake deposit still exhibits strong near-term commercial viability. Moreover, there are compelling indications that further exploratory and developmental work may reveal a much larger deposit.

According to company President Paul Saxton, "The Damoti Lake potential is greatly expandable. It is an intriguing property that has had spectacular drilling results in the past and begs to have a new expanded exploration program. The iron formation, which is the gold bearing structure, is over 11 kilometers in length and only a small part of it has been systematically and structurally explored."

Doublestar owns 100 per cent of the Damoti Lake deposit (subject to a two per cent net smelter royalty) through its wholly owned subsidiary, Standard Mining Corporation. In 2002, Canadian Zinc Corporation entered into an agreement with the company to earn a 50 per cent interest by making cash and share payments and expending a cumulative Can. $2.4 million (U.S. $1.6 million) on exploration over four years.

Rounding out Doublestar's extensive inventory of projects are nearly a dozen other properties in Honduras, several of which exhibit the potential to be major gold finds. They include a couple of advanced epithermal gold/silver targets, two advanced stage bulk-tonnage gold prospects and two advanced silver-copper-zinc properties. All told, these concessions cover 276 square kilometers of prime exploration territory. Moreover, Doublestar has a number of Canadian grass-roots precious and base metals exploration projects, mainly in British Columbia. They will be the focus of further work subject to the future involvement of appropriate joint venture partners.

In closing, Doublestar has over a million ounces of gold resources already delineated on its Damoti Lake and Zopilote properties, as well as a feasibility study underway for its high-grade Sustut copper deposit. All of these projects also have excellent "blue sky" potential by the year's end to evolve into considerably larger deposits. Moreover, the company is adequately financed and benefits from strong leadership with a proven record for financing and developing large-tonnage mines. Accordingly, SmallCapMedia believes that Doublestar offers investors considerable leveraged exposure to at least three potentially economic mineral deposits. This will likely be reflected in the share price in the coming months as the company continues to produce a stream of exploration results from these key ventures.