Engineering & Mining Journal

JUN 2016

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

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REGIONAL NEWS - EXPLORATION ROUNDUP 24 E&MJ; • JUNE 2016 www.e-mj.com CanAlaska Enters C$20.4M Option Agreement With De Beers Canada CanAlaska Uranium has entered into an option-participation agreement with De Beers Canada for exploration ex- penditures of up to C$20.4 million on kimberlite-style targets staked by CanAlaska in the northwestern Atha- basca basin, Saskatchewan. The claims cover 75 kimberlite-style targets devel- oped from a 2011 high-resolution air- borne geophysical survey carried out on behalf of the Saskatchewan Geological Survey. The survey, f own at 400-m line spacing, revealed a series of discrete magnetic anomalies. The multistage option agreement al- lows De Beers to carry out a series of work programs over a period of three years to earn up to a 90% interest in the project. De Beers is required to progress through the options within specif ed time periods or return the property to CanAlaska. The sequential options are subject to CanAlas- ka's right to participate in the exploration as a joint-venture partner. This participa- tion right starts once De Beers has earned a 70% interest. De Beers will operate the work programs with assistance from Can- Alaska. Priority work will include a de- tailed airborne survey, diamond indica- tor sampling in the vicinity of the tar- gets, and follow-up drill testing of priori- tized targets. CanAlaska President Peter Dasler said, "These 75 circular targets f t all the geological and geophysical criteria of kimberlites. The location of the targets within a thick sequence of crustal rocks and their clustering around major struc- tural features provide a compelling target for CanAlaska and De Beers. "We are very pleased to have joined forces with the world's premier diamond explorer to evaluate this 17,400-ha claim package, which hosts numerous targets. Our alliance with De Beers will allow rapid f rst-pass evaluation, and we look forward to the ability to partic- ipate with De Beers as a partner as the project grows." De Beers Canada Inc. is a member of the De Beers Group of companies, which is a member of the Anglo Ameri- can Group. Exploration Briefs Ivanhoe Mines has initiated a 25,000- m, in-f ll and exploration drilling pro- gram, using up to nine drill rigs, at the Kakula discovery on the Kamoa copper mining license area in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kakula represents a major extension of the Kamoa copper deposit, which Ivanhoe Mines discovered in 2008. The Kakula exploration area is approx- imately 10 km southwest of the Kamoa project's planned initial mining area. The current drilling program is focused on a 12-km 2 area along the projected trend of mineralization intersected in two high-grade holes completed in 2015. The program is targeting shallow re- sources at grades materially higher than the average grades at Kamoa, which potentially could be incorporated into the Kamoa phase-one feasibility study now under way. The program also includes follow-up inf ll drilling aimed at def ning indicated resources in areas where the continuity of materially higher grade is conf rmed. The Kamoa project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining. (www.ivanhoemines.com) Doray Minerals has entered into a farm-in agreement with Rox Resources to explore Rox's Mount Fisher gold project approxi- mately 230 km north of the town of Le- onora in the northeastern Goldf elds of Western Australia. Doray can earn up to a 75% interest in the project by staged spending of up to A$10 million over a period of f ve years. The project compris- es a number of exploration tenements covering approximately 480 km 2 in the Mount Fisher greenstone belt, which has similarities to the multimillion ounce Ag- new-Lawlers gold camp, also in Western Australia. Signif cant intercepts from recent drilling by Rox include 15 m grading 4.15 g/mt gold from 30 m down the hole; 14 m grading 3.04 g/mt from 22 m down the hole, including 2 m grading 16.65 g/ mt; and 8 m grading 3.22 g/mt from 105 m down the hole. Doray views the Mount Fisher project as having excellent potential for large- scale gold mineralization and will focus on previously untested targets within the greenstone belt. The historic Mount Fisher gold mine is excluded from the Doray-Rox agreement, as are tenements that host nickel miner- alization discovered by Rox. (www.dorayminerals.com.au) Mirasol Resources reported that its joint-venture partner, Cerro Vanguardia S.A., has initiated drilling on Mirasol's 100% owned Claudia gold-silver project in Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Cerro Vanguardia is 92.5% owned by AngloGold Ashanti and is operator of the Cerro Van- guardia gold-silver mine, which abuts the 127,680-ha Claudia project. The Claudia project hosts a series of large-scale prospects within reasonable trucking distance of the Cerro Vanguardia mill. The joint venture is targeting discov- ery of gold-silver resources that could be developed as satellite pits to the Cerro Vanguardia operation. The f rst phase of drilling is testing a portion of the Curahue prospect, a 15-km-long epithermal vein corridor where Mirasol mapping, geophysics, and trenching have outlined six large, undrilled vein trends that are most- ly concealed beneath thin, unconsoli- dated post-mineral cover. An initial 3,500-m, 22-hole, reverse-circulation drill program is testing three of these vein trends. Results from this program will be used to prioritize the higher-grade segments of the trends for follow-up dia- mond core and additional reverse-circula- tion drilling. Future systematic exploration drilling of the remaining Curahue vein trends and other prospects at Claudia will be based on the results of this phase of exploration. (www.mirasolresources.com)

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