Engineering & Mining Journal

APR 2013

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 At Spotty Hill, down-plunge drilling will start from the discovery hole and continue along 25- to 50-m depth extensions. Each hole will be surveyed using a three-component borehole electromagnetic survey to follow the conductive sulphide mineralization to greater depth. Currently mineralization has only been drilled to 145 m below surface and is open. (www.northamericannickel.com) Brockman Mining has announced an initial inferred mineral resource of 109 million mt grading 60.03% iron for the Sirius deposit on its Ophthalmia iron ore project, located about 15 km north of Newman township in Western Australia. Together with recently announced resources for the Coondiner and Kalgan Creek deposits, total direct shipping ore (DSO) mineral resources at the Ophthalmia project now stand at 269 million mt grading 59.16% iron. The mineral resource estimate for the Sirius deposit was prepared by Golder Associates and is based on the results of broad-spaced exploration drilling and surface mapping and sampling. Forty-six reverse circulation holes and eight diamond core holes totaling 6,182 m have been drilled on the deposit. DSO-grade mineralization was delineated within geological boundaries using a 54% iron lower cut-off grade. In addition to the three main deposits with currently identified mineral resources, Brockman has identified other prospects in the greater Ophthalmia project area, where occurrences of DSO-grade mineralization have been identified from surface sampling in banded iron formations of the Hamersley Group, including the Boolgeeda and Brockman iron formations. These prospects will require further detailed geological mapping and sampling to generate exploration drilling targets for the near future. (www.brockmanmining.com.au) Tintina Resources, a Canadian junior company headquartered in Vancouver, has announced a new resource estimate for the Lowry deposit on its 100%-owned Black Butte copper project located about 100 km south of Great Falls, Montana, USA. When combined with a previously announced resource of the Johnny Lee deposit, the two deposits give the project a measured and indicated resource of 1.18 billion lb of copper at a grade of 3.4% copper and an inferred resource of 140 million lb of copper at a grade of 2.8% copper. The resource also includes cobalt and silver values. 40 E&MJ; • APRIL 2013 Tintina has completed more than 54,500 m of drilling at Black Butte since September of 2010 and has based its resource estimates on this drilling as well as on about 37,500 m of historic drilling. At least five additional copper mineralized zones have been identified in the resource area. Tintina is working on an updated preliminary economic assessment of the Black Butte project that will include the resources of both the Johnny Lee and Lowry deposits, with completion of the study expected by the end of the second quarter of 2013. The company has submitted an application for an exploration decline to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, with approval expected during the second quarter of 2013. (www.tintinaresources.com) Dolly Varden Silver Corp. has entered into an option agreement with Musketeer Developments Ltd. and certain other parties to acquire 100% of the Musketeer property in northwestern British Columbia. Dolly Varden's 100%-owned Dolly Varden silver property completely surrounds the Musketeer property. More importantly, mineral tenures of the company's historic silver mines—Torbrit, Wolf, North Star and Dolly Varden—abut the northern and southern boundaries of the Musketeer property. Extensions of these deposits will be targeted on the Musketeer property in 2013. The option agreement allows Dolly Varden to acquire a 100% interest in the Musketeer property for a purchase price of $1,050,000 over a period of four years, subject to a 2% net smelter royalty in favor of the optionees. The option agreement marks Dolly Varden's full consolidation of all the major developed silver prospects and past-producing silver mines in the Upper Kitsault valley. The company can now drill test the down-plunge extensions of the Torbrit mine, which was historically the largest silver producer in the Upper Kitsault valley. (dollyvardensilver.com) Avocet Resources has signed a definitive farm-in and joint-venture agreement with U3O8 Corp. regarding U3O8's 100%owned Sierra Cuadrada uranium project in Chubut province, Argentina. Under the agreement, Avocet can earn a 51% interest in the Sierra Cuadrada Joint Venture project by spending $1 million in exploration over a maximum of four years. Avocet will manage exploration of the project. The Sierra Cuadrada project is an earlystage prospect targeting sandstone-hosted uranium mineralization that is geologically similar to the state-owned Cerro Solo deposit, which is also in Chubut and currently is being advanced by CNEA (Argentinean National Nuclear Commission). Argentina is a nuclear energy producing country seeking domestic uranium supply to fuel its reactor fleet. The country's third reactor will come online this year, and at that time, Argentina will derive 9% of its electricity from nuclear. A fourth reactor is out for tender. Argentina views uranium as a strategic resource, and the government has signed nuclear cooperation agreements with the United Arab Emirates and China. The country has previously been a uranium producer, having a number of mine sites that are now closed. It is currently endeavoring to become self-sufficient with its own mines. Avocet Resources is an Australian junior company headquartered in West Perth, Western Australia, with exploration projects in Western Australia, Queensland, and South Australia. U3O8 Corp. is a Canadian junior company headquartered in Toronto, with active exploration projects on Argentina, Colombia and Guyana. (www.avocetresources.com.au) Rockcliff Resources reports that drilling at the Tower property within its Snow Lake project area in Manitoba has intersected high-grade copper mineralization at the T1 copper deposit and identified a second potential sulphide source at the T-2 copper zone. The company's winter drill program at the property completed five drill holes totaling almost 1,500 m. At the T-1 deposit, two holes tested an area south of the deposit's high-grade copper indicated resource. Both holes intersected high-grade copper mineralization. Highgrade intersections included 6.8% copper, 1.6 g/mt gold, 1.8% zinc and 41.5 g/mt silver across 1.1 m in one hole, and 8.4% copper, 0.9 g/mt gold, 2.4% zinc and 44.6 g/mt silver across 2.7 m in another. At the T-2 copper zone, three drill holes intersected a thick section of pervasive VMS alteration over a strike length of 150 m north the 2012 discovery hole, which intersected 4 m grading 2.44% copper, 0.7 g/mt gold, 18.2 g/mt silver, and 0.3% zinc. The holes intersected anomalous values from trace up to 6% copper over narrow widths within the alteration package. (www.rockcliffresources.com) www.e-mj.com

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