Champion Announces Mineral Resource Estimate for the Oil Can Deposit on the Recently Designated Consolidated Fire Lake North Property
04.07.2012 | Marketwire
Champion Outlines 1.896 Billion Tonnes Grading 28.7% Total Iron in Inferred Mineral ResourcesTORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 07/04/12 -- Champion Minerals Inc. (TSX: CHM)(OTCQX: CPMNF)(FRANKFURT: P02) ("Champion", or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of a current Mineral Resource Estimate for the Oil Can Project ("Oil Can") located within the recently designated Consolidated Fire Lake North Property and within Champion's wholly-owned Fermont Cluster 2 Holdings (Figure 1). The Mineral Resource Estimate was completed by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. ("P&E") of Brampton, Ontario, based on 19 drill holes totalling 8,435 m, completed between August 5 and December 11, 2011. The current Mineral Resource Estimate is outlined in the following table (Table 1):
Table 1: Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate(1)
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Cut-Off Grade Tonnes Grade
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Zone FeT% Millions FeT%
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Total Oxide 20%+ 969 33.2
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15%+ 972 33.2
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10%+ 1,355 23.8
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Total Mixed 20%+ 788 25.1
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15%+ 924 24.1
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10%+ 1,027 23.0
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Total All 15%+ 1,896 28.7
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(1) The current Mineral Resource Estimate was calculated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions. Mineral resources, which are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. The mineral resource estimate may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. Furthermore, the quantity and grade of estimated Inferred Resource reported herein are uncertain and there has been insufficient exploration to categorize them as an Indicated or Measured Resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in reclassification of Inferred Mineral Resources to the Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource categories. The tonnage numbers are rounded according to NI 43-101 standards. Grades are calculated from Total Fe% ("FeT%") sample assays completed by ALS Minerals using the "High Grade/Ores Method" XRF analysis.
The Oil Can Deposit consists of both magnetite-rich "Oxide" iron formation and a "Mixed" magnetite-silicate iron formation hosted within 5 domains separated by possible thrust faults.
P&E utilized a 1:1 C$-US$ exchange rate, a mining cost of $1.90/Tonne and $7.97/Tonne for the processing, G&A and freight costs. The process recovery, estimated to be 60.0%, and an Iron ore price of $1.77/dmtu were used to complete the Whittle pit optimization with 50 degree overall slopes to estimate the in-situ Mineral Resources. Table 2 presents the results of the In-Pit Optimization at various cut-off grades and demonstrates the economic sensitivity of the resource estimates by indicating the quantity of the mineral resources that may be potentially economically exploited within the optimized pit shell.
Table 2: In-Pit Optimization Sensitivity Estimate
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Cut-Off Grade Tonnes Grade
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Zone FeT% Millions FeT%
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Total Oxide 20%+ 964 33.3
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15%+ 967 33.2
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10%+ 967 33.2
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Total Mixed 20%+ 781 25.1
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15%+ 912 24.1
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10%+ 978 23.4
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Total All 15%+ 1,879 28.8
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Champion has completed limited preliminary metallurgical test work for indications of grind size, recovery and potential concentrate quality that might be produced from the Oil Can Mineral Resources. Early results from composites tested at SGS Lakefield Laboratories of Lakefield, Ontario, indicate that a relatively coarse grind and primary magnetic separation could yield a commercial grade magnetite sinter-feed concentrate. Further metallurgical test work will focus on the Oxide resource to evaluate the potential to improve recoveries utilizing secondary gravity separation of the magnetic-tails to recover the specular hematite mineralization that occurs in significant concentrations locally within the deposit, most notably in the South, Central and North zones.
Tom Larsen, CEO & President commented, "With the addition of nearly 2 billion tonnes of Iron resources at Oil Can, the Company's current Mineral Resources are greater than 4.6 billion tonnes at 5 of our original 17 Fermont properties. It is important to note the nearly 1 billion tonnes of high grade Oxide resource is reporting within the pit-optimized shell that compliments the 1 billion tonne high grade expanding resources at our adjacent flagship Fire Lake North project. We have recently been evaluating the potential to integrate resources from Oil Can into a single larger development at the Consolidated Fire Lake North Project that could eventually support annual concentrate production of up to 20 million tonnes of specular hematite sinter feed from the Fire Lake North resource as well as up to 20 million tonnes of magnetite sinter feed from Oil Can."
Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC)
Certified reference materials (CRM) and blanks were each inserted approximately every 25 samples for Quality Assurance and Quality Control, (QA/QC). In addition, field duplicates consisting of 1/4 core were collected every 25 samples, and coarse reject and pulp duplicates were prepared at the lab from every 25th sample. Samples were transported to ALS Minerals ("ALS") of Sudbury, Ontario, an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certified laboratory that routinely performs assaying for junior exploration and mining companies. The Sudbury facility crushed and pulverized the samples in preparation for XRF analysis at their Vancouver laboratory.
The Consolidated Fire Lake North Property
The Oil Can Deposit occurs on the Oil Can claim group located contiguous to the north boundary of the Fire Lake North claim group and only 4 km to 7 km from the proposed development and concentrator facilities for Fire Lake North currently under a Feasibility Study, the results of which are expected to be released in Q4/2012 (Figure 1). Considering the proximity of the Oil Can Deposit to the proposed processing facilities for Fire Lake North and the establishing of a resource estimate at Oil Can, as well as a reassessment of other relevant factors, it appears to the Company that National Instrument 43-101 suggests that for technical reporting purposes, Fire Lake North and Oil Can should now be consolidated and considered as a single property going forward. Furthermore, as the Bellechasse and Midway properties are contiguous with the Fire Lake North and the Oil Can properties, there exists an increased prospect for exploiting the Bellechasse resource from potential common infrastructure to be developed to serve Fire Lake North and Oil Can. Accordingly, it appears to the Company that, in the current circumstances, the Bellechasse and Midway properties should also be consolidated with Fire Lake North and Oil Can to form part of a Consolidated Fire Lake North Property.
The Consolidated Fire Lake North Property is located immediately adjacent to and north of ArcelorMittal's operating Fire Lake Mine and 60 km to the south of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.'s Bloom Lake Mine in northeastern Quebec. Consolidated Fire Lake North is situated within the Grenville geological Province at the southern end of the Labrador Trough.
The Fermont Iron Holdings
Champion's Fermont Holdings now comprise fourteen properties, with four of seventeen previous properties being amalgamated into a single property. Each of the previously designated Fire Lake North, Bellechasse, Midway and Oil Can Properties are being consolidated and will now be designated as the Consolidated Fire Lake North Property (refer to the appended Figure 1). The appended Table 3 provides a summary of current Mineral Resources for Champion's Fermont Holdings.
The Fermont Holdings, including the flagship Consolidated Fire Lake North Project, are located in Canada's major iron ore producing district, in close proximity to five producing iron mines. Champion's team and advisory board includes mining and exploration professionals with the mine operations experience to build and commission the Fire Lake North Project into a producing mine.
About Champion Minerals Inc.
Champion Minerals is an iron exploration and development company with offices in Montreal and Toronto, and is focused on developing its significant iron resources in the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador. Champion holds a 100% interest in the Fermont Iron Holdings following the recent acquisition of the 17.5% interest from its former joint venture partner Fancamp Exploration Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: FNC) (refer to CHM's news release dated May 18, 2012). Champion also holds a 44% interest in the Attikamagen Iron Property in Quebec and Labrador.
The technical information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Bruce Mitton, P. Geo., Vice-President Exploration for the Company, and Tracy Armstrong, P. Geo and Antoine Yassa, P.Geo., of P&E Mining Consultants Inc., each a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 standards.
Please visit Champion's website at www.championminerals.com.
Statements made in this news release that are "forward-looking statements" are not historical facts. Readers are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and that actual developments or results may vary materially from those stated herein.
To view Figure 1: Fermont Cluster 2 and the Consolidated Fire Lake North Property, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cpmnf0704fig1.pdf.
Table 3 : Fermont Holdings Summary of Current Mineral Resources Estimates by Property(1)
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Current Mineral Resources Estimates at 15%
Iron Cut-Off
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Property Cluster Deposit Measured Indicated Inferred
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tonnes grade tonnes grade tonnes grade
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millions FeT% millions FeT% millions FeT%
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Moire Lake 1 Lac Moire - - 164.0 30.5 417.1 29.4
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Consolidated
Fire Lake Fire Lake
North 2 North 8.4 35.0 391.7 30.5 661.2 27.7
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Oil Can - - - - 1,896.0 28.7
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Bellechasse - - - - 215.0 27.8
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Midway - - - - - -
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Harvey- Harvey-
Tuttle 2 Tuttle - - - - 947.0 23.2
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O'Keefe-
Purdy 2 - - - - - -
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Hope Lake 2 - - - - - -
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Casse Lake 2 - - - - - -
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Claire Lake 2 - - - - - -
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Audrey-Ernie 3 - - - - - -
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Three Big
Lakes 3 - - - - - -
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Aubertin-
Tougard
Lakes 3 - - - - - -
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Jeannine
Lake 3 - - - - - -
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Silicate-
Brutus
Lakes 3 - - - - - -
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Penguin 3 - - - - - -
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Black Dan 3 - - - - - -
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Totals 8.4 35.0 555.7 30.5 4,136.3 27.3
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(1) The current Mineral Resource Estimate was calculated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions. Mineral resources, which are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. The mineral resource estimate may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. Furthermore, the quantity and grade of estimated Inferred Resource reported herein are uncertain and there has been insufficient exploration to categorize them as an Indicated or Measured Resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in reclassification of Inferred Mineral Resources to the Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource categories. The tonnage numbers are rounded according to NI 43-101 standards.
Contacts:
Champion Minerals Inc.
Thomas G. Larsen
President and CEO
(416) 866-2200
Champion Minerals Inc.
Jorge Estepa
Vice-President
(416) 866-2200
www.championminerals.com