| To: LoneClone who wrote (95225) | 10/1/2012 9:26:52 PM | | From: LoneClone | | | | Bralorne Intersects 385.57 g/t Gold Over 1.2m at BK-3 Zone
Press Release: Bralorne Gold Mines Ltd. – 12 hours ago
finance.yahoo.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct 1, 2012) - Bralorne Gold Mines Ltd. ("Bralorne" or "the Company") (TSX VENTURE:BPM)( BPMSF)( GV7.F) is pleased to provide the following update of activities at its Bralorne mining operation located near Gold Bridge, British Columbia, the site where the Company is exploring and developing a new gold mining operation.
The 2012 underground drill program is focused on the under-explored BK gap area located between the historic Bralorne and King mines, which together these two of the three historic mines produced nearly three million ounces of gold from 1928 to 1971.
The 2012 underground drill program has completed a total of 15 holes (1,935 m) to date. The main objective of the program is to test for extensions of high grade gold mineralization previously discovered in the BK-3 Zone, where underground drifting previously reported results of 68.7 grams gold per tonne (un-cut) over 0.8 metres (true thickness) along a 160 metre strike length (See news release dated June 18, 2012).
The most recent hole UB12-015 intersected a quartz vein interval that contains several grains of visible gold and assayed 385.57 grams gold per tonne (uncut) over 1.2 metres. This intercept is located just west of the underground development currently underway on the BK-3 zone and will be investigated by sub-level drifting in the coming months.
Significant diamond drill intercepts include:
| Hole | Az. | Inc. | From
(m) | To
(m) | Core
Interval
(m) | True
Width
(m) | Core
Interval
(ft) | Au
(g/T) | Au
(oz/ton) | Gold | | Target | | UB12-001 | 349 | -31 | 43.9 | 44.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 8.78 | 0.256 | | | New Find | | UB12-001 | 349 | -31 | 76.4 | 76.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 63.60 | 1.855 | VG | | BKN split | | UB12-003 | 349 | -12 | 55.9 | 56.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 114.00 | 3.325 | VG | | BKN | | UB12-003 | 349 | -12 | 61.1 | 61.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 12.60 | 0.367 | | | BKN HW | | UB12-005 | 334 | -7 | 69.2 | 70.9 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 5.6 | 4.10 | 0.120 | | | BKN | | UB12-006 | 336 | -22 | 79.8 | 80.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 3.73 | 0.109 | | | BKN | | UB12-012 | 334 | +77 | 9.9 | 10.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 9.30 | 0.271 | | | New Find | | UB12-013 | 14.2 | +38 | 112.2 | 113.4 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 6.88 | 0.201 | | | BK | | UB12-014 | 9 | +61 | 103.6 | 104.1 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 6.88 | 0.201 | | | BK FW | | UB12-015 | 335 | +59 | 88.4 | 89.0 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 2.0 | Pending | Pending | VG | | New Find | | UB12-015 | 335 | +59 | 163.7 | 165.8 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 7.0 | 385.57 | 11.246 | VG | | BK | | Abbreviations: VG = visible gold, QV=quartz vein, QSTZ=quartz veinlet zone, ALT = altered zone | | Au = gold, oz/ton = ounce per ton, Az=azimuth, Inc=inclination, HW = hanging wall, FW = foot wall,BK = BK vein, BKN = BK North vein | | Cautionary Note: The company considers all intercepts assaying 0.1 oz/ton Au or greater as significant, but cautions that these intercept data are preliminary in nature and not conclusive evidence of the likelihood of the occurrence of an economic mineral deposit. | | | "These new results give further credibility to the potential of the BK structure and the BK gap area. These are exceptional gold grades, discovered within 200 meters of BC's most successful historic gold mine; and they are accessible from the new workings currently being developed," commented Company President and COO, Dr. Matt Ball.
The Company also recently commenced surface exploration drilling in the Bralorne-Pioneer gap area after receiving its permit.
QUALITY ASSURANCE - QUALITY CONTROL (QA/QC)
Thorough QA/QC protocols are followed on the project by monitoring the results of blank and standard samples inserted at a frequency of 1 in 20 each and re-analysis of check samples at a second laboratory.
Drill core samples are submitted for preparation and analysis directly to either ALS Laboratory Group in North Vancouver or SGS Laboratory in Vancouver, both of which are ISO certified. Analysis is conducted on 1 assay-ton aliquots using the fire assay method with a gravimetric finish. Metallic sieve assays are done on all mineralized quartz samples. The project is under the technical supervision of Dr. Matt Ball, P. Geo., President and Chief Operating Officer of the company and qualified person ("QP") as defined by National Instrument 43-101, who has reviewed the technical content of this release.
THE PROJECT
The Bralorne gold project is located in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, about 150 air miles northwest of Vancouver. It is situated in the heart of the Bridge River gold district where placer gold mining in the late 1800's led to major hard rock gold mining that lasted continuously more than 40 years until 1972. The historic mines at Bralorne produced 4.1 million ounces of gold and were extensive. Over 30 gold-quartz veins were developed on 45 levels extending over 2000 metres from surface, with 80 kilometers of tunnels in three separate mines serviced by four shafts. The geology is similar to that of world-class vein-type gold deposits in the Timmins and Yellowknife camps in Canada, and the Kalgoorlie district in Australia, hence the ultimate potential of the area is exciting. The 77 Vein at Bralorne provides an example since it was a record maker with over a million ounces of gold produced from near continuous mining over a vertical extent of 1400 m. This vein was still going strong at the bottom of the mine prior to closure in 1971 when the mine was forced to shut down due to a gold price of only $32 per ounce. The Pioneer mine was also a great producer. Spectacular high-grade samples from the Pioneer mine are still displayed at the Royal Ontario Museum.
COMPANY PROFILE
Bralorne Gold Mines Ltd. started building a new mining operation when gold prices rose above $800 per ounce in 2007, and is currently operating at 100 tons per day. The project is focused on exploring and developing areas between the historic King, Bralorne and Pioneer mines. The currently targeted areas between the old mines were claim gaps that were not explored during the life of the historic mines but are now part of the 2,500 hectare property. Since start-up in May of 2011, an estimated 7,642 ounces of gold have been produced from 28,800 tonnes at an average head grade of 9.12 grams gold per tonne. The Company is continuing to explore and mine, and plans to increase production in stages over the coming years, with an ultimate goal of 500 tonnes per day. The Company has no debt and 28 million shares outstanding and no debt.
For more information, please visit our website at: www.bralorne.com
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
William Kocken, Chief Executive Officer
This release contains statements that are forward-looking statements and are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Such information contained herein represents management's best judgment as of the date hereof based on information currently available. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Contact:
Bralorne Gold Mines Ltd.
William Kocken
Chief Executive Officer
604.682.3701
604.682.3600
ir@bralorne.com
www.bralorne.com |
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| To: LoneClone who wrote (95226) | 10/1/2012 9:27:53 PM | | From: LoneClone | | | | Gold Jumps to 10-Month High on U.S. Stimulus Speculation
By Debarati Roy - Oct 1, 2012 11:31 AM PT
facebook.com
Gold futures jumped to a 10-month high after Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said that the U.S. central bank can do more to boost the economy, fueling concern that inflation will accelerate.
Evans, who doesn’t vote on Fed policy this year, said today in an interview on CNBC that unemployment probably won’t fall to 7 percent until 2014. The central bank can “back off” of its accommodation should inflation present a greater threat, he said. In the third quarter, gold gained 11 percent, the most since June 2010, as the Fed announced a third round of monetary stimulus.
Demand for gold as a store of value surged amid speculation that inflation will pick up after the Fed, the Bank of Japan (8301) and the European Central Bank announced plans to buy more debt. Holdings in exchange-traded products backed by the metal jumped to a record on Sept. 25, while money managers and hedge funds raised their bullish futures bets for the sixth straight week to the highest since February, U.S. data showed on Sept. 28.
“People are hurrying up and buying gold as today’s comments tell us that the Fed will continue with the stimulus policies until its sees some improvement in economic conditions,” Frank McGhee, the head dealer at Integrated Brokerage Services LLC in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “The inflation worries are back.”
Gold futures for December delivery rose 0.5 percent to settle at $1,783.30 an ounce at 1:35 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the price reached $1,794.40, the highest for a most-active contract since Nov. 14.
Annual Gains The precious metal has climbed 14 percent this year. Gold started a run of consecutive annual gains in 2001. Futures reached a record $1,923.70 on Sept. 6, 2011, as Europe’s fiscal woes escalated.
The metal soared 70 percent from the end of December 2008 to June 2011 as the Fed kept borrowing costs at a record low and bought $2.3 trillion of bonds in two rounds of so-called quantitative easing. On Sept. 13, the central bank said it will expand holdings of long-term securities with open-ended purchases of $40 billion of mortgage debt a month and keep the benchmark interest rate near zero percent “at least through mid-2015.”
Holdings in gold ETPs more than doubled since the end of 2008 to 2,545.35 metric tons of as Sept. 28, data tracked by Bloomberg show.
Bullish Bets In the week ended Sept. 25, hedge funds increased bullish bets on Comex gold by 6.4 percent to 189,870 futures and options contracts, the highest since February, government data showed.
Silver futures for December delivery climbed 1.1 percent to $34.952 an ounce on the Comex after advancing to $35.445, the highest since March 2.
Platinum futures for January delivery jumped 1 percent to $1,685.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the fifth-straight increase.
Palladium futures for December delivery gained 0.7 percent to $645.60 an ounce on the Nymex. |
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| To: LoneClone who wrote (95227) | 10/1/2012 9:30:13 PM | | From: LoneClone | | | | Solitario Reports Continued Drilling Success on Its Bongará High-Grade Zinc Project, Peru
Press Release: Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp. – 12 hours ago
finance.yahoo.com
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp. (NYSE MKT: XPL; TSX: SLR) announced continued outstanding drilling results on its high-grade Bongará zinc project in Peru. Included in these results are core holes V-287, that intersected 7.9 meters grading 24.6% zinc, 2.7% lead and 30.5 gpt silver and hole V-351 that intersected 13.0 meters grading 12.9% zinc, 4.3% lead and 32.4 gpt silver.
All drill holes reported in this news release were drilled from the surface in the Karen Milagros mineralized area (“KM-Zone”), except for three surface core holes that tested the southwestern extent of the San Jorge zone. The drilling program was managed and entirely funded by Solitario's joint venture partner Votorantim Metais (“Votorantim”). Better intercepts in this round of surface drilling are presented below.
Drilling Highlights: KM-Zone
Drill Hole
Number
| | | Intercept*
(meters)
| | | Zinc
%
| | | Lead
%
| | | Zn + Pb
%
| | | Silver
gpt
| | V-287 | | | 7.9 | | | 24.56 | | | 2.69 | | | 27.25 | | | 30.51 | | V-288 | | | 5.4 | | | 17.71 | | | 6.04 | | | 23.75 | | | 49.12 | | V-325 | | | 9.0 | | | 11.06 | | | 1.18 | | | 12.24 | | | 12.71 | | V-329 | | | 11.4 | | | 8.09 | | | 0.29 | | | 8.38 | | | 2.31 | | V-330 | | | 12.6 | | | 8.99 | | | 1.91 | | | 10.9 | | | 12.28 | | V-333 | | | 11.0 | | | 8.41 | | | 0.86 | | | 9.27 | | | 6.05 | | and | | | 7.7 | | | 12.57 | | | 9.33 | | | 21.90 | | | 7.70 | | V-334 | | | 4.8 | | | 24.67 | | | 5.45 | | | 30.12 | | | 42.35 | | V-350 | | | 8.6 | | | 7.1 | | | 4.13 | | | 11.23 | | | 28.35 | | V-351 | | | 13.0 | | | 12.94 | | | 4.31 | | | 17.25 | | | 32.37 | | V-368 | | | 5.6 | | | 11.61 | | | 3.84 | | | 15.45 | | | 23.84 | * True thickness has not been estimated for each individual intercept .
Surface drilling began late in the fourth quarter of 2011 and was finished in the third quarter of 2012. During this period 50 core holes were completed in the KM-Zone and three holes in the San Jorge Zone. Remarkably, 46 of the 53 drill holes intersected mineralization grading in excess of 2.0% zinc + lead over at least two meters, or equivalent. Important mineralized intercepts are reported in a table appended to this news release. None of the results contained in this news release were previously reported.
Fifteen-hundred meters south of the KM-Zone, three surface core holes successfully tested the southwestern extension of the San Jorge Zone. These results are provided below.
San Jorge Zone Drilling Results
Drill Hole
Number
| | | Intercept*
(meters)
| | | Zinc
%
| | | Lead
%
| | | Zn + Pb
%
| | | Silver
gpt
| | V-362 | | | 1.0 | | | 16.10 | | | 16.75 | | | 32.85 | | | 13.50 | | V-365 | | | 0.9 | | | 4.84 | | | 0.00 | | | 4.84 | | | 1.50 |
V-369
| | | 1.6 | | | 8.65 | | | 0.00 | | | 8.65 | | | 8.96 |
|
| 1.5 | | | 8.79 | | | 0.00 | | | 8.79 | | | 4.57 |
|
| 2.0 | | | 5.65 | | | 0.00 | | | 5.65 | | | 1.45 | | | | 13.0 | | | 10.15 | | | 0.14 | | | 10.29 | | | 12.97 | * True thickness has not been estimated
In addition to these three surface holes, 70 underground core holes were recently completed in the San Jorge zone. The final results, which included a number of thick, high-grade intercepts, were reported in a release dated August 23, 2012. Both the KM and San Jorge mineralized zones are contained within the Florida Canyon mineralized system which remains open to expansion in all directions. Objectives of a planned 2013 surface drilling program will be to expand the KM-Zone to the northeast and the San Jorge Zone to the south, to demonstrate the physical continuity between the KM and San Jorge zones, and to test new district targets outside of previously drilled areas.
Chris Herald, President and CEO of Solitario, commented, "Once again, these most recent drilling results are exceptional and further extend and infill mineralization in the KM-Zone. As a result of these and other equally strong drilling results in the KM-Zone, Votorantim is planning to drive a 700-meter exploration tunnel in 2013 into the heart of the Karen Milagros zone to better define the geometry of mineralization, as well as extend the San Jorge tunnel a further 300 meters south to further test open high-grade zinc mineralization. As positive as 2012 drilling and development activities have been for the Bongará project, we believe that Votorantim’s 2013 surface and underground plans have an even higher potential to create value.”
A drill hole map can be accessed at cts.businesswire.com
Additional project information is found at cts.businesswire.com
Drill hole information contained within this release is reported under Votorantim’s quality control program reviewed by Mr. Walt Hunt, COO for Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp., who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Samples are derived from 50% splits of HQ and NQ (2.5 and 1.9 inch) diameter core. Samples are then shipped via secured third-party land and air transportation companies and analyzed by ALS Chemex Inc., North Vancouver, Canada, an ISO9002 registered company.
Bongará Joint Venture Agreement with Votorantim Metais
Votorantim Metais can earn up to a 70% interest in the project by committing to place the project into production based upon a positive feasibility study. After earning 70%, Votorantim Metais has further agreed to finance Solitario's 30% participating interest for construction. Solitario will repay the loan facility through 50% of its net cash flow distributions.
About Votorantim Metais
Votorantim Metais belongs to a privately held Brazilian business conglomerate that is a leader in every market segment in which it operates, including cement, pulp and paper, metals, chemicals, orange juice, and finance. The metals business division accounted for 29% of revenues from production of zinc, nickel, steel and aluminum. Votorantim Metais is the world's fifth largest primary zinc producer with three operating zinc smelters and two operating zinc mines. It owns the Cajamarquilla zinc smelter and is the majority shareholder of Milpo, both located in Peru. Votorantim Metais also has operations in the United States and China.
About Solitario
Solitario recently completed a Feasibility Study (February 22, 2012) and reported a significant resource increase (September 10, 2012) on its 80%-owned Mt. Hamilton Gold project in eastern Nevada. Solitario is a gold, silver, platinum-palladium, and base metal exploration and royalty company actively exploring in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. Besides Votorantim, Solitario has a significant business relationship with Anglo Platinum, with Anglo funding the continued exploration of the Pedra Branca PGM project in Brazil. Solitario is traded on the NYSE MKT ("XPL") and on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("SLR"). Additional information about Solitario is available online at www.solitarioxr.com
This press release includes certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results and future plans and objectives of Solitario, future plans and objectives of Solitario’s joint venture partner Votorantim Metais are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Development of Solitario’s properties are subject to the success of exploration, completion and implementation of an economically viable mining plan, obtaining the necessary permits and approvals from various regulatory authorities, compliance with operating parameters established by such authorities and political risks such as higher tax and royalty rates, foreign ownership controls and our ability to finance in countries that may become politically unstable. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Solitario’s expectations are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Solitario’s documents filed from time to time with Canadian Securities Commissions, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities.
2012 Surface Drilling Results: Karen-Milagros Zone
(Intervals With Grade (Zn + Pb) x Thickness Greater Than 4.0)
|
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | Drill hole |
|
| From (m) |
|
| To (m) |
|
| Interval (m) |
|
| Zinc |
|
| Pb |
|
| Zn + Pb |
|
| Silver | | | | | | | | | | (%) | | | (%) | | | (%) | | | Grams/t | | V_279 |
|
| 248.9 |
|
| 251.9 |
|
| 3.0 |
|
| 1.67 |
|
| 0.14 |
|
| 1.81 |
|
| 2.12 |
|
| 274.6 |
|
| 276.2 |
|
| 1.6 |
|
| 4.20 |
|
| 2.07 |
|
| 6.27 |
|
| 13.96 |
|
| 295.5 |
|
| 297.0 |
|
| 1.5 |
|
| 3.21 |
|
| 0.00 |
|
| 3.21 |
|
| 0.85 | | | | 308.9 | | | 309.6 | | | 0.7 | | | 14.20 | | | 10.75 | | | 24.95 | | | 55.00 | | V_280 | | | 164.1 | | | 165.3 | | | 1.2 | | | 9.65 | | | 0.17 | | | 9.82 | | | 3.33 | | V_281 |
|
| 249.4 | | | 250.1 | | | 0.7 | | | 7.19 | | | 0.62 | | | 7.81 | | | 4.30 | | | | 258.1 | | | 262.1 | | | 4.0 | | | 2.22 | | | 0.51 | | | 2.73 | | | 4.27 | | V_287 |
|
| 268.1 |
|
| 276.0 |
|
| 7.9 |
|
| 24.56 |
|
| 2.69 |
|
| 27.25 |
|
| 30.51 | | | | 296.4 | | | 298.7 | | | 2.3 | | | 6.69 | | | 15.06 | | | 21.75 | | | 97.92 | | V_288 |
|
| 266.4 |
|
| 268.4 |
|
| 2.0 |
|
| 5.14 |
|
| 0.41 |
|
| 5.55 |
|
| 4.36 |
|
| 273.7 |
|
| 275.0 |
|
| 1.3 |
|
| 4.87 |
|
| 0.26 |
|
| 5.13 |
|
| 2.90 | | | | 294.0 | | | 299.4 | | | 5.4 | | | 17.71 | | | 6.04 | | | 23.75 | | | 49.12 | | V_289 |
|
| 145.1 |
|
| 146.9 |
|
| 1.8 |
|
| 20.45 |
|
| 0.22 |
|
| 20.67 |
|
| 4.69 | | | | 157.3 | | | 162.4 | | | 5.1 | | | 7.67 | | | 2.12 | | | 9.79 | | | 16.88 | | V_290 | | | 151.6 | | | 155.6 | | | 4.0 | | | 7.03 | | | 2.06 | | | 9.09 | | | 20.15 | | V_304 |
|
| 135.7 |
|
| 143.0 |
|
| 7.3 |
|
| 6.04 |
|
| 0.11 |
|
| 6.15 |
|
| 1.04 | | | | 158.6 | | | 164.6 | | | 6.0 | | | 8.03 | | | 2.55 | | | 10.58 | | | 22.17 | | V_317 |
|
| 135.5 |
|
| 136.3 |
|
| 0.8 |
|
| 6.03 |
|
| 0.12 |
|
| 6.15 |
|
| 1.20 | | | | 149.1 | | | 154.2 | | | 5.1 | | | 2.67 | | | 0.46 | | | 3.13 | | | 3.77 | | V_318 | | | 252.3 | | | 253.6 | | | 1.3 | | | 3.36 | | | 0.18 | | | 3.54 | | | 1.80 | | V_319 |
|
| 155.9 |
|
| 157.9 |
|
| 2.0 |
|
| 11.07 |
|
| 0.15 |
|
| 11.22 |
|
| 3.03 | | | | 171.8 | | | 173.8 | | | 2.0 | | | 8.20 | | | 0.95 | | | 9.15 | | | 8.41 | | V_320 |
|
| 168.8 |
|
| 169.8 |
|
| 1.0 |
|
| 6.74 |
|
| 0.13 |
|
| 6.87 |
|
| 1.10 | | | | 188.5 | | | 190.5 | | | 2.0 | | | 4.79 | | | 0.20 | | | 4.99 | | | 2.69 | | V_321 |
|
| 254.3 |
|
| 257.0 |
|
| 2.7 |
|
| 5.79 |
|
| 1.75 |
|
| 7.54 |
|
| 11.93 | | | | 271.1 | | | 274.7 | | | 3.6 | | | 10.12 | | | 2.71 | | | 12.83 | | | 19.02 | | V_322 |
|
| 140.8 |
|
| 145.1 |
|
| 4.3 |
|
| 4.84 |
|
| 0.31 |
|
| 5.15 |
|
| 2.44 |
|
| 146.5 |
|
| 147.6 |
|
| 1.1 |
|
| 5.37 |
|
| 0.37 |
|
| 5.74 |
|
| 2.71 | | | | 164.8 | | | 166.5 | | | 1.7 | | | 3.31 | | | 0.07 | | | 3.38 | | | 0.71 | | V_323 |
|
| 256.6 | | | 258.8 | | | 2.2 | | | 12.47 | | | 10.81 | | | 23.28 | | | 68.36 | | | | 311.4 | | | 314.5 | | | 3.1 | | | 0.91 | | | 5.88 | | | 6.79 | | | 32.24 | | V_324 |
|
| 147.5 |
|
| 148.0 |
|
| 0.5 |
|
| 9.42 |
|
| 5.09 |
|
| 14.51 |
|
| 23.70 | | | | 156.3 | | | 157.0 | | | 0.7 | | | 3.57 | | | 4.65 | | | 8.22 | | | 20.80 | | V_325 |
|
| 138.8 |
|
| 147.8 |
|
| 9.0 |
|
| 11.06 |
|
| 1.18 |
|
| 12.24 |
|
| 12.71 | | | | 158.3 | | | 162.0 | | | 3.7 | | | 9.48 | | | 0.45 | | | 9.93 | | | 3.70 | | V_326 |
|
| 95.0 |
|
| 97.0 |
|
| 2.0 |
|
| 3.29 |
|
| 0.01 |
|
| 3.30 |
|
| 0.25 |
|
| 106.4 |
|
| 108.2 |
|
| 1.8 |
|
| 4.00 |
|
| 0.45 |
|
| 4.45 |
|
| 3.36 |
|
| 127.7 |
|
| 130.0 |
|
| 2.3 |
|
| 9.35 |
|
| 1.09 |
|
| 10.44 |
|
| 7.67 | | | | 132.7 | | | 133.4 | | | 0.7 | | | 6.71 | | | 0.01 | | | 6.72 | | | 1.00 | | V_327 | | | 144.0 | | | 148.0 | | | 4.0 | | | 7.19 | | | 0.80 | | | 7.99 | | | 5.14 | | V_329 |
|
| 146.0 |
|
| 157.4 |
|
| 11.4 |
|
| 8.09 |
|
| 0.29 |
|
| 8.38 |
|
| 2.31 | | | | 161.6 | | | 167.5 | | | 5.9 | | | 6.85 | | | 2.53 | | | 9.38 | | | 20.22 | | V_330 |
|
| 85.3 |
|
| 97.9 |
|
| 12.6 |
|
| 8.99 |
|
| 1.91 |
|
| 10.90 |
|
| 12.28 |
|
| 115.4 | | | 116.9 | | | 1.5 | | | 13.11 | | | 0.17 | | | 13.28 | | | 3.16 | | V_331 |
|
| 83.6 |
|
| 91.0 |
|
| 7.4 |
|
| 5.57 |
|
| 2.55 |
|
| 8.12 |
|
| 15.88 | | | | 92.6 | | | 97.5 | | | 4.9 | | | 4.27 | | | 0.20 | | | 4.47 | | | 1.60 | | V_332 |
|
| 150.1 |
|
| 153.1 |
|
| 3.0 |
|
| 1.55 |
|
| 4.23 |
|
| 5.87 |
|
| 29.17 |
|
| 168.0 | | | 168.3 | | | 0.3 | | | 12.80 | | | 3.27 | | | 16.07 | | | 61.40 | | V_333 |
|
| 92.1 |
|
| 103.1 |
|
| 11.0 |
|
| 8.41 |
|
| 0.86 |
|
| 9.27 |
|
| 6.05 |
|
| 113.3 |
|
| 117.5 |
|
| 4.2 |
|
| 8.97 |
|
| 2.91 |
|
| 11.88 |
|
| 25.75 |
|
| 121.3 | | | 129.0 | | | 7.7 | | | 12.57 | | | 9.33 | | | 21.90 | | | 7.70 | | V_334 |
|
| 106.0 |
|
| 110.0 |
|
| 4.0 |
|
| 6.79 |
|
| 0.73 |
|
| 7.52 |
|
| 5.59 |
|
| 121.4 |
|
| 124.2 |
|
| 2.8 |
|
| 7.43 |
|
| 1.13 |
|
| 8.56 |
|
| 9.17 |
|
| 131.8 |
|
| 136.6 |
|
| 4.8 |
|
| 24.67 |
|
| 5.45 |
|
| 30.12 |
|
| 42.35 | | | | 141.4 | | | 142.9 | | | 1.5 | | | 5.45 | | | 0.01 | | | 5.46 | | | 1.33 | | V_335 | | | 176.0 | | | 178.8 | | | 2.8 | | | 4.93 | | | 1.62 | | | 6.55 | | | 24.84 | | V_336 |
|
| 86.8 |
|
| 92.5 |
|
| 5.7 |
|
| 3.59 |
|
| 0.76 |
|
| 4.35 |
|
| 3.95 | | | | 97.0 | | | 100.4 | | | 3.4 | | | 5.38 | | | 0.36 | | | 5.74 | | | 4.35 | | V_338 |
|
| 86.3 |
|
| 90.5 |
|
| 4.2 |
|
| 5.03 |
|
| 0.13 |
|
| 5.16 |
|
| 1.64 | | | | 102.4 | | | 103.8 | | | 1.4 | | | 22.33 | | | 1.73 | | | 24.06 | | | 17.50 | | V_339 |
|
| 141.5 |
|
| 142.5 |
|
| 1.0 |
|
| 24.90 |
|
| 4.47 |
|
| 29.37 |
|
| 24.80 | | | | 159.0 | | | 162.0 | | | 3.0 | | | 6.65 | | | 0.65 | | | 7.30 | | | 6.23 | | V_340 |
|
| 146.4 |
|
| 148.7 |
|
| 2.3 |
|
| 3.39 |
|
| 0.14 |
|
| 3.53 |
|
| 2.17 | | | | 161.5 | | | 165.6 | | | 4.1 | | | 5.01 | | | 0.68 | | | 5.69 | | | 5.96 | | V_349 | | | 144.1 | | | 150.1 | | | 6.0 | | | 8.36 | | | 0.87 | | | 9.23 | | | 4.82 | | V_350 |
|
| 170.5 |
|
| 179.1 |
|
| 8.6 |
|
| 7.10 |
|
| 4.13 |
|
| 11.23 |
|
| 28.35 |
|
| 183.5 | | | 187.2 | | | 3.7 | | | 12.88 | | | 3.36 | | | 16.24 | | | 31.11 | | V_351 | | | 197.8 | | | 210.8 | | | 13.0 | | | 12.94 | | | 4.31 | | | 17.25 | | | 32.37 | | V_352 | | | 142.0 | | | 144.3 | | | 2.3 | | | 4.11 | | | 0.37 | | | 4.48 | | | 13.58 | | V-359 | | | 167.2 | | | 167.7 | | | 0.5 | | | 11.75 | | | 0.00 | | | 11.75 | | | 1.80 | | V-360 |
|
| 154.7 |
|
| 159.5 |
|
| 4.8 |
|
| 7.61 |
|
| 1.85 |
|
| 9.46 |
|
| 16.11 |
|
| 207.9 |
|
| 212.2 |
|
| 4.3 |
|
| 4.66 |
|
| 0.48 |
|
| 5.14 |
|
| 3.66 |
|
| 215.9 | | | 217.5 | | | 1.6 | | | 2.64 | | | 0.01 | | | 2.65 | | | 0.48 | | V-361 |
|
| 157.3 |
|
| 159.3 |
|
| 2.0 |
|
| 3.68 |
|
| 1.23 |
|
| 4.91 |
|
| 9.73 |
|
| 174.2 | | | 176.9 | | | 2.7 | | | 3.23 | | | 0.08 | | | 3.31 | | | 1.09 | | V-362 | | | 481.3 | | | 482.3 | | | 1.0 | | | 16.10 | | | 16.75 | | | 32.85 | | | 13.50 | | V-363 |
|
| 170.2 |
|
| 170.5 |
|
| 0.3 |
|
| 25.10 |
|
| 7.36 |
|
| 32.46 |
|
| 157.00 |
|
| 181.0 |
|
| 185.9 |
|
| 4.9 |
|
| 3.00 |
|
| 0.09 |
|
| 3.09 |
|
| 1.01 | | | | 187.9 | | | 190.9 | | | 3.0 | | | 4.95 | | | 0.84 | | | 5.79 | | | 6.11 | | V-364 | | | 239.4 | | | 241.8 | | | 2.4 | | | 9.29 | | | 0.01 | | | 9.30 | | | 1.54 | | V-367 | | | 281.7 | | | 285.4 | | | 3.7 | | | 18.12 | | | 0.93 | | | 19.05 | | | 9.51 | | V-368 |
|
| 174.5 |
|
| 179.5 |
|
| 5.0 |
|
| 2.60 |
|
| 0.64 |
|
| 3.24 |
|
| 6.33 |
|
| 186.2 |
|
| 189.1 |
|
| 2.9 |
|
| 2.74 |
|
| 0.24 |
|
| 2.98 |
|
| 1.78 |
|
| 314.1 |
|
| 315.8 |
|
| 1.7 |
|
| 2.81 |
|
| 0.09 |
|
| 2.90 |
|
| 0.75 | | | | 324.0 | | | 329.6 | | | 5.6 | | | 11.61 | | | 3.84 | | | 15.45 | | | 23.84 |
Contact:
Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp.
Debbie Mino-Austin, 800-229-6827
Director – Investor Relations
or
Christopher E. Herald, 303-534-1030
President & CEO |
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| To: LoneClone who wrote (95228) | 10/2/2012 9:13:23 PM | | From: LoneClone | | | | Gold stocks nearly ripe for the taking: RBC
Darcy Keith
The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Oct. 02 2012, 11:31 AM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, Oct. 02 2012, 11:58 AM EDT
theglobeandmail.com
RBC analysts are becoming increasingly convinced that gold equities are ripe for buying.
These stocks have long underperformed the prices of precious metals themselves. But analysts Geoff Breen and Steuart McIntyre believe that era is drawing to a close.
The key for investors now, they contend, is to wait for a pullback over the next three to four weeks when seasonal factors tend to push the price of gold lower. Once that happens, snap them up.
More Related to this Story
 Commodities Video: Where is gold going?
“While we expect a modest seasonal correction in the gold price and gold stocks in the month, we regard this as a buying opportunity,” the analysts, based in Australia, wrote in a research note. “While gold equities have underperformed gold bullion over the past several years, we believe that attractive valuations and improving operating performance could create an attractive entry point for investors,” they said.
Gold has reached multi-month highs in recent sessions to near $1,800 (U.S.) an ounce, encouraged by U.S. and European central bank plans to buy bonds to stimulate the economy, which could lead to inflationary pressures. Fears surrounding the European debt crisis is also making gold an attractive haven in uncertain economic times.
RBC expects gold to trade in a range of $1,600 to $1,850 an ounce in the fourth quarter and in 2013. It kept its 2013 forecast at $1,700, but today raised its forecast for gold in 2014 to average $1,700 from $1,500. RBC also raised its long-term gold price forecast to $1,400 from $1,200.
That seasonal weakness RBC analysts note is primarily driven by two factors: a pullback in Indian demand during holidays in October and November, and expected profit taking by speculators. Net long speculative positions on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange are near all-time high levels, making the market vulnerable to a bout of profit taking, they note.
While gold equities rose in September, and in some cases even outperformed gold, they have still underperformed gold year-to-date, and many remain at or near all-time low valuations.
Security Price Change
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| To: LoneClone who wrote (95229) | 10/2/2012 9:19:15 PM | | From: LoneClone | | | | Orbite Aluminae shares soar on technology hopes
MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT
The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Oct. 02 2012, 8:36 PM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, Oct. 02 2012, 8:36 PM EDT
theglobeandmail.com
Orbite Aluminae Inc. is a high flying Quebec-based junior miner hoping to strike it rich extracting alumina and rare earth elements from a vast deposit of mineral-rich clays in the Gaspé region.
If the technology works as hoped, Orbite could offer a low cost and environmentally superior alternative to bauxite, the current source of the world’s supply of alumina, which is smelted into aluminum. The technology could also be adapted to produce extremely pure, high-grade alumina needed for such applications as LED lights and computer screens.
More Related to this Story
 Investor Roundtable Video: Alcoa: A harbinger for better-than-expected U.S. earnings?
Excitement over Orbite’s prospects has propelled the stock from as little as 14 cents a share in mid-2010 to around $3.10 now. The shares had a pop Tuesday, following the company’s announcement that it has designed a breakthrough that would chop 30 per cent from fossil fuel needs in its extraction process.
The soaring share price gives the fledgling company a market capitalization of more than $500-million, even though as a development-stage enterprise it has yet to report a profit and has only run demonstration projects up to now. An initial commercial-scale extraction plant – for producing high purity alumina – is under construction and expected to be running next year.
Most analysts are bullish. There are five buy recommendations on the stock, with price targets ranging from $8 to $15. The lone and doubting bear, Jonathan Hykawy of Byron Capital Markets, thinks the stock is only worth 90 cents at best, and rates it a sell.
In recent reports to clients, Mr. Hykawy has indicated he’s skeptical of claims Orbite has a breakthrough that is economically viable. In addition, it faces the daunting task of raising $500-million for the second major project it is proposing, a commercial-sized plant to produce smelter grade alumina for use at Quebec’s aluminum plants.
“We’re not sure in this environment that financing is going to be found easily, especially for the aluminum industry given that it’s over saturated and prices are in the dumper,” commented Mr. Hykawy, who tracks clean technology stocks at Byron.
After reviewing Orbite’s plans, Mr. Hykawy also contends it may experience difficulties dealing with some of the processes involving acids at its smelter-grade alumina plant.
As the only analyst holding negative views on the stock, Mr. Hykawy is taking some lumps. Orbite CEO Richard Boudreault said in an interview that Mr. Hykawy “doesn’t know anything,” when asked for comment on his claims that the technology may not work as well as the company expects.
Orbite has some high profile shareholders who are betting on the company’s breakthrough, including Sprott Asset Management and AGF Investments.
Orbite is hoping a deal with UC Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, will help boost its credibility on Bay Street. In March, the two companies announced a memorandum of agreement to study a joint venture to develop its alumina-bearing clay deposit, but haven’t yet come to a binding deal.
“We’re still talking with them and we should be arriving at some conclusion very soon,” Mr. Boudreault says.
Earlier this year, Orbite announced the end of a 2009 cooperation agreement with Aluminerie Alouette, a consortium including Rio Tinto Alcan that owns a smelter in Sept Îles. Aluminerie converted a $1-million loan into Orbite stock.
Mr. Boudreault downplayed the end of the agreement, saying Aluminerie had undertaken its investment as part of a job-creation program required to reach employment targets needed to obtain cheap electricity rates in the province. Aluminerie didn’t return requests for comment.
Mr. Boudreault says the company’s process should be able to produce smelter grade alumina for about $170 a tonne, leaving a large profit margin given that world prices range between $315 and $325 a tonne.
Investors won’t have too long to wait to see whether Orbite can start delivering. Its high purity alumina plant, the one that would meet demand from the LED industry, should be cranking out product next year.
Mr. Boudreault said the company doesn’t have sales agreements for its output yet, but is negotiating with buyers he characterized as “household brands.” Mr. Boudreault expects the new plant to generate sales of $50-million to $100-million. “It should be profitable,” he said.
Orbite Aluminae 5 Year Performance Add ORT-T to your Watchlist  View interactive chart
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| To: LoneClone who wrote (95230) | 10/2/2012 9:45:30 PM | | From: LoneClone | | | | Luisa Moreno: Is It Time to Call a Bottom in Rare Earth Metals Markets?
TICKERS: AVL; AVARF, CCE; D7H; CMRZF, FRO, GWG; GWMGF, LYC, MAT; MRHEF, MCP, MON, NRE, ORT; EORBF, QRM, RES; REE, TSM; TAS; TASXF; T61, UCU; UURAF
theaureport.com
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Critical Metals Report (10/2/12)
 The worst is over, postulates Luisa Moreno. But is modest appreciation in rare earth stocks a symptom of across-the-board improvement in equities, or have fundamentals in the space changed for the better? To tackle these questions, the Euro Pacific Canada analyst gets elbow-deep in metallurgical data. In this exclusive interview with The Critical Metals Report, Moreno lends her razor-sharp analysis to determine the frontrunners as metals prices stabilize.
Companies Mentioned : Avalon Rare Metals Inc. : Commerce Resources Corp. : Frontier Rare Earths Ltd. : Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. : Lynas Corp. : Matamec Explorations Inc. : Molycorp Inc. : Montero Mining and Exploration Ltd. : Namibia Rare Earths Inc. : Orbite Aluminae Inc. : Quest Rare Minerals Ltd. : Rare Element Resources Ltd. : Tasman Metals Ltd. : Ucore Rare Metals Inc.
Related Companies
The Critical Metals Report: Luisa, the share prices of a number of leading companies in the rare earth elements (REEs) space have started to trend upward again. Where is the sector headed in 2013?
Luisa Moreno: Brian, it is likely that we have seen a bottom for these stocks. I'm not sure that it necessarily has to do with developments in the REE space, however. It is much broader than that. Overall, there is somewhat better performance in the equities market, including the commodities and REEs. However, I believe that REE prices will continue to go down, which is a positive event because some end users had to find less efficient alternatives when prices were very high.
Recent news out of China indicated that the price of didymium, which is praseodymium and neodymium together, is trending lower. The light rare earth elements (LREEs) are especially likely to fall flatter as Lynas Corp. (LYC:ASX) and Molycorp Inc. (MCP:NYSE) come into production. And as LREEs continue to fall, prices for heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) will likely stabilize. That will be an important development for junior companies in this space. They will have a much clearer idea of the economics of the projects.
TCMR: What's Euro Pacific's investment thesis when it comes to these companies?
LM: Euro Pacific has a great deal of focus on strategic metals. We believe that they are and will continue to be important. Because REE prices were so high last year, some end users were forced to find less efficient alternatives, but there are many avid applications where the price of the elements is not as important and substitutes are very hard to find. The end users are not going anywhere, and neither is the REE story. Going forward, it will be important to have sustainable supplies of these elements.
TCMR: You recently produced a report titled "Who's the Heaviest?," where you try to clear up some of the misconceptions about Molycorp and its ability to process heavy rare earths (HREEs) at Mountain Pass. Can you share your bullet points with our readers?
LM: There is not a significant amount of HREEs at Mountain Pass. It does have HREEs, because rare earths occur all together, so when you find LREEs, you'll find the HREEs as well, and vice versa. The proportions in which they occur can vary from location to location, however.
Molycorp has a high-grade deposit. Proven reserves' grade is 8.5% TREO, which is significantly high compared to others. Most of that is LREEs, however. It has a very small grade and percentage of HREEs, and that's why some people in the REEs space were very surprised when they heard Molycorp was planning to separate it.
It is able to separate samarium, europium, gadolinium (SEG) and all the HREEs from its top-four elements, which are lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium. It ends up with a HREE concentrate, which is also known as the SEG stream. This SEG stream usually comes from light deposits because it has a very small percentage of the heavies, and it is not economic for them to focus on that small percentage of elements.
Molycorp is planning to produce 19,500 tons (t)/year, but it's only going to produce a SEG stream that is 254 t. Most of that is samarium. It's about 1.3% of everything that it's producing.
TCMR: How will falling LREE prices affect Molycorp?
LM: Molycorp has a mine-to-magnet strategy, meaning it wants to vertically integrate and potentially use everything it produces to transform it into metal, alloys and, ultimately magnets and other engineering products. If it is successful in allocating internally all or most of its mine production, it probably is not going to be affected that much. But I believe it is not yet there. To the extent that it does not fully consume all of its production, it will be hit by the fall in prices.
TCMR: Let's get into the deposits a little bit. Critical metals expert Jack Lifton recently told The Critical Metals Report that many investors do not understand that 50% of the concentration at the average REE deposit is not worth anything. The composition of the ore matters more than the grade. Would you agree?
LM: Yes I agree. Molycorp, for instance, has all the light and heavy elements, but the heavy elements, including samarium, are only 1.3% of the yield. Jack was probably trying to explain that it is important to not just look at the grade. A company may have a very high grade, but if more than 50% of what it's selling will end up being priced at, say, $10/kilogram (kg), how material is it if only a tiny portion of the output is worth $1,000/kg or higher? Project economics are highly affected by the composition of the ore.
In my report, I introduced a table (below) that shows the potential production per ton of total rare earths produced for a number of companies. Because the rare earths are all recovered at the same time, it is not the grade but ultimately the average proportion of each element that determines how much of each element is produced per ton of output.
TCMR: If half the material at an average REE deposit is not worth much, does that make it difficult to calculate a project's net present value (NPV)?
LM: It's definitely more complex than modeling a simple gold project, as various products have to be taken into account. Analysts usually break down a deposit based on a company's rare earths distribution. We want to know how much of each element the company could extract, and we calculate the total potential production per element. Most of us actually tend to assume that some of the elements that occur in very small percentages are not separated. We give zero value to those, which are usually erbium, thulium, holmium, ytterbium and lutetium. When we do an NPV, we're basically forecasting the production and prices for several elements, assuming that several elements are recovered and each will have its own price and its own volume. Determining the NPV is a complex process, and the fact that half the ore or more may have low value, is indeed taken into account in our calculations. Also important are the recovery rates, production costs and capex, which are also included in our forecasts.
TCMR: Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (UCU:TSX.V; UURAF:OTCQX) recently announced that it is able to take uranium and thorium out of its processed ore at its mine in Alaska. Is that meaningful to investors?
LM: It is very meaningful. Most projects, if not all, will have concentrations of uranium and thorium that they will have to deal with. They need to find a safe way of extracting the uranium and thorium, storing it and disposing of it. It's good that Ucore is talking about it and educating investors about the amount of uranium and thorium it has in its deposit and how it can be extracted. And the company is taking it into account as it develops its preliminary economic assessment (PEA) report and analysis. Hopefully, we will better understand what the costs are for the handling and storage of these elements as Ucore completes its economic study. Depending on how you look at which are the heaviest or which are the most valuable, they all rank differently, but Ucore's Bokan is well positioned. It has the second-highest grade for dysprosium and a favorable HREE distribution, according to my analysis.
TCMR: Ucore has also announced that it has had success separating these elements with a type of processing technology called solid-phase extraction. Some scale tests have been done so far. Tell us about that.
LM: Ucore is working with a group from Stanford University, which has technology that was mainly used in biotechnology applications. Its nanomembranes are able to filter some elements and let others go. It gets rid of some of the impurities, like iron, uranium and thorium, in two or three steps. In the following step, they change the chemistry of the membrane and it's able to recover the REEs. It seems that it actually can go through several interactions and recover individual elements and refine them. We don't know the economics at this stage, but it's unique. It's very exciting for Ucore. We think it is the only REE group trying this, and it has observed very interesting results. As Ucore puts together the PEA, we will definitely learn more about it.
TCMR: Could other companies that are having some difficulty with their metallurgy be able to mimic what Ucore is doing?
LM: Hopefully, yes. If Ucore is successful, others should be able to do it as well. It could be a positive development in the REE space across the board.
TCMR: Of the short number of HREE-weighted deposits that you chose, you say Namibia Rare Earths Inc. (NRE:TSX) is the heaviest, followed by Tasman Metals Ltd. (TSM:TSX.V; TAS:NYSE.MKT; TASXF:OTCPK; T61:FSE) and Quest Rare Minerals Ltd. (QRM:TSX; QRM:NYSE.MKT), Ucore, Matamec Explorations Inc. (MAT:TSX.V; MRHEF:OTCQX) and Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AVL:TSX; AVL:NYSE; AVARF:OTCQX). Can you expand on your system of evaluation?
LM: It is actually fairly simple. We define heavy deposits as those that have a higher percentage of HREEs relative to the total elements. It is important to understand that REEs occur together and are recovered and first concentrated all together. It is not possible to produce a mineral concentrate rich in only one rare earth element. Furthermore, rare earths are first recovered as a mixed rare earth chloride, or oxide concentrate, and only after are they individually extracted. Thus, companies that could produce a mixed rare earth concentrate rich in HREEs would be able to produce more heavy rare earths per ton of output. And those are the ones we consider the "heaviest."
The ranking considers europium all the way to lutetium and yttrium but does not take into account recovery rates, which are actually a very important factor in project economics.
If you look at one of the tables included in the report, Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. (GWG:TSX.V; GWMGF:OTCQX) has a total grade of 18.74%. But the cerium grade alone is 8.5%, lanthanum is 3.96% and it has only about 8% HREO/TREO. Thus, although Great Western has a very high-grade deposit, it won't be able to produce more heavies per ton than, for instance, Tasman or Quest, which have total grades of less than 1%.
One company that actually gives a good description of all the grades is Lynas, which has a total grade of 7.96%—with 3.62% of cerium alone. Its dysprosium grade is 0.038%. That is very similar to Quest, which has 0.034%. Quest's total grade is only 0.93%.
An important point is that if you look at the heavy grades, they are actually very comparable across companies. At the bottom, Molycorp's grade for the heavies is the smallest, at 0.03%. Although the total grade is very high, the total grade for the heavies is 0.03%, compared with Tasman Metals, which is much higher at 0.29%. As I pointed out, Tasman's rare earth distribution is considerably more favorable toward the most critical and heavy elements.
TCMR: Rare Element Resources Ltd. (RES:TSX; REE:NYSE.MKT) has a large secondary REE deposit near its flagship Bear Lodge property in Wyoming, which has the highest concentration of europium and the largest overall reserve of dysprosium in the continental U.S. What is Rare Element Resources' plan for that deposit?
LM: The company is committed to explore and potentially develop this deposit so it can bring more value to its REE assets. My understanding from my conversations with management is that it will continue working on the various deposits in due time. The Bull Hill deposit on the Bear Lodge property is its main focus. However, it is drilling the other deposits at Bear Lodge to determine their value.
TCMR: What's the approximate timeline for production?
LM: Based on the work Rare Element has been doing at Bull Hill, it is targeting 2015. It is one of the most developed projects. I visited its pilot plant. It completed a prefeasibility study and is progressing toward a definitive feasibility study. It is planning to complete that by the summer of 2013. Once it completes the bankable feasibility study, Rare Element should be able to be in good shape to start attracting end users and determine its path to production.
TCMR: Any issues with metallurgy there?
LM: The deposit is not identical to Molycorp, but it has good grades and is rich in bastnasite as well. Rare Element has been able to produce a concentrate in its pilot plant, and this concentrate material should be sellable in China. Unfortunately, most of the separation facilities are still in Asia. Those outside China might not have the capacity to absorb additional feedstock concentrate. It could be difficult to allocate a concentrate material out of Wyoming, but the company may have plans to eventually separate individual elements. Having said that, it could potentially sell its SEG stream to Molycorp as well, which is far richer in the critical rare earths elements.
TCMR: Wyoming is not a great distance from Mountain Pass.
LM: It's definitely closer than China, that's for sure. It would make total sense for Molycorp and Rare Element Resources to work together. Rare Element Resources has far better rare earths distribution for the production of, for instance, europium and dysprosium than Molycorp has, so that could be potentially a good idea for them to come together and build an extended separation facility. That will be really interesting to see.
TCMR: Let's talk about Orbite Aluminae Inc. (ORT:TSX; EORBF:OTXQX). It is building a solvent extraction and ion-exchange combination plant as part of a system to produce high-purity alumina to be used in electronics. The plant and process should be finished by the end of the year. Orbite says it's willing to let other companies process their ore there. What do you make of that move?
LM: Orbite has said that it has filed a patent for that process and could help other REE companies that might be facing issues with chemical cracking. It might be very successful in processing it, making a concentrate and then separating it using solvent extraction. My question concerns the economics. It is true that some elements carry higher prices than alumina, such as dysprosium, which is now selling for about $1,200/kg, which is $1.2 million (M)/t compared to alumina, which sells for $320/t. What I am not sure of is if it will be economic to use the Orbite rare earth process for chemical cracking of REE ore as a stand-alone REE plant. Given that most PEAs indicate capital costs of $200–900M, the Orbite process could well be a good alternative. I don't know yet, but it will be interesting to analyze.
But to answer your questions—yes, I think Orbite could introduce at the front end of its process higher-grade ore to boost its rare earths output. Transporting the ore, or mineral concentrate, has to be economically viable, though.
TCMR: When will Orbite begin processing its own REEs?
LM: It should be able to at least produce a byproduct concentrate once its high-purity alumina plant comes on-line in Q1/13.
Higher rare earth production is expected however, when the larger-scale, smelter-grade alumina (SGA) plant is built. In the meanwhile, we should be able to visit a fully integrated working plant with Orbite's disruptive technology in less than four months. These will significantly derisk the full-scale SGA plant construction. At Cap-Chat, where Orbite is building its HPA plant, the intermediate, lower-grade material will be produced in a smaller-scale SGA plant with the major acid regeneration systems. This SGA co-plant is similar to the larger-scale SGA plant that is expected to be commissioned in 2014.
Orbite doesn't have a solvent extraction plant right now. There's a pilot plant in Europe that can refine individual rare earths, I think. Orbite could potentially send REE concentrate there and produce small amounts of refined REOs. Orbite will likely build the first separation facility in North America with the capability of refining HREEs, when the first larger SGA plant is built.
TCMR: What kind of advantage does Orbite have in being the only high-purity alumina producer in North America?
LM: There would certainly be a geographic advantage as most high-purity alumina comes from China and Japan. Apparently, Orbite does have a potential cost advantage, so it should be able to come into the market with competitive prices. It seems to be able to control a number of important characteristics, such as granule sizes and distribution as well as purity, which indicates that it should be able to create physical consistency in its products. It seems that the lack of product consistency has been an issue for some of the end users of high-purity alumina in North America who currently get these products from China.
TCMR: Do you expect to see a round of consolidation in the rare earth industry before everything picks up entirely across the board?
LM: I think we may see some consolidation. There are a number of consolidation candidates in Quebec. Commerce Resources Corp. (CCE:TSX.V; D7H:FSE; CMRZF:OTCQX) has a very large deposit and favorable distribution with a good percentage of the most critical elements. Quest Rare Elements and Matamec, which now has a deal with Toyota Tsusho Corp. (TYHOF:OTC; 8015:JP), also look promising. With Orbite building a solvent extraction plant, Innovation Metals Corp. (private) also wants to build a separation plant there. Maybe we will see some consolidation or collaboration of some sort between these Quebec companies.
In South Africa, there is Great Western as well as Frontier Rare Earths Ltd. (FRO:TSX). Perhaps there will be a collaboration there of some sort. Frontier has a very large deposit, which could potentially complement Great Western's assets. I'm not sure about the relationship between the companies, but geographically they're not far from each other. Also in Africa, there's Montero Mining and Exploration Ltd. (MON:TSX.V) and Namibia Rare Earths. There could be an interesting synergy there for some of these companies with African assets.
TCMR: Thank you for sharing your expertise with our readers.
LM: It's been a pleasure.
Luisa Moreno is a mining and metals analyst. She covers industry metals with a major focus on technology and energy metal companies. She has been a guest speaker on television and at international conferences. Luisa has published reports on rare earths and other critical metals and has been quoted in newspapers and industry blogs. She holds a bachelor's and master's in physics engineering as well as a PhD in materials and mechanics from Imperial College, London.
Want to read more exclusive Critical Metals Report articles like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see a list of recent interviews with industry analysts and commentators and learn more about critical metals companies, visit our Critical Metals Report page.
DISCLOSURE:
1) Brian Sylvester of The Critical Metals Report conducted this interview. He personally and/or his family own shares of the following companies mentioned in this interview: None.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are sponsors of The Critical Metals Report: Commerce Resources Corp., Frontier Rare Earths Ltd., Namibia Rare Earths Inc., Rare Element Resources, Tasman Metals Ltd., Ucore Rare Metals Inc., Quest Rare Minerals Ltd. and Orbite Aluminae Inc. Interviews are edited for clarity.
3) Luisa Moreno: I personally and/or my family own shares of the following companies mentioned in this interview: None. I personally and/or my family am paid by the following companies mentioned in this interview: None. I was not paid by Streetwise Reports for participating in this interview. |
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| To: LoneClone who wrote (95231) | 10/2/2012 9:55:10 PM | | From: LoneClone | | | | Orbite Announces Major Achievements And Final Design of Smelter-Grade Alumina (SGA) Plant
Press Release: Orbite Aluminae Inc. – 14 hours ago
finance.yahoo.com
MONTREAL , Oct. 2, 2012 /CNW/ - Orbite Aluminae Inc. (TSX:ORT / OTCQX:EORBF) (the "Company" or "Orbite") is pleased to announce major technical achievements and the final design phase of the smelter-grade alumina (SGA) plant. With the support of M&K, a North American leader in chemical process design, Orbite successfully modified the SGA plant design by incorporating the best practices from the chemical industry and expanding the breadth of its innovative processes, resulting in a significant reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels by at least 30%, and of water by at least 60%. These advancements should lead to a major reduction in the number of operational units required in various aspects of the SGA plant, and provide the basis for a decrease of the estimated operating and capital costs. The final design of the SGA plant is expected to ensure the consistent production of high-quality smelter-grade alumina, while improving Orbite's position as a low-cost producer and leader for clean technologies for the alumina industry.
"These advancements represent a major achievement for Orbite," said Richard Boudreault, Orbite's President and CEO. "By simplifying and optimizing the SGA plant design, we succeeded in our goal of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels while significantly improving the plant economics. This consolidates our position as one of the lowest-cost and environmentally-friendly producers of alumina and its by-products."
As part of the final design of the SGA plant, Orbite developed and incorporated a new proprietary calcination technique using circulating fluid beds that operate at lower temperatures and enable the heat generated from calcination to be reused in the hydrochloric acid regeneration system, thereby, reducing fossil fuel consumption by at least 30%. The final design also reflects important changes to the acid leaching and acid recovery/regeneration systems. Water consumption has been reduced by 60%, resulting in lower volumes of acid solution. These lower volumes automatically reduce the number of separation/crystallization and acid regeneration units required, as well as the number of units required for the individual extraction of by-products. These design improvements are anticipated to have a considerable impact on the plant economics since alumina calcination represented 55% of fossil fuel costs, which in turn represented 60% of all SGA operating costs. The SGA operating cost savings are estimated to be in the order of 20% relative to the PEA (Orbite's Revised Preliminary Economic Assessment dated May 30, 2012 . According to Canadian 43-101 regulations, mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability).
The SGA plant Feasibility Study, which has now entered the detailed engineering and sub-system integration phase, will be modified to incorporate the final design of the SGA plant, and is now anticipated to be completed during the first half of 2013. Construction of the first phase of the first SGA plant is still anticipated to begin in 2013 with completion by late 2014.
"Orbite's unique patented technology has reached another milestone", said Denis Primeau , Orbite's Chief Engineer. "The final design of the SGA plant is now set and brings us one step closer to construction. As anticipated, the integration of previously separate subsystems, as part of the optimization process, and the inclusion of innovations from the chemical industry yielded important synergies. The key drivers were substantial reductions in the quantity of water and energy consumption, both critical factors for chemical processes and improves our environmental footprint. By utilizing circulating fluid beds, our proprietary calcination technique will differ completely from the rest of the alumina industry and will enable our plants to meet and exceed the industry standard for smelter grade alumina. Our ability to innovate technologically while improving the economics of our process through the integration of best practices from the chemical industry has been truly remarkable."
"For M&K, it is obvious that the Orbite process, which we are tasked with integrating as part of the Feasibility Study, has not only been demonstrated using commercially available equipment but also represents the first viable alternative to the Bayer process for the production of smelter grade alumina", added Stanley Myer , M&K's co-founder. "The final design of the SGA plant was established by M&K with Orbite's engineering team and we have validated the improvements cited today. Since it was established, M&K has always been involved in major chemical process projects such as that of Orbite's. As such, all of the equipment, products and by-products under consideration by Orbite are within the realm and expertise of our company."
The technical content in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Denis Primeau , Eng., a "qualified person" pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). Mr. Primeau is the Chief Engineer of Orbite, and as such, is not independent pursuant to NI 43-101.
About Orbite
Orbite Aluminae Inc. or "Orbite" (TSX:ORT; OTCQX: EORBF) is a Canadian cleantech company whose unique technology could have a significant impact on the aluminum industry. Our innovative process allows for the environmentally sustainable production of smelter grade alumina, high-purity alumina and high-quality high-value by-products —including rare earths—from locally sourced aluminous clay and other feedstocks including bauxite, kaolin, nepheline, red mud and fly ash. Orbite plans to operate several smelter grade alumina (SGA) and high-purity alumina (HPA) plants as well as license its technologies to well-qualified producers aiming to reduce their costs and environmental footprint.
The Company owns the intellectual property rights to the patented and proprietary process for extracting alumina from aluminous ores in Canada , USA and Australia , and for which other international patents are also pending for our eleven different families of intellectual property rights. Our process is environmentally friendly and does not produce any red mud. The process extracts and recovers all constituent elements of the feedstocks, thereby producing high-quality alumina and other high-value by-products. The process is enabled by recent innovations in industrial technology and chemical process design that were previously unavailable or unknown to the alumina industry. Orbite built and operated a commercial-scale pilot plant that succeeded in producing commercial samples of smelter grade alumina as well as high-purity alumina and rare earths.
Orbite has exclusive mining rights on over a total of 60,984 hectares in the Gaspe region of Quebec , including the 6,665 hectare Grande-Vallee property, site of an aluminous clay deposit containing an NI 43-101 compliant 1 billion tonnes Indicated Resource sufficient to satisfy a half-century of the total Canadian alumina imports (mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability). Orbite's first High-Purity Alumina (HPA) plant in Cap-Chat, Quebec is currently under construction and due to begin production by year-end at an initial production capacity of 1 tpd increasing to 3 tpd in 2013 and to 5 tpd by 2014. The Feasibility Study for Orbite's first SGA plant has advanced to the detailed engineering phase. An NI 43-101 Revised Technical report, "Preliminary Economic Assessment on Orbite Aluminae Inc. Metallurgical Grade Alumina Project" dated May 30, 2012 is available on SEDAR ( www.sedar.com). Orbite has signed a memorandum of understanding with the world's largest aluminum producer, UC Rusal, for participation in the first phase of the first SGA plant.
Orbite has published a series of white papers on the potential markets for its technology including the production of alumina and extraction of rare metals from multiple feedstocks which are available on our website ( www.orbitealuminae.com/en/technology/white-paper).
Forward-looking statements
Certain information contained in this document may include "forward-looking information". Without limiting the foregoing, the information and any forward-looking information may include statements regarding projects, costs, objectives and future returns of the Company or hypotheses underlying these items. In this document, words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "estimate" and similar words and the negative form thereof are used to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether, or the times at or by which, such future performance will be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information are based on information available at the time and/or the Company management's good-faith beliefs with respect to future events and are subject to known or unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. These risks uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to, those described in the section of the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) entitled "Risk and Uncertainties" as filed on March 22, 2012 on SEDAR, and could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, nor does it undertake, any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements contained in this document to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.
SOURCE: Orbite Aluminae Inc.
Contact:
Canada: Investors; Louis Morin, Investor Relations, +1-514-591-3988; Nicole Blanchard, Investor Relations, Sun International Communications, +1-450-973-6600; Jason Monaco, Associate Director, First Canadian Capital Corp., +1-416-742-5600; Media; Frederic Berard , Vice President and General Manager, H+K Strategies, +1-514-395-0375, ext. 259; United States: Investors; Chris Witty, Darrow Associates, cwitty@darrowir.com, +1-646-438-9385; Media; George Sopko , Stanton Public Relations & Marketing, +1-646 502-3507; Orbite Aluminae: Marc Johnson, Vice President, Investor Relations, +1-514-744-6264, ext 131, info@orbitealuminae.com
orbitealuminae.com
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| To: LoneClone who wrote (95232) | 10/2/2012 10:02:04 PM | | From: LoneClone | | | | Woulfe Mining Reports Drill Results for the Sangdong Drilling Program
Press Release: Woulfe Mining Corp. – 13 hours ago
finance.yahoo.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct 2, 2012) - Woulfe Mining Corp. ("Woulfe" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:WOF)( WFEMF)( OZ4.F) is pleased to announce assay results for samples associated with the drilling program at Sangdong. Drilling from underground locations at Sangdong is continuing and the results will be used to progressively update the Resource estimate.
This batch of assay results comprises 16 holes, comprising three holes drilled from Sangdong Level and 13 holes drilled from -1 Level. Most of the -1 Level holes were 20-50 metres in length and targeted the Footwall Zones. The Sangdong Level holes were located towards the western end of the orebody and were 50-80 metres in length. Two of the holes targeted the Hangingwall Zone and two were collared within the Main Zone.
| Hole | Interval
(m) | Length
(m) | True
Width
(m) | Grade
(%WO3) | Grade
(%MoS2) | Zone | | Footwall Zones | | WSDD0122 Collar 4111574N, 485019E, Azimuth 22, Dip +43, Depth 32m, Target F/W zones | | Intersection | 2.5-15.0 | 12.5 | 11.7 | 0.52 | 0.01 | F2 | | Includes | 3.5-5.0 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 0.89 | 0.01 | F2 | | Includes | 9.0-11.0 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.80 | 0.01 | F2 | | WSDD0126 Collar 4111710N, 484884E, Azimuth 22, Dip +40, Depth 34m, Target F/W zones | | Intersection | 3.0-7.0 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 0.74 | 0.06 | F2 | | WSDD0136 Collar 4111498N, 485168E, Azimuth 105, Dip +21, Depth 30m, Target F/W zones | | Intersection | 3.0-11.0 | 8.0 | 4.2 | 0.59 | 0.03 | F2 | | Includes | 9.0-11.0 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 1.00 | 0.06 | F2 | | WSDD0124 Collar 4111671N, 484886E, Azimuth 27, Dip +38, Depth 20m, Target All zones | | Intersection | 0.0-2.5 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 0.85 | 0.02 | F2 | | Intersection | 12.0-14.0 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 0.85 | 0.03 | F2 | | Main Zone | | WSDD0143 Collar 4111951N, 484356E, Azimuth 21, Dip +46, Depth 54m, Target Main and H/W zones | | Intersection | 0.5-9.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 0.37 | 0.07 | Main | | Includes | 1.5-3.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.56 | 0.05 | Main | | Hangingwall Zone | | WSDD0153 Collar 4111623N, 485220E, Azimuth 7, Dip +46, Depth 41m, Target Main and H/W zones | | Intersection | 28.0-35.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.40 | 0.09 | H/W | | Includes | 31.0-35.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.49 | 0.13 | H/W | Significant Footwall Zone intersections include 11.7 metres true width at 0.52% WO3 (WSDD0122), 3.7 metres true width at 0.74% WO3 (WSDD0126), and 4.2 metres true width at 0.59% WO3 including 1.1 metres true width at 1.00% WO3, (WSDD0136).
The significant drilling results are summarised as below:
Significant drill intercepts, defined as any mineralisation of 1 metre lengths or longer, are presented in the tables above. A cut-off of 0.15% WO3 was used for the intersection calculations.
The drilling program is targeting the unmined mineralisation in the upper section of the mine above the current water level for mine planning and feasibility reserve estimation purposes. The resource for this section of the mine was re-estimated following the completion of 90 holes in the current drilling program, resulting in an Indicated Resource of 16.4 million tonnes at 0.45% WO3, 0.04% MoS2 and an Inferred Resource of 19.4 million tonnes at 0.44% WO3, 0.05% MoS2 at a cut-off of 0.15% WO3. The resource below the valley floor is 34.519 million tonnes at 0.47% WO3, 0.07% MoS2 cut off 0.15% WO3.
The samples are prepared on-site in Korea to appropriate industry standards and sent to SGS Perth, Australia for analysis. Samples are analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP) and for ore-grade quantities of specific elements by aqua regia or 4-acid digestion followed by ICP analysis. Molybdenum is analysed by X-ray fluorescence. The QA/QC protocol comprises insertion of one standard, one blank (crushed glass) and one pulp duplicate in every batch of 20 samples. No QA/QC results are available as yet.
This news release has been reviewed and approved in the form and context in which it appears by Mr Paul Gribble FIMMM, C.Eng, of Tetra Tech Wardrop, who is working with Woulfe on the Sangdong studies. Mr Gribble has appropriate qualifications and sufficient relevant experience to qualify as a Qualified Person for the reporting of exploration results and Mineral Resources for the Sangdong deposit.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Woulfe Mining Corp.
Brian Wesson (FAusIMM), President, CEO and Director
About Woulfe Mining Corp. "Unearthing Global Assets"
Woulfe Mining Corp. is focused on 'Unearthing Global Assets' through the recognition and development of undervalued natural resource projects. Woulfe differentiates itself by boasting significant technical expertise in the design, development and operation of mining projects. Our flag ship project is the Sangdong tungsten mine in South Korea, historically the world's largest tungsten mine for over 40 years. Sangdong is expected to return to production by Q4 of 2013. Woulfe has entered into strategic agreements with International Metalworking Companies B.V. ('IMC'), part of the Berkshire Hathaway group of companies. This partnership brings strategic advantage given Woulfe's mining and processing technical abilities and IMC's downstream manufacturing skills, high level of innovation and quality of products sold into the global tungsten market. Woulfe Mining Corp. is a Canadian TSX-V listed company. Further information can be found on Woulfe's website www.woulfemining.com or on info@woulfe.com.au.
Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. We have made certain assumptions about the forward-looking statements and information and even though our management believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statement or information will prove to be accurate. Furthermore, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements or information. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, the following: commodity price volatility; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, mineral reserves and resources and metallurgical recoveries; mining operational and development risk; litigation risks; regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability; failure to complete the strategic arrangement described in this release, including because of the failure to satisfy the conditions to closing of the transaction, risks of sovereign investment; currency fluctuations; speculative nature of mineral exploration; global economic climate; dilution; share price volatility; competition; loss of key employees; additional funding requirements.
There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements or information contained herein. Except as required by law, we do not expect to update forward-looking statements and information continually as conditions change and you are referred to the full discussion of the Company's business contained in the Company's reports filed with the appropriate regulatory authorities.
Contact:
Woulfe Mining Corp.
Administration Office
+1 604 684 6264
+1 604 684 6242
info@woulfe.com.au
www.woulfemining.com
Nicola Street Capital
Nick Smith
Mobile phone: +1 415 595 0865
nsmith@nicolastreetcapital.com |
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| To: LoneClone who wrote (95233) | 10/2/2012 10:05:44 PM | | From: LoneClone | | | | Energy Fuels Completes Acquisition of Interests in Sage Plain Uranium & Vanadium Properties from Aldershot Resources
Press Release: Energy Fuels Inc. – 16 hours ago
finance.yahoo.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Oct 2, 2012) - Energy Fuels Inc. ( EFR.TO) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of its acquisition of the interests of Aldershot Resources Ltd. ("Aldershot") in the Sage Plain Project for US$750,000 in cash, the cancellation of debt owed by Aldershot to Energy Fuels, and 3,527,570 shares of Energy Fuels common stock.
In the transaction, Energy Fuels purchased Aldershot's membership interest in Colorado Plateau Partners LLC ("CPP"), a 50/50 joint venture between Energy Fuels and Aldershot. CPP holds a majority of the properties in the Sage Plain Project Area including the Calliham lease, the Crain lease, four Utah State leases and 94 unpatented mining claims on BLM land. As a result of the acquisition, Energy Fuels now owns 100% of the Sage Plain Project, which is located about 15-miles northeast of Monticello, Utah and about 54 road miles from Energy Fuels' White Mesa Mill, the only conventional uranium and vanadium processing facility operating in the U.S. The general location of the Sage Plain Project is shown on the following link: media3.marketwire.com
Permitting on the Sage Plain Project has been initiated, and the Company anticipates receiving approvals for the project within the next 12-18 months. As has been previously reported, the Sage Plain Project contains 642,971 tons of measured and indicated resource at grades of 0.22% uranium (eU3O8) and 1.39% vanadium (V2O5), or 2,833,795 lbs. uranium and 17,829,289 lbs. vanadium.
In addition, as a part of this transaction, Energy Fuels also acquired Aldershot's interest in several prospective exploration properties in northern Arizona.
Stephen P. Antony, P.E., President & CEO of Energy Fuels, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this document.
About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is America's largest conventional uranium and vanadium producer, supplying nearly a third of the uranium produced in the U.S. The company operates the White Mesa Mill, which is the only conventional uranium mill currently operating in the U.S., capable of processing 2,000 tons per day of uranium ore. Energy Fuels has projects located throughout the Western U.S., including producing mines and mineral properties in various stages of permitting and development.
This news release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and "Forward-Looking Information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking statements and forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time-to-time with the British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario Securities Commissions.
Contact:
Energy Fuels Inc.
Curtis Moore
Investor Relations
(303) 974-2140 or Toll free: 1-888-864-2125
investorinfo@energyfuels.com
www.energyfuels.com |
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| To: LoneClone who wrote (95234) | 10/3/2012 9:29:53 AM | | From: LoneClone | | | | TriStar Drills 13.90 m at 4.51 g/t Gold and 20.00 m at 2.86 g/t Gold at Castelo de Sonhos
Press Release: TriStar Gold Inc. – 23 hours ago
ca.finance.yahoo.com
HOUSTON--(BUSINESSWIRE)-- TriStar Gold Inc. (the Company) is pleased to announce the results of the first round of holes completed in the second phase diamond drilling at the Company’s 100% owned Castelo de Sonhos Gold Project in the Tapajos region of Para state, Brazil. Results have been received for fifteen (15) holes drilled at the Esperança South Target.
The second phase of drilling at Castelo de Sonhos started on July 17th with two drill rigs, both initially located at the Esperança South target which have since been moved to the Esperança East and Center targets. A total of 30 holes totalling 3,690 meters of a planned 44 holes totalling a minimum of 5,000 meters have been drilled to date in this second phase campaign.
Eleven of the completed holes, for which results have been received, encountered mineralization and the table below shows the most significant results for those holes. Hole CSH-34 was stopped due to technical problems without reaching the targeted mineralized zone and was drilled again as Hole CSH-36.
| Esperança South Target | | Hole | | | | | Intercept (Au) | | | | | From (m) | | | | | To (m) | | | | Final Depth (m) | | CSH-35 | | | | | 2.00 m at 2.98 g/t | | | | | 24.00 | | | | | 26.00 | | | | 40.75 | | CSH-36 | | | | | 8.00 m at 1.46 g/t | | | | | 119.00 | | | | | 127.00 | | | | 149.85 | | CSH-37 | | | | | 2.00 m at 4.26 g/t 2.00 m at 3.36 g/t
| | | | | 25.00 41.00
| | | | | 27.00 43.00
| | | | 104.05 | CSH-39
or
| | | | | 2.00 m at 1.24 g/t 2.00 m at 1.13 g/t
32.00 m at 0.51 g/t
| | | | | 52.00 82.00
52.00
| | | | | 54.00 84.00
84.00
| | | | 120.00 | CSH-40 Including
| | | | | 20.00 m at 2.86 g/t 4.00 m at 6.19 g/t
6.00 m at 4.74 g/t
| | | | | 63.00 69.00
77.00
| | | | | 83.00 73.00
83.00
| | | | 120.00 | | CSH-41 | | | | | 3.20 m at 4.46 g/t 2.00 m at 1.54 g/t
| | | | | 79.20 132.00
| | | | | 82.40 134.00
| | | | 150.45 | | CSH-42 | | | | | 2.00 m at 1.06 g/t | | | | | 24.00 | | | | | 26.00 | | | | 101.65 | | CSH-43 | | | | | 11.50 m at 1.60 g/t 2.00 m at 1.99 g/t
| | | | | 48.50 102.00
| | | | | 60.00 104.00
| | | | 116.80 | CSH-44 including
| | | | | 13.90 m at 4.51 g/t 7.90 m at 7.38 g/t
| | | | | 45.00 51.00
| | | | | 58.90 58.90
| | | | 60.80 | CSH-47 including
| | | | | 4.00 m at 4.44 g/t 2.00 m at 8.34 g/t
| | | | | 111.00 113.00
| | | | | 115.00 115.00
| | | | 140.40 | CSH-48
or
| | | | | 2.00 m at 1.14 g/t 1.75 m at 1.19 g/t
11.00 m at 0.64 g/t
| | | | | 117.00 123.00
117.0
| | | | | 119.00 124.75
128.00
| | | | 139.50 | All holes were drilled inclined between 45 to 55 degrees of the horizontal and were planned to intercept mineralization at right angles.
The principal goals for the second phase drilling at the Esperança South target were to add more drill holes in previously drilled sections and also, to fill in and extend the drilling grid to the north, where the soil geochemistry widens.
With the results of holes CSH-43, the northernmost positive one, and CSH-44, the southernmost positive one, the strike length of the mineralized zone at Esperança South has been extended from 1,400 meters to 2,600 meters. This zone is still open in both directions, to the north and to the south, within a soil geochemistry anomaly which extends for over 5,500 meters. In at least two drill sections, the down dip length of the mineralization extends for approximately 150 meters. Also, the results of holes CSH-37, CSH-40, CSH-41, CSH-44 and CSH-47 have enhanced the mineralization in sections previously drilled.
Except for the two most northerly drill sections (Section DH-42 and section DH-43) at Esperança South, which are 780 meters apart, all other drilled sections are between 100 and 200 meters apart.
“These drilling results duplicate the phase one drilling campaign rate of success at Esperança South, where 11 holes of 14 holes intercepted mineralization. The thicknesses and grades now identified, also confirm the same pattern as observed in the phase one drilling campaign, with mineralized zones ranging between 1 to 20 meters thick with grades up to 8 g/t gold. We are very excited by these results and by the upside potential at Castelo de Sonhos as all soil geochemistry anomalies and conglomerates extend over more than 15 kilometers. Moreover, the mineralization identified so far at Esperança South is still well open to the north and to the south,” Vice President of Exploration Elton Pereira said.
Mark E Jones III, President and CEO of TriStar stated: “We are pleased with the continuing progress at Castelo de Sonhos. These results confirm the similarity with both the Jacobina and Tarkwa deposits. Twenty-nine drill holes remain to be reported in this drilling campaign which will test the Esperança Center and Esperança East anomalies. This drilling confirms our positive view of the project."
Castelo de Sonhos is a property where gold mineralization is hosted in proterozoic conglomerates similar to those encountered at comparable gold deposits also associated with proterozoic conglomerates, like Jacobina in Northeastern Brazil and Tarkwa in Ghana (Western Africa).
Sampling Procedures
The recovered HQ and NQ size cores were split in half by a standard rock saw. One-half was sent to the laboratory in intervals not greater than 2 meters length and cut depending on geologic parameters. The remaining half-core was stored on site. The samples were bagged in batches of forty (40) samples and sent from the project site to the city of Parauapebas (Carajás), where SGS-Geosol Labs has a sample prep facility.
All samples were dried at 60°C, 100% crushed to 95% minus 2mm and homogenized.
For those samples in which visible gold were not identified, a split of 250-300g aliquot was taken and pulverized to 95% minus 150 mesh, from where a new split of 50g aliquot was taken to be analyzed by fire assay/atomic absorption.
For those samples in which visible gold was identified, to minimize the nugget effect, a minimum of 1 Kg was pulverized to 95% minus 150 mesh and sieved in a 150 mesh sieve. The oversize was weighed and analyzed by fire assay/atomic absorption. The undersize was weighed, homogenized and two aliquots of 50g were split to be analyzed by fire assay/atomic absorption. Balance between weights and assays of the oversize and undersize resulted in sample’s final assay.
For both types of preparation, the pulps were airfreighted to be assayed at SGS-Geosol lab in Vespasiano, Minas Gerais state. In addition to the laboratory quality control, TriStar has added its own certified standard check samples each 10 samples.
Mr. Rodrigo Mello, FAusIMM, a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101, has read and approved the technical portions of this release.
About TriStar:
TriStar Gold is a well-financed gold exploration company focused on high-potential properties in Brazil. In addition to Castelo de Sonhos, TriStar holds another exploration project in the Tapajós district known as the Bom Jardim Property. The Company’s shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol TSG-V. Further information is available at www.tristarau.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements under Canadian securities legislation which are not historical facts and are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's reasonable expectations and business plan at the date hereof, which are subject to change depending on economic, political and competitive circumstances and contingencies. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause a change in such assumptions and the actual outcomes and estimates to be materially different from those estimated or anticipated future results, achievements or position expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's plans to change include changes in demand for and price of gold and other commodities (such as fuel and electricity) and currencies; changes or disruptions in the securities markets; legislative, political or economic developments in Brazil; the need to obtain permits and comply with laws and regulations and other regulatory requirements; the possibility that actual results of work may differ from projections/expectations or may not realize the perceived potential of the company’s projects; risks of accidents, equipment breakdowns and labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions; the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated expenses in development programs; operating or technical difficulties in connection with exploration, mining or development activities; the speculative nature of gold exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities of grades of reserves and resources; and the risks involved in the exploration, development and mining business. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact:
TriStar Gold Inc.
Mark Jones III, 281-579-3400
Chairman and CEO
info@tristarau.com |
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