Last checked at 31 Jan 2018 07:00
Mineral and Financial Investments Limited
Lagoa Salgada Deposit Increased by 114% to a 9.62Mt Resource
HIGHLIGHTS:
· Lagoa Salgada Resource increased by 114% to 9.62Mt resource, at the top end of 8.0Mt to 10.0Mt guidance given last year, on in-fill drill program at LS-1 and new resource at LS-1 Central Sectors.
· Zinc grade for the LS-1 total resource is 2.59%. In-situ Zinc increased by 94.5% to 548.9M/lbs.
· Lead grade for the LS-1 total resource is 2.59%. In-situ Lead increased by 98.8% to 549.5M/lbs.
· Copper grade for the LS-1 total resource is 0.35%. In-situ Copper increased by 116.2% to 73.6M/lbs.
· Tin resource in the Gossan will be calculated at a later date.
George Town, Cayman Island - January 31, 2018 - Mineral & Financial Investments is very pleased to announce its 49%-owned investment, TH Crestgate GmbH, a private Swiss-based investment company has received the final draft of the resource update of the LS-1 deposit at the 100%-owned Lagoa Salgada zinc-lead-copper project in central southern Portugal.
AGP Mining Consultants Inc. of Canada completed a Technical Report (43-101) resource evaluation. The deposit's resource tonnage was increased by 114% to 9.62Mt. The details of the resource can be seen below:
Category 3% cut-off grade* | 2018 LS-1 AREA RESOURCE UPDATE SUMMARY | ||||
Tonnes | Mineral | Grade | Contained Metal | Units | |
LS-1 Sector Indicated |
5,700,000 | Zn (%) | 2.84 | 356,136,000 | Lbs. |
Pb (%) | 3.01 | 378,246,653 | Lbs. | ||
Cu (%) | 0.32 | 40,212,269 | Lbs. | ||
Ag (g/t) | 54.28 | 9,947,305 | Oz. | ||
Au (g/t) | 0.79 | 144,775 | Oz. | ||
LS-1 Sector Inferred
|
1,940,000 | Zn (%) | 2.50 | 106,924,070 | Lbs. |
Pb (%) | 2.84 | 121,465,744 | Lbs. | ||
Cu (%) | 0.24 | 10,264,711 | Lbs. | ||
Ag (g/t) | 48.22 | 3,007,597 | Oz. | ||
Au (g/t) | 0.66 | 41,166 | Oz. | ||
LS-1 Central Sector Inferred |
1,980,000 | Zn (%) | 1.95 | 85,120,378 | Lbs. |
Pb (%) | 1.14 | 49,762,683 | Lbs. | ||
Cu (%) | 0.53 | 23,135,282 | Lbs. | ||
Ag (g/t) | 18.55 | 1,180,864 | Oz. | ||
Au (g/t) | 0.07 | 4,456 | Oz. | ||
Total |
9,620,000 | Zn (%) | 2.59 | 548,928,334 | Lbs. |
Pb (%) | 2.59 | 549,475,080 | Lbs. | ||
Cu (%) | 0.30 | 73,612,262 | Lbs. | ||
Ag (g/t) | 45.7 | 14,135,766 | Oz. | ||
Au (g/t) | 0.62 | 190,397 | Oz. | ||
*100% of resource - MAFL own 49% of the project through its ownership in TH Crestgate GmbH
Source: AGP Mining Consultants (Paul Daigle, P.Geo.)
Jacques Vaillancourt, Chairman of Mineral and Financial, stated that -" This is an extraordinary result for the first year of exploration at the Lagoa Salgada Project. Increasing the tonnage while maintaining the grades of the original LS-1 resource is a very is a great achievement. Additionally, establishing a maiden resource for the LS-1 Central Sector is also a very significant achievement in 12 months. Lagoa Salgada is now the 3rd largest known zinc-lead-copper deposit in Portugal, after the Neves Corvo and Aljustrel mines. The location of the Lagoa Salgada project on the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB), just north of the 250Mt Aljustrel mine and to the east of the old Lousal mine, that operated from 1900 to 1988, shows that the ore bodies in the area have very large scale and long life potential "
M&FI had repeatedly guided towards a range of 8.0Mt to 10.0Mt. This resource update is at the top end of the guidance given over the past 6 months. LS-1 is one of 17 known anomalies on the Lagoa Salgada property. The LS-1 area's resource is comprised of two sectors: The LS-1 Sector resource, which increased its total tonnage by 69.9% to 7.64Mt, and: The LS-1 Central Sector where a new maiden inferred resource of 1.98Mt was established. The mineralogical study completed recently highlighted the presence of significant tin in the gossan cap of the LS-1 deposit. The Company is reviewing the resource potential of the high-grade tin assays in the gossan cap which overlays the LS-1 deposit.
The overall impact of the program was to increase Lagoa Salgada metal content as follows:
Metal | In-situ content | % Increase | Metal Value Distribution (Using Spot Price) |
Zinc (lbs) | 548,928,334 | 94.5% | 38.1% |
Lead (lbs) | 549,475,080 | 98.8% | 29.1% |
Copper (lbs) | 73,612,262 | 116.2% | 10.4% |
Silver (oz) | 14,135,766 | 83.0% | 10.9% |
Gold (oz) | 190,397 | 63.4% | 11.4% |
To compare the resource increase of the LS-1 Sector only, total tonnages increased by 70% while grades were essentially unchanged. This is noteworthy, as the drill program was an infill program of angled drill holes within the known mineral envelope. Seventy nine holes (79) have been drilled in the Lagoa Salgada Project, 35 holes in the LS-1 Area (17 in the LS-1 Sector and 9 in the LS-1 Central Sector's deposits') executed drill holes were relatively shallow, averaging 300m (including the 140m of tertiary cover) when compared to the deposit depth of the mines on the Iberian Pyrite Belt. There remains significant exploration potential below the known deposit, additionally the deposit is open to both the south and to the east. Additional structural work must be done to fully understand the ore displacement that the surrounding faulting may have caused.
Area/ Category | LS-1 2018 Resource (New) | LS-1 2012 Resource (Old) | |||||||
Tonnes |
Mineral |
Grade | Contained Metal |
Tonnes |
Grade | Contained Metal |
Units | Metal Content Increase | |
LS-1 Sector Indicated |
5.7Mt | Zn (%) | 2.84 | 356,136,000 |
2.94Mt | 3.40 | 220,521,729 | Lbs. | 61.8% |
Pb (%) | 3.01 | 378,246,653 | 2.94 | 190,686,436 | Lbs. | 98.4% | |||
Cu (%) | 0.32 | 40,212,269 | 0.34 | 22,052,173 | Lbs. | 82.4% | |||
Ag (g/t) | 54.3 | 9,947,305 | 54.7 | 5,175,824 | Oz. | 92.2% | |||
Au (g/t) | 0.79 | 144,775 | 0.82 | 77,562 | Oz. | 86.7% | |||
LS-1 Sector Inferred |
1.94Mt | Zn (%) | 2.50 | 106,924,070 |
1.55Mt | 1.80 | 66,667,071 | Lbs. | 73.4% |
Pb (%) | 2.84 | 121,465,744 | 2.50 | 85,648,710 | Lbs. | 41.8% | |||
Cu (%) | 0.24 | 10,264,711 | 0.35 | 11,990,819 | Lbs. | -14.4% | |||
Ag (g/t) | 48.2 | 3,007,597 | 51.0 | 2,548,710 | Oz. | 18.0% | |||
Au (g/t) | 0.66 | 41,166 | 0.78 | 38,971 | Oz. | 5.6% | |||
LS-1 Sector Total |
7.64Mt | Zn (%) | 2.8 | 548,928,334 |
4.5Mt | 2.85 | 282,188,800 | Lbs. | 64.4% |
Pb (%) | 3.0 | 549,475,080 | 2.79 | 276,335,146 | Lbs. | 80.8% | |||
Cu (%) | 0.30 | 73,612,262 | 0.34 | 34,042,992 | Lbs. | 48.3% | |||
Ag (g/t) | 52.7 | 14,135,766 | 53.4 | 7,723,897 | Oz. | 67.7% | |||
Au (g/t) | 0.8 | 190,397 | 0.8 | 116,532 | Oz. | 59.6% | |||
References in this announcement to exploration results and resource updates have been approved for release by Joao Barros, BSc (Engineering), MSc (Geology), who has more than 15 years of relevant experience in the field of activity concerned. Mr. Barros is a Member of the Portuguese Engineers Association. Mr. Barros is employed by Redcorp Empreedimentos Mineiros, Lda., a wholly owned subsidiary of TH Crestgate GmbH, and has consented to the inclusion of the material in the form and context in which it appears.
This report should be seen as indicative of possible mineral content and not definitive, as the sample group is insufficient to arrive at any economic conclusions.
For more information:
Katy Mitchell, WH Ireland Group Limited +44 161 832 2174
Jon Belliss, Beaufort Securities Limited +44 207 382 8300
Jacques Vaillancourt, Mineral & Financial Investments Ltd. +44 780 226 8247