Anglesey Mining plc LSE:AYM
17 December 2012
Labrador Iron Mines Completes 2012 Exploration Program
On track to complete resource estimates and resource conversions
by March 31, 2013
Anglesey Mining plc ("Anglesey") is pleased to report that its
19.7% owned associate Labrador Iron Mines Holdings Limited ("LIM")
has announced the completion of its 2012 exploration field program
totalling 14,000 metres ("m") of diamond and reverse circulation
("RC") drilling. This represents the largest exploration program
ever completed by LIM. LIM's field crew is now working on several
of its Schefferville area iron ore
projects in both Newfoundland and
Labrador and Québec towards the
completion of geological core logging and sampling in early 2013
and anticipates several new and updated National Instrument 43-101
("NI 43-101") compliant resource estimates on its deposits for
completion by the end of its fiscal year.
Exploration Program Highlights
- During the 2012 field season, LIM completed 14,000 m of
diamond and RC drilling, a 40% increase over the planned 10,000
m.
- LIM is on track to complete by March
31, 2013, updated resource estimates for two major deposits:
i) the James Deposit (currently in production), including the James
South Extension and, ii) the Houston deposits (currently 22.9 million
tonnes of Measured and Indicated mineral resources - see press
release dated May 31, 2012).
- LIM is also on track to complete new and initial mineral
resource estimates on the Malcolm deposit (nearby Houston), the historic crushed ore stockpiles
in both Québec and Labrador and
its first inferred mineral resource estimate on the Elizabeth Lake
Taconite.
- Drill results at Malcolm-1 returned ore-type intersections
(grading >50% Iron ("Fe")) in 11 of the 14 holes. Highlights
include hole RC-M026, which intersected 21 m at 60.8% Fe and hole
RC-M018, which intersected 18 m at 58.8% Fe.
- During the 2012 exploration program, LIM also acquired
geological information through the use of diamond drilling, which
successfully recovered core samples for the first time. These
samples will now provide better bulk density, geotechnical,
metallurgical and hydrogeological interpretations required for
detailed mine planning.
"In our 2012 drilling season, our exploration team demonstrated
their experience and competence by successfully delivering the most
ambitious program in LIM's history" commented Rod Cooper, LIM's President and COO. "As a
result, we are on track to complete several new and updated
resource estimates by the end of our fiscal year. Equally as
important, the field information collected this year will not only
contribute to the development and delineation of our resource base,
but will also provide valuable technical information for strategic
mine planning. Preparation work has now commenced for another
ambitious exploration program in fiscal 2014, scheduled to commence
in April 2013."
2012 Exploration Work Program Details
LIM used two exploration drill contractors during the 2012 field
season: Cabo Drilling Corp. carried out the RC drilling and Major
Drilling Group International Inc. carried out the diamond drill
work. In previous seasons, LIM used RC drilling exclusively. The
2012 exploration program was successful in generating core samples
through the use of traditional diamond drilling, a significant
technical achievement. LIM obtained a high level (85%+) of core
recovery with the use of highly-skilled personnel and special
drilling additives and more than 8,300 m of HQ3 core (61.1 mm
diameter) were recovered by the end of the program in mid-November.
Logging and core splitting is ongoing on site and the exploration
team is expected to complete its sampling in early 2013 to allow
the inclusion of all new data and assay results in the next series
of mineral resource estimates.
LIM is anticipating new mineral resource estimations on the
James Deposit (including the James South Extension), Malcolm-1,
Houston 1, 2 and 3 and on the
historic crushed ore stockpiles. An initial mineral resource
estimation will also be provided on the Elizabeth Lake
Taconite.
The 2012 exploration program also successfully tested a system
for geophysical down-hole bulk density determinations in the James
and Houston orebodies, which
promises to yield a valuable contribution to the resource
estimation efforts in the future.
Malcolm-1 Drill Results
The Malcolm-1 area lies approximately 3 kilometres northwest
from the Houston orebodies.
Initial work on this property was carried out by LIM in 2011 and
returned ore-type intersections in 14 of 18 holes drilled (see to
press release dated May 31, 2012). In
2012, RC drilling on the Malcolm-1 property consisted of 14 holes
totalling 1,600 m and 11 of the 14 holes returned ore-type
intersections. Figure 1 outlines the hole locations from the 2011
and 2012 drill programs, as well as the historical resource
previously identified by the Iron Ore Company of Canada ("IOC"). The historical (non NI 43-101
compliant) mineral resource is 2.9 million tonnes grading 56.2@ Fe.
A manganese resource was also identified by IOC, totalling 422,000
tonnes at a grade of 51.4% Fe. LIM expects to report a new NI
43-101 compliant mineral resource for the Malcolm-1 deposit by the
end of its fiscal year.
Table 1 below summarizes the intercepts from the 2012 drill
program. True thickness (ETT) is estimated using an average bedding
dip of 45 degrees and vertical drilling dips for every RC hole.
Table 1: 2012 Malcolm-1 Drill Hole Intercepts
Hole_ID From To Length (m) ETT Fe Mn P SiO2 Al2O3
(m) (m) (m) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
RC-M018-2012 3 21 18 13 58.8 1.9 0.06 3.3 0.5
RC-M019-2012 3 36 33 23 52.0 0.5 0.08 12.4 2.5
42 51 9 6 58.9 0.8 0.07 5.9 0.5
RC-M022-2012 21 33 12 8 50.1 0.0 0.01 27.8 0.0
RC-M023-2012 12 27 15 11 54.1 0.1 0.05 16.5 0.0
RC-M024-2012 24 30 6 4 50.6 1.3 0.09 15.8 0.1
RC-M025-2012 18 30 12 8 53.1 0.1 0.06 16.6 0.1
RC-M026-2012 42 75 33 23 56.2 0.5 0.06 12.1 0.2
RC-M027-2012 27 36 9 6 56.7 0.6 0.04 14.8 0.1
RC-M029-2012 33 54 21 15 50.1 0.2 0.06 26.0 0.4
99 108 9 6 52.2 4.9 0.04 17.5 0.0
120 129 9 6 52.3 4.0 0.17 13.8 0.8
RC-M030-2012 93 102 9 6 51.1 0.4 0.03 25.0 0.7
RC-M031-2012 147 156 9 6 51.0 3.1 0.12 10.5 2.7
Other Exploration Work Program Details
LIM was also able to increase the capacity of the mine site
sample preparation facilities to allow a better turnaround time in
the receipt of assays from off-site laboratories. Actlabs remained
as independent managers of the site preparation laboratory and all
reduced and pulverized exploration samples were airfreighted to its
analytical laboratory in Ancaster,
Ontario for multi-element X-ray fluorescent (XRF) assays
including Actlabs internal Quality Assurance / Quality Control
(QA/QC) procedures.
Ground Geophysical Surveys: Geosig Inc., a Quebec-based geophysical consulting firm
carried out a series of ground magnetometer and gravity surveys
over several main targets including the Gagnon and Elizabeth
taconites and over the James, the Houston, the Malcolm-1 and the Howse direct
shipping (DSO) iron ore deposits. The gravity survey covered 48
line-kilometres (line-km) and 1,130 gravity stations were
collected. The magnetic survey covered 31.4 line-km and 40,326
measurements were recovered. These surveys have confirmed the
validity of airborne gravity anomalies, located the extensions of
known ore bodies and suggested the presence of new exploration
targets.
Table 2: 2012 Total Metres Drilled
A summary table for the 2012 exploration drill program is shown
below:
Province Property Diamond RC Total
Drilling Drilling Drilling
(m) (m) (m)
Newfoundland James Mine + South 2,086 - 2,086
& Labrador (NL)
Houston 1-2-3 4,504 1,468 6,121
NL Stockpiles - 2,552 2,552
Elizabeth Taconite 1,728 - 1,728
Quebec (QC) Malcolm 1 - 1,599 1,599
TOTAL 8,318 5,619 13,937
Experienced Technical Team
The exploration program has been carried out by LIM's
experienced geological team led by Chief Project Geologist Howard
Vatcher, supported by Senior Resource Geologist Erick Chavez,
Senior Field Geologist Tara Schrama, Senior Project Geologist
Adewara Odewande, Project Geologist Shawn Duquet, all under
executive supervision of Michel
Cormier, Vice President, Exploration.
For further details of figures 1: Compilation surface plan of
Malcolm-1 property and 2: Location Map for 2012 Exploration Program
please visit LIM's website at www.labradorironmines.ca
About Anglesey Mining plc
Anglesey holds 19.7% of Toronto-listed Labrador Iron Mines Holdings
Limited (TSX:LIM) which is producing high grade hematite from its
James pit, one of LIM's twenty direct shipping iron ore deposits in
western Labrador and north-eastern
Quebec. Production is targeted to
grow from 1.7mt in 2012 to 2mt in 2013.
Anglesey is also carrying out exploration and development work
at its 100% owned Parys Mountain zinc-copper-lead deposit in
North Wales, UK where a JORC
Code-compliant resource of 2.1mt at 6.9% combined base metals in
the indicated category and 4.1mt at 5.0% combined in the inferred
category was published in November
2012.
For further information, please contact:
Bill Hooley, Chief Executive +44 (0)1492 541981;
Ian Cuthbertson, Finance Director +44 (0)1248 361333;
Samantha Harrison / Klara Kaczmarek: RFC Ambrian +44 (0)20 3440 6800;
Emily Fenton / Jos Simson: Tavistock Communications +44 (0)20 7920 3155