TSX.V - GMG
Highlights:
- Gulfside and Pacific Rim
agreement for option to acquire 100% interest in Port Snettisham
Magnetite Iron Ore Deposit, Alaska
- Aggregate consideration for 100% interest is $3,770,000 plus 2.5% NSR royalty
- Significant exploration including geophysics and 11 hole
drill program, metallurgy and benefication work completed by
previous explorers
- 64.5% Fe pellet feed fines produced with 0.01% S and 0.04%
P
- Deposit appears suitable for fines, pellet feed or iron ore
pellet production
VANCOUVER,
Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -
Robert L. Card, President of
Gulfside Minerals Ltd. ("Gulfside" or the "Company"), is pleased to
report that on October 19, 2011, the
TSX Venture Exchange accepted for filing an option agreement (the
"Port Snettisham Agreement") between Gulfside and Pacific Rim Mineral, LLC (the "Vendor")
pursuant to which the Company has the option to acquire up to a
100% interest in 49 contiguous claims covering 1,012 acres
that comprise the Port Snettisham property, located about 30 miles
(50 km) southeast of Juneau,
Alaska.
The aggregate consideration payable by the
Company over a seven year period ending October 31, 2018 is $3,770,000 cash ($120,000 cash payable in the first year).
In addition, the Company must incur aggregate exploration
expenditures on the property of $3,300,000 by October 31,
2018 ($150,000 to be incurred
in the first year). The Vendor is entitled to a 2.5% NSR on
the property with the Company having the right to reduce the NSR to
1.5% by paying $1,500,000 cash.
A finder's fee of $22,000 cash was
paid.
This project is a titaniferous (Ilmenite)
magnetite deposit on the Snettisham Peninsula, however, there has
been no Fe2TiO4 discovered so
far,1 which is less commercially viable than Ilmenite
occurring with Magnetite. Ilmenite is the predominate
TiO2 oxide present as needles in the Hornblendite.
Ore has been subjected to several programs of beneficiation test
work and reports indicate that the ore is amenable to magnetic
separation. It is possible to produce iron ore fines or
pellet feed containing in excess of 64% Fe (Magnetic).2
The concentrate can then be smelted using an oxygenated furnace
(KOBM process)3 to produce pig iron and a slag
containing high TiO2 values.
The first major effort to explore the iron
potential of the deposit was conducted in the 1950's by the US
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines,4 who
drilled 11 holes, conducted a geophysical survey over the body, and
had beneficiation tests done on the ore samples. A section of
1900 feet of the deposit was explored to a depth of 1000 feet,
totaling 6,546 linear feet of drill holes. This program
reported good results with assays of 11%-48% Fe total, with a
composite from one of the cores showing 18.9 Fe%, 2.6%
TiO2, 0.29% S, 0.32%P, and 0.05%V. Benefication of the
iron ore samples involved crushing to 150 mesh and with dry
magnetic separation. The analysis reported 61-64% Fe total,
3.5% TiO2, 0.4% S, and 0.01% P.
Tenements Under Option
The magnetite-bearing
diorite-hornblendite-pyroxenite intrusive occupies a land area of
approximately 390 acres along the northeast shore of the Snettisham
Peninsula. It appears the magnetite formed during a pegmatite
alteration phase.
Isomagnetic lines at 2,000 Gamma intervals
depicting areas of high magnetism and diamond drill holes from the
work done by Thorne and
Wells.
A high magnetic anomaly occurs near Sentinel
Point and the intensity reduces to the east. Further
work is planned to determine the extent of the magnetite
mineralization and whether the magnetite mineralization is evenly
distributed through the hornblendite-diorite and the large
magnetite intrusions up to 1.5 metres wide identified by the USGS
in the early 1920's.
Tailings from the Friday Gold Mine located
nearby also showed significant magnetite mineralization implying
that the intrusion maybe be part of an IOCG (Iron Ore Copper Gold)
system well known for massive magnetite mineralization. A
high magnetic anomaly extends for over a four square mile area
(1036.4 hectares).(Thorne and
Wells, 1956)
Tests on eight samples conducted by the
University of California5
using a Davis Tube Test to determine the extent of recovery of
magnetic iron yielded between 85% and 95% recovery indicated a high
degree of magnetic recovery ideal for dry separation
processing. Some of the titanium oxide Ilmenite crystals were
liberated during the crushing process, which was crushed to a size
of 5-100 mesh. Mineralogical work also identified the
Ilmenite crystals forming discretely in the diorite containing the
magnetite.
In 1953, the USGS Mines Department Territory
Office in Juneau, conducted a
drilling program planned around a magnetic survey that had been
conducted previously which showed the typical lensoidal occurrence
of magnetite intrusions in diorite. The drill hole put down
at 30% inclination intercepted 350 feet (106 metres) of magnetic
magnetite mineralization. A grab sample program of glacial
detritus, rock chip outcrop samples showed soluble Fe from 19% to
48% Fe (the magnetic content was not determined and insoluble Fe
was 3.5%).
The Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Company, in 1950,
analysed 5 samples from the area and determined Fe total to be
between 38.5% and 54.2% Fe. Significantly the phosphorous was
0.07%. The Alaskan Department of Mines Assay Office did a
similar analysis and the average of the samples was 46.30% Fe,
0.69% P2O5 and S 0.69%. The titanium
values ranged from 5.04% to 8.06%. Silica and alkali values
were also considered acceptable for commercial iron ore
concentrate. The analysis was obtained from a finely crushed
concentrate of the samples. The Office concluded the ore was
suited to magnetic concentration.
The US Bureau of Mines in 1964 (Holmes and Banning) took 3.5 tonnes of magnetite
concentrate from Snettisam and successfully produced concentrates
using wet and dry magnetic separation techniques. The maximum
iron liberation occurred at a crush size of 100 mesh (a range from
20 to 325 mesh was tested). An electric furnace was used to
produce pig iron from the ores and good quality pig iron was
produced with 95.6% Fe from the sample.
In 1969, Marcona Corporation optioned the iron
ore deposit and carried out extensive exploration including diamond
drilling and metallurgical tests. It was reported in the Toyko
Press (Nihon Keizai April 14, 1969)
that Marcona Corporation and the Marubeni Company of Japan, had developed plans to pellitize two to
four million tons of iron ore annually. In 1970, Marcona completed
a feasibility study on the deposit and announced plans to put the
deposit into production at a rate of 5 million tons of concentrate
per year over a 50 year mine life. (State
of Alaska, Mines Bulletin, February
1970.) The plan failed when iron ore prices
declined.
Gulfside is currently preparing an exploration
plan which will include:
- Reconnaissance of the historical data and grid soil and rock
chip sampling with an XRF gun and magnetic susceptibility
meter.
- An outcrop and trenching sampling study using a magnometer to
correlate Fe with magnetic susceptibility. Mineralogy and
petrology studies will also be conducted to analyse the presence of
the titanium and vanadium mineralization in the magnetite and the
extent of silica, sulphur, phosphorous and alkalis.
- A ground based IP magnetic and gravity study to identify key
changes in mineralogy and the extent of mineralization. No
gravity surveys have been completed to date and this will be
completed prior to a drilling phase.
- A diamond drilling program directed by the results of the above
two studies that will allow suitable targets to be identified so
that a Resource Estimate can be produced followed by a Feasibility
Study.
- A benefication study using samples to ensure the results are
statistically significant and the proposed benefication process
design is proven at pilot plant size. Given the high cost of
crushing to 100 mesh this stage is particularly important to the
success of the project.
- The tenement is conveniently located on the Pacific Coast,
close to the capital of Alaska,
Juneau and a major bulk commodity
port Skagway. There is a major
shipping route to Japan, Korea and
China and the distance is 7,870 km
compared to Brazil to China being 11,000 km.
As at February 2,
2012, the Metal Bulletin CFR Price Index for 62% Fe iron ore
is $143.06 per tonne.
The information contained in this release has
been obtained from previous exploration reports and government
records and have not been verified.
Phillip Thomas,
BSc., MBM, MAIG, Vice President and a consultant to the
Company, the qualified person as defined by National Instrument
43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this
news release.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors,
Gulfside Minerals Ltd.
"Robert L. Card"
Robert L. Card
President
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.
Forward-Looking Statements: This document
includes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to, statements concerning GMG's
planned exploration programs and other statements that are not
historical facts. When used in this document, the words such as
"could," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may,"
"potential," "should," and similar expressions are forward-looking
statements. Although GMG believes that its expectations reflected
in these forward looking statements are reasonable, such statements
involve risks and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that
actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking
statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to
differ from these forward-looking statements are disclosed under
the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the corporation's
periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators.
1 Dahlin, D.C. 1951- Benefication of potential
platinum resources from south eastern Alaska. (report of
investigations/United States
Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines;8553, electron microprobe
analysis
2 Holmes, Wesley T,
Electric smelting of titaniferous iron ores from Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming, by Wesley T Holmes II and Llyod
H Banning (Washington) US Department of Interior Bureau
of Mines 1964
3 Freislich, Michiel, Sunil, Kumar Dr, Towards
energy efficient iron and steel making - the greenhouse carbon
abatement process (G-Cap) July
2009
4 Thorne R L, Wells R. R. Studies of the Snettisham
Magnetite Deposit, South Eastern Alaska United States Department of
Interior February 1956
5 Mitchell D. W. University of
California, Berkeley 4, California
USA Letter to Guy F Atkinson Company setting out assay
results of samples submitted
SOURCE Gulfside Minerals Ltd.
PDF with caption: "Gulfside Secures Port Snettisham Magnetite
Iron Ore Property ". PDF available at:
http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2012/02/07/20120207_C2301_DOC_EN_9800.pdf