Inspiration to Dewater Langmuir No. 1 Mine and Advance the Langmuir
Property
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 20, 2014) - Inspiration
Mining Corporation (the "Corporation")
(TSX:ISM)(FRANKFURT:OI8)(PINKSHEETS:IRMGF) would like to provide an
update as to its current operations at its Langmuir property.
The Corporation
continues to move towards converting its claims in to a lease and
is in the final phase of such process. Once the claims have been
converted into leases, the claims will be treated as real estate
wholly owned by the Corporation and will no longer be subject to
any payments to the Government of Ontario.
In addition, the
Corporation intends to begin the process of dewatering the existing
ramp to the Langmuir No. 1 mine. The Langmuir No. 1 mine was
actively producing until such time that it was closed in 1992 as a
result of Timmins Nickel filing for bankruptcy. Prior to its
closure, the Langmuir No. 1 mine produced in excess of 100,000
tonnes, grading over 2.2% nickel.
About Langmuir
Property
The Langmuir
Property consists of a number of generally continuous claim groups
covering well over 11 square kms. The extensive nickel
mineralization identified to date occurs at various zones,
separated by in distances and in depth. To date the Corporation has
completed approximately 90,000 meters of drilling.
Although additional
zones of nickel mineralization of significance have been
identified, the Corporation's exploration activities were focused
on preparing its National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of
Disclosure for Mineral Projects compliant resource estimate report
for the Langmuir North Deposit and the Langmuir No. 1 Deposit. (the
"Micon Report") prepared by Micon International Limited ("Micon")
in 2010. A copy of the Micon Report can be viewed under the
Corporation's profile on the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com).
Based on the
drilling completed at the time, the Micon Report identified two
separate measured and indicated resource deposits:
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Tonnes |
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Deposit |
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(Million) |
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% Nickel |
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Cut-Off |
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Langmuir North |
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8,324,000 |
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0.47 |
% |
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0.30 |
% |
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Langmuir No. 1 |
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1,733,000 |
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0.51 |
% |
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0.20 |
% |
The Langmuir North
deposit lies in the extreme north-eastern area of what is referred
to as the Langmuir Claims. An aggregate of 34,000 metres of
drilling was completed in 170 drill holes at the Langmuir North
location to a depth of 340 metres from surface. As the
mineralization was still open at that depth, only the
mineralization to that depth was considered in the technical
reports published to this time. Notwithstanding that, the Micon
Report notes that the full resource of the Langmuir North strike is
not yet fully determined.
In the Micon Report,
Micon concluded that, "On the basis of the exploration work
completed to-date, Micon agrees with Inspiration's opinion that
potential remains to locate additional nickel mineralization
similar to that which has been outlined at the Langmuir North and
Langmuir No. 1 deposits. Micon believes that the potential exists
on the property to locate an additional 20-40 million tonnes of
nickelbearing material at similar grades to those found at the
Langmuir North and Langmuir No. 1 deposits. As well, Micon agrees
that potential remains to locate additional concentrations of
nickel mineralization similar to that which has been exploited at
the Langmuir No. 1 mine at depth. It is to be stressed that the
potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature, that there
has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource of
said tonnage and grade, and that it is uncertain if further
exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral
resource."
The Langmuir No. 2
deposit lies generally to the northeast of the existing but
presently dormant Langmuir No. 1 mine (which is a distinctly
different deposit than, and should not be confused with, the
Langmuir No. 1 mine.)
The following is a
general map of the Langmuir Claims, showing the approximate
location of the Langmuir North and the Langmuir No. 1 deposits:
To view the map
associated with this release, please visit the following link:
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Langmuir%20map.pdf.
To delineate the
higher grade deposit of the Langmuir No. 1 mine itself, the
Corporation intends to undertake a two phase exploration process.
The first phase will include the dewatering and, to the extent
necessary, repair of the existing ramp which extends into the ore
body of the mine with a view of extracting bulk samples of up to
60,000 tonnes. Under applicable law, bulk sampled ore can be milled
and sold by the Corporation as part of its exploration and does not
require the permitting otherwise necessitated in the mining phase.
The Corporation currently has a tentative arrangement with the
owners of the mill and flotation circuit located within a few
kilometres of the Langmuir No. 1 mine.
Once the dewatering
process is completed, the Corporation will also be able to commence
underground drilling to target what it believes to be higher grade
nickel deposits.
Mr. Randy Miller,
the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation,
stated, "The Corporation continues to advance the Langmuir property
with a view of better defining the deposits and exploring the
additional exploration targets that can significantly increase the
size of the mineralization on the property. The Corporation is
committed to the further exploration of the property in order to
fully explore and develop the full potential of the property to
become a viable source for nickel in the future."
The Nickel
Market
Over recent months,
the price of nickel has steadily increased, recently reaching over
$9.00 US per pound. That upward trend is the result of a number of
factors. The most immediate cause has been Indonesia's ban on the
export of unprocessed ore. As Indonesia is the world's largest
nickel producer, producing roughly 25% of the world's supply of
nickel, the impact of its ban has been dramatic. As reference, the
impact of Indonesia's ban is similar to the effects if the
Middle-Eastern countries (such as Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
etc.) collectively banned the export of their oil production at the
same time.
In addition to
Indonesia's ban, the price of nickel has also been impacted by the
recent sanctions imposed by various countries on Russia, which is
the world's second largest nickel producer, due to its actions in
and surrounding the Crimea. The various sanctions have impacted
Russia's ability to export nickel.
As a result of the
Indonesia ban and the sanctions imposed on Russia, countries are
now stocking nickel and searching for alternative sources of nickel
which has resulted in the upwards trend on nickel prices. As there
is no foreseeable end to the Indonesian ban or the sanctions
imposed on Russia, the Corporation is confident that the nickel
prices will experience a long term of price stabilization similar
to 2011.
The TSX has not
reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release
Forward Looking
Statements
This news
release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
and applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, these
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "anticipated",
"expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget",
"scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or
"does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words
and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may",
"could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be
achieved". Inspiration is subject to significant risks and
uncertainties which may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward
looking statements contained in this release. Inspiration cannot
assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these
forward looking statements and Inspiration assumes no obligation to
update or revise the forward looking statements contained in this
release to reflect actual events or new circumstances.
Inspiration Mining CorporationRandy MillerChief Executive
Officer416-842-9000www.inspirationmining.com