TORONTO, June 28, 2018 /CNW/ - Orefinders Resources Inc.
("Orefinders" or the "Company") (TSXV: ORX) is pleased to announce
that it has negotiated an agreement with the Province of
Ontario's Ministry of Northern
Development and Mines to resolve a series of Directors Orders and
other outstanding issues that have effectively impeded investment
on the McGarry Mine & Barber Larder properties. Accordingly,
Orefinders has now waived a condition precedent to completing its
acquisition of these properties and will now move to close the
acquisition in the near term.
"This a big win for our shareholders. The price we paid for
McGarry/Barber-Larder reflected an asset which had been tied up in
controversy, litigation and environmental issues. This new
understanding with the Province eliminates such issues and creates
a clear path forward for Orefinders to develop this project. Having
resolved this issue, we will now own a valuable asset encompassing
3.0km of prime Cadillac-Larder Lake Break real estate, a high-grade
resource with significant upside, all of which sits between the
historic world-class Kerr-Addison Mine and Bonterra's Larder Lake assets. This agreement opens
up the region and we see McGarry and its neighbours having a bright
future," said Stephen Stewart,
Orefinders' Chief Executive Officer.
Over the past 12 months, Orefinders has completed substantial
due diligence to evaluate and devise a strategy to ultimately
de-risk this project. The region's environmental issues largely
stemmed from the lack of a progressive rehabilitation plan for the
tailings facility for the Kerr Addison Mine, which has historically
produced over 11 million ounces of gold during a 56-year period.
With the new progressive rehabilitation plan in place and the
Province's Directors Orders now being rescinded, Orefinders sees
this as the inflection point for investment flowing into the
McGarry, and surrounding Larder
Lake district, which has a long and well understood history
of high grade gold mineralization and production.
Orefinders now owns a large and self-contained tailings
facility
In addition to the existing resources and
exploration upside at the McGarry Mine & Barber-Larder
property, Orefinders will now also own a large and self-contained
tailings facility. Owning such a facility could serve as a
significant advantage to the Company as it develops the McGarry
& Barber-Larder and its other proximate assets including the
Mirado Mine and Knight Projects.
Tailings facilities are the most complex and time-consuming
element with respect to permitting any mill or processing facility,
thus ownership of this brownfield facility could prove advantageous
as Orefinders moves its development plans ahead.
McGarry & Barber-Larder Are Positioned Between Two Highly
Prospective Assets
Orefinders McGarry Mine &
Barber-Larder properties are contiguous with--and directly
between—two high profile and prospective properties. To the east is
one of Canada's largest past
producing mines, the Kerr-Addison Mine, and to the west is Bonterra
Resources' Larder Lake properties.
Of recent note is the proposed merger of Bonterra and Metanor
Resources' who announced that as a part of the merger, their
Larder Lake assets would be
spun-out into a new company with $7
million cash in its treasury. See Figure 1 for area map.
About McGarry Mine & Barber-Larder
The McGarry
Mine & Barber-Larder property is in Virginiatown, Ontario within the Abitibi
Greenstone Belt and spans 3.0km on one of the world's most prolific
gold structures, the Cadillac Larder-Lake Break. The property
encompasses 681 hectares and is comprised of 46 Patented Mining
Claims and 5 Mining Licenses of Occupation.
McGarry hosts a NI43-101 indicated resource of 123,000 oz at an
average grade of 7.7g/t gold (uncut or 112,000 ounces with grades
top-cut to 51.4 gpt), and an additional inferred resource of 30,000
oz. at an average grade of 5.3 g/t (uncut or 29,000 ounces with
grades top-cut to 51.4 gpt) as per McGarry resource estimate from
2009 (see cautionary below). McGarry also has a NI 43-101
Preliminary Economic Assessment, published in 2011, which is based
off McGarry's 2009 resource estimate.
McGarry is located east of and immediately adjacent to the
Kerr-Addison Mine, which was one of Canada largest gold mines producing over
11,000,000 ounces gold over a 58-year period ending in 1996 (Figure
1) (see MNDM OFR5831). Adjacent to the west of McGarry is Bonterra
Resources' Cheminis Mine and Bear
Lake deposits which host a historic estimate (2011, P+E
Mining) of 3,750,000 tonnes at 5.7 g/t (683,000 oz) (inferred) and
the Cheminis Deposit contains a historic resource estimate (2011,
P+E Mining) of 335,000 tonnes of indicated resources at 4.1 g/t
(43,800 oz) and 1,391,000 tonnes of inferred resources at 5.2 g/t
(233,400 oz). Bonterra's Technical Reports are available at
www.sedar.ca.
On site infrastructure includes a head frame, shaft
compartments, hoist, offices, and fully functional core shack all
refurbished over the last ten years. McGarry is easily accessible
with the Trans-Canada Highway running directly through the
property.
McGarry Production and Infrastructure
As recently as
2013 the McGarry Mine was in production from significant
underground workings and was undergoing underground exploration.
Kerr/Armistice spent considerable capital upgrading the McGarry's
infrastructure including the shaft, hoist and onsite facilities
necessary to extract ore from underground. Additionally, extensive
underground exploration yielded outstanding grades over very long
drift lengths, including:
325 N Zone – 2280 sublevel
- 8.2g/t gold over 98m length and
1.5m width, Stope #1 (E & W)
- 4.6 g/t gold over 26m length and
1.3m width, Stope #1.5 (E &
W)
- 7.6 g/t gold over 79.2m length
and 1.4m width, Stope #2 (E &
W)
325 N Zone – 2330 sublevel
- 11.1 g/t gold over 24m length and
1.7m width, Stope #1 (E)
- 6.1 g/t gold over 7.6m length and
1.2m width, Stope #2 (E)
- 4.3 g/t gold over 7.6m length and
1.8m width, Stope #2 (W)
440 N Zone – 2250 level
- 6.2 g/t gold over 18m length and
1.6m width
The above exploration results and grades include 35% dilution
and are reported from Kerr Mines
news release April 22, 2013 which is
available on Sedar.com.
McGarry Historical Mineral Resources
The McGarry
Property was the subject of a PEA study in 2011 that outlined a
historical mineral resource of 447,000 tonnes grading 7.89 gpt gold
for a total of 112,000 gold ounces in the Indicated Category and an
additional 157,000 tonnes grading 5.83 gpt gold for a total of
29,000 ounces in the Inferred Category (Table 1 below). This
estimate was based on a 3.43 gpt Au lower cut-off with assay grades
limited to 51.4 gpt gold. A specific gravity of 2.79 grams per
cubic metres was used along with a minimum horizontal mining width
of 1.5 metres. The report is available at www.sedar.ca under Kerr
Mines Inc. and its amended version was published on 30 September 2011.
Cautionary Statement
|
|
Cut to 51.4 gpt
gold
|
Uncut
|
Mineral Resource
Category
|
Tonnes
|
Grade (gpt
gold)
|
Gold
(oz)
|
Grade (gpt
gold)
|
Gold
(oz)
|
Indicated
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total Indicated
(all zones)
|
447,000
|
7.89
|
112,000
|
8.57
|
123,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Inferred
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total Inferred
(all zones)
|
157,000
|
5.83
|
29,000
|
5.83
|
30,000
|
|
Table 1:
McGarry Historical Mineral Resource Estimate, Armistice
Resources 2011 Technical Report
|
The McGarry Project contains a historic mineral resource
estimate. Python Mining Consultants Inc. was commissioned by
Armistice Resources Corp (now Kerr
Mines) to prepare a mineral resource estimate as reported in
a technical report titled "Technical Report and Mineral Resource
Estimate McGarry Project, McGarry Township (Virginiatown), Ontario". This report was published on
8 April 2009 and was amended on
30 September 2011. Orefinders
considers the historical estimate to be relevant and reliable given
that it was prepared under NI 43-101 standards. However, Orefinders
considers this resource estimate to be historical as it has not
independently verified it, and therefore it cannot be relied upon
as a current mineral resource for Orefinders. A qualified person of
Orefinders has not done sufficient work to classify the historical
estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and as
such, Orefinders is not treating the historical estimate as current
mineral resource.
Barber-Larder Open Pit
The McGarry Property also
hosts the Barber-Larder open pit which produced 70,000 tonnes of
materials, of which approximately 51,000 tonnes were processed at
the Kerr Mill which returned a total of 6,700 ounces of gold for an
average reconciled grade of 4.1 gpt gold (see MNDM AFRI file
32D04SE0006). This area of the property and its historical
production are distinct from, although abutting, the production and
resources on the McGarry shaft zone.
McGarry Exploration Potential
The McGarry Property is
host to numerous gold mineralized zones and many have only been
drilled to relatively shallow depth. The following is a short
summary of potential targets on the Property that merit
follow-up.
McGarry Mine
Development work by the previous owners has prepared the 325N Zone
for production. This zone is of particular interest because of its
high grades as described above.
Exploration on the McGarry Deposit was quite extensive in and
near the existing mining infrastructure but generally outside the
area of the shaft between the 1,250 and 2,250 ft levels exploration
has been a lot less intensive. Considering the abundant underground
infrastructure, the targets that can be pursued can be quite small.
In particular, between the shaft and the eastern limit of the
Property, there is ample room for discovery and the proximity of
the historic Kerr-Addison mine opens up the possibility of deep
extensions of that deposit on the west side of the Armistice Fault
as suggested by north side down movement along the Larder Lake
Break (see MNDM OFR5831).
Barber-Larder Extensions
The Barber-Larder deposit was mined as a small open-pit by Golden
Shield Resources between November
1987 and July 1988. Production
bottomed out at
approximately 46 metres. However, the deposit continues below
at similar grades (see MNDM, AFRI 32D04SE0006). Moreover,
beyond the top 120 metres vertical the deposit has not been much
explored and there are indications of significant gold
mineralization down to at least 600 metres vertical where a hole
intersected a narrow 30 cm core length interval at 11.7 gpt
gold.
To the west of the Barber-Larder deposit, previous exploration
identified a number of targets that merit
follow-up. Approximately 150 metres grid-west of the shaft a
hole intersected 1.8 meters grading 3.4 gpt gold. 30 metres
grid-east of this, another hole intersected 3.9 gpt gold over 3.5
metres.
Approximately 25 metres east of the open pit a hole intersected
a 7.9 metre interval grading 7.5 gpt gold and although there is
only 330 metres between the eastern end of the old workings in the
Barber-Larder mine (120 metres) and the western end of the 2,250
foot level in the McGarry Mine the vertical distance is over 550
metres. Within this envelope there is ample room for
exploration.
Peninsula Zone
The Peninsula Zone is located immediately west of the Barber-Larder
Mine along the same package of deformed and altered rocks. A
hole drilled near the peninsular island returned 3.4 gpt gold over
a core interval of 6.1 metres at a vertical depth of 85 metres (see
MNDM AFRI 32D04SE0006).
Mill Zone and Western Zone
The Mill and Western Zones are located in a northeast striking
ultramafic unit that has been completely altered to
carbonate. The Mill Zone is located at the southern end of the
750m long ultramafic unit and is cut
off by an east-northeast trending fault. Drilling on this zone
intersected up to 36.7 gpt gold over 2.1 metres.
The Western Zone is located near the northeastern end of the
same altered ultramafic unit. The zone was trenched over 75 metres
in length and indicated the presence of a small mineralized shoot
approximately 15 metres long and 1.7 metres wide and assaying an
average of 3.9 gpt gold (see MNDM AFRI 32D04SE0402).
Dyke Zone
The Dyke Zone is located in the southeastern corner of the McGarry
Property and is hosted by an altered diorite or gabbro. The NE
trending dike is fractured in places and contains quartz and
calcite stringers with pyrite. The zone extends for over 300 metres
and was sampled over about 100 m
giving an average of 7.25 gpt gold over about 1.0 metres in width
(see MNDM AFRI 32D04SE0402).
Lamprophyre Zone
The Lamprophyre Zone is located on the southeastern corner of the
Property and is hosted by mafic volcanics of the Temiskaming
Assemblage. The mineralized zone consists of a NE trending shear at
the contact of a lamprophyre dike. Values up to 3.9 gpt gold
are reported over 0.9 metres (MNDM, ARV050).
Arjon Zone
The Arjon Shear Zone is located in the northeast corner of the
McGarry Property and extends to the northeast onto the adjacent
Kerr Property. There are a few drill holes marked on a 1941
map (MNDM ARV50, MDC03) and mapping indicates the presence sheared
ultramafics rocks transformed to green carbonate. The map also
shows some NE trending quartz veins several tens of metres long but
no assays. None of these drill holes were compiled by later
explorers and are of uncertain origin. The Arjon Shear is
oriented NE and cuts the Blake River mafic volcanics, some altered
Ultramafic Units, and the syenite porphyry. Only low grade gold
values (up to 2.8 gpt Au) were found on the occurrence as there was
generally no interest in the past for bulk-minable targets little
work was done after the 1930's. On the adjacent Kerr property
there is a description of a "Northern" crosscut that was driven on
the 2,500 foot level across the Temiskaming sediments into some
mafic volcanics which are presumably the Blake River Assemblage.
This reference describes a 400 foot (122 metres) section of
drifting in altered and sheared volcanics that assayed a minimum of
200 ppb over the whole interval with some higher grade sections
within.
This target needs to be followed-up for its potential for
intrusion-hosted bulk-minable gold mineralization.
About Orefinders Resources Inc.
Orefinders is a Gold exploration and development company focused
exclusively within the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. The Company owns
all of its assets 100% and is listed on the Toronto Venture
Exchange under the symbol ORX.
QP Statement
The technical information contained in this news release has
been reviewed and approved by Charles
Beaudry, P.Geo, Director and Vice President Exploration for
Orefinders, who is a Qualified Person as defined in "National
Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Projects."
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may contain forward-looking statements. This information is based
on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and
uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results might
differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking
statements. Orefinders' assumes no obligation to update the
forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual
results could differ from those reflected in the forward
looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws
applicable to Orefinders. Additional information identifying risks
and uncertainties is contained in filings by Orefinders with
Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available under
Orefinders' profile at www.sedar.com.
SOURCE Orefinders Resources Inc.