Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMY)
(“
Search” or the “
Company”), is
pleased to announce that SGS Canada Inc. (“
SGS”)
has reported on pre-concentration of the rare earth content of
DEEP FOX, FOXTROT and FOX MEADOW mineral samples
using Low Intensity Magnetic Separation (LIMS) and Wet High
Intensity Magnetic Separation (WHIMS). This program was initiated
following the successful use of LIMS to concentrate magnetite and
WHIMS to concentrate rare earth elements prior to zirconia
flotation with a channel sample of
SILVER FOX
deposit mineralization (see Search Minerals new release January 12,
2021).
HIGHLIGHTS – RARE EARTH
CONCENTRATION
The DEEP FOX, FOXTROT and FOX
MEADOW results for WHIMS concentration of REE’s are shown
below.
- A sample of DEEP
FOX mineralization containing 1.15% TREO/Y was treated
sequentially by LIMS and WHIMS. The WHIMS concentrate was enriched
to 5.55% TREO/Y containing enriched levels of the key magnet making
elements (Nd/Pr/Tb/Dy). The overall recovery of TREO/Y to the WHIMS
Concentrate was 78.3%
- A sample of
FOXTROT mineralization containing 1.13% TREO/Y
enriched to 4.81% TREO/Y in the WHIMS concentrate with an overall
recovery of 78.3%.
- A sample of FOX
MEADOW mineralization containing 0.92% TREO/Y enriched to
3.91% TREO/Y in the WHIMS concentrate with an overall recovery of
81.8%.
- Further work at SGS Canada is
planned to investigate increases in recovery and grade of the WHIMS
rare earth concentrates and to demonstrate REE recovery via the
Search Direct Extraction process applied to the concentrates.
DEEP FOX |
Nd (g/t) |
Pr (g/t) |
Tb (g/t) |
Dy (g/t) |
TREO/Y |
Mineral Sample |
1633 |
419 |
44 |
266 |
1.15% |
WHIMS Concentrate |
8061 |
2097 |
204 |
1183 |
5.55% |
Recovery (%) |
80.3 |
81.0 |
73.1 |
71.7 |
78.3 |
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FOXTROT |
Nd (g/t) |
Pr (g/t) |
Tb (g/t) |
Dy (g/t) |
TREO/Y |
Mineral Sample |
1553 |
418 |
35 |
223 |
1.13% |
WHIMS Concentrate |
6760 |
1830 |
132 |
824 |
4.81% |
Recovery (%) |
80.1 |
80.9 |
70.3 |
69.4 |
78.3 |
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FOX MEADOW |
Nd (g/t) |
Pr (g/t) |
Tb (g/t) |
Dy (g/t) |
TREO/Y |
Mineral Sample |
1480 |
381 |
33 |
184 |
0.92% |
WHIMS Concentrate |
6163 |
1623 |
115 |
663 |
3.91% |
Recovery (%) |
82.6 |
85.9 |
65.9 |
64.6 |
81.8 |
SGS Magnetic Separation Testing was conducted on
three samples of mineralization from the DEEP FOX,
FOXTROT and FOX MEADOW deposits within
the Port Hope Simpson Critical Materials District. The DEEP
FOX and FOX MEADOW samples were channel samples from the
surface exposure of the deposits and the FOXTROT
sample was a blend of three large samples of over 40 tonnes of
material taken in preparation for pilot plant programs.
The samples were ground to 100% passing 270 mesh
particles size to liberate the rare earth minerals from the host
minerals. For each deposit type, a 10 kg sample of ground material
was subjected to LIMS testing. The LIMS concentrates bear the
strongly magnetic minerals in the samples including magnetite. A
200 g portion of LIMS non-magnetic material was then passed through
a WHIMS at 5000, 10,000 and 15,000 Gauss field strength. Three
concentrates were recovered per deposit type and these were
combined and analyzed. The results are summarized in simplified
tabular format below (Table 1).
The major findings are;
- Rare earth elements were
concentrated by WHIMS at ~80% overall recovery, yielding 3.91-5.5%
TREO (including Y) grade. The mass of material reporting to the
WHIMS concentrates ranged from 16-19% of the original material.
This will dramatically reduce the material to be processed via the
Direct Extraction Process.
- LIMS concentrates containing 92-98%
Fe2O3 have been produced. These concentrates may be saleable as a
by-product as an iron ore concentrate.
- The WHIMS non-magnetic product
contains ~83-88% of the ZrO2 from the original mineral samples.
This result is consistent with the Silver Fox testing reported in a
News Release dated January 12, 2021. The deportment of ZrO2 to the
WHIMS non-magnetic product allows the further opportunity to
recover zirconium and hafnium by mineral separation (eg. flotation)
processes.
These results will be the basis for further
process optimization and engineering trade off studies. The process
optimization work will focus on obtaining increased grade of WHIMS
magnetic concentrate and increasing the overall recovery.
Engineering trade off studies will compare the cost of whole of ore
treatment by the Direct Extraction Process versus pre-concentration
by magnetic separation followed by WHIMS concentrate treatment by
the Direct Extraction Process.
Greg Andrews, President/CEO states; “This test
work demonstrates the potential to use LIMS and WHIMS to recover
magnetite concentrate for potential sale and, most importantly, to
recover a REE concentrate for processing to recover a high grade
REE product for refining and separation. The treatment of a REE
concentrate from any of our deposits would dramatically reduce the
size of a Direct Extraction process plant for REE recovery.
Similarly, the use of acids and bases and other reagents would be
significantly reduced. Search Minerals has now confirmed that
magnetic concentration can be applied to DEEP FOX, FORTROT
AND FOX MEADOW mineralization. Search Minerals thanks ACOA
and InnovateNL for their continued support received to undertake
this study.”
Corporate Developments:
The Company has put into effect an internal blackout on trading
of the Company’s shares with immediate effect. This policy covers
the management and board of directors of the Company and InCoR
Holdings (the Company’s controlling shareholder).
Table 1. Summary of LIMS and
WHIMS Testing of DEEP FOX, FOX TROT and FOX MEADOW
Samples at SGS Canada
DEEP FOXLIMS + WHIMS Combined
Products
Product |
Weight |
Assays, %, or g/t |
|
% |
Ce % |
Nd % |
La % |
Pr % |
Sm g/t |
Eu g/t |
Gd g/t |
Tb g/t |
Dy g/t |
Ho g/t |
Er g/t |
Tm g/t |
Yb g/t |
Lu g/t |
Y g/t |
TREO % |
U g/t |
Th g/t |
ZrO2 % |
SiO2 % |
Al2O3
% |
Fe2O3
% |
WHIMS Mags |
16.0 |
1.73 |
0.81 |
0.74 |
0.21 |
1524 |
82.0 |
1244 |
204 |
1183 |
234 |
639 |
88.9 |
526 |
67.0 |
5499 |
5.55 |
58 |
435 |
1.9 |
21.9 |
4.0 |
15.5 |
WHIMS Non-Mags |
77.5 |
0.08 |
0.04 |
0.03 |
0.01 |
72 |
5.5 |
78 |
15 |
91 |
20 |
62 |
8.8 |
63 |
10.5 |
486 |
0.30 |
19.4 |
24 |
2.2 |
38.2 |
3.5 |
1.4 |
LIMS Mags |
6.5 |
0.05 |
0.05 |
0.02 |
0.01 |
57 |
2.5 |
57 |
11 |
70 |
16 |
44 |
6.3 |
40 |
5.7 |
387 |
0.20 |
7.9 |
13 |
0.6 |
6.2 |
0.5 |
94.6 |
Head (calc.) |
100 |
0.34 |
0.16 |
0.15 |
0.04 |
324 |
17 |
267 |
44 |
266 |
54 |
154 |
22 |
141 |
18.4 |
1297 |
1.15 |
25 |
89 |
2.8 |
71.6 |
6.3 |
11.4 |
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Product |
Weight |
Distribution % |
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% |
Ce |
Nd |
La |
Pr |
Sm |
Eu |
Gd |
Tb |
Dy |
Ho |
Er |
Tm |
Yb |
Lu |
Y |
TREO |
U |
Th |
ZrO2 |
SiO2 |
Al2O3 |
Fe2O3 |
WHIMS Mags |
16.0 |
81.5 |
80.3 |
81.4 |
81.0 |
80 |
74.8 |
76 |
73 |
72 |
70 |
67 |
66.3 |
62 |
55.7 |
68.7 |
78.3 |
37 |
78.4 |
15.5 |
10.5 |
19.0 |
31.8 |
WHIMS Non-Mags |
77.5 |
17.6 |
18.9 |
17.7 |
18.0 |
18 |
24.3 |
23 |
25 |
27 |
29 |
31 |
31.8 |
36 |
42.3 |
29.4 |
20.6 |
60.7 |
20.7 |
83.0 |
88.9 |
80.4 |
14.1 |
LIMS Mags |
6.5 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
1.1 |
0.9 |
1.4 |
1.6 |
1.7 |
1.9 |
1.9 |
1.8 |
1.8 |
2.0 |
1.9 |
1.14 |
2.0 |
1.0 |
1.4 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
54.1 |
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FOXTROTLIMS + WHIMS Combined
Products
Product |
Weight |
Assays, %, g/t |
|
% |
Ce % |
Nd % |
La % |
Pr % |
Sm g/t |
Eu g/t |
Gd g/t |
Tb g/t |
Dy g/t |
Ho g/t |
Er g/t |
Tm g/t |
Yb g/t |
Lu g/t |
Y g/t |
TREO % |
U g/t |
Th g/t |
ZrO2 % |
SiO2 % |
Al2O3
% |
Fe2O3
% |
WHIMS Mags |
19.3 |
1.58 |
0.68 |
0.72 |
0.18 |
1195 |
61.6 |
900 |
132 |
824 |
157 |
449 |
59.5 |
364 |
49.9 |
4199 |
4.81 |
86 |
560 |
1.9 |
46.9 |
4.4 |
21.7 |
WHIMS Non-Mags |
73.9 |
0.09 |
0.04 |
0.04 |
0.01 |
92 |
5.5 |
83 |
14 |
89 |
17 |
50 |
7.0 |
48 |
8.2 |
452 |
0.33 |
24.5 |
48 |
1.8 |
77.7 |
8.5 |
2.1 |
LIMS Mags |
6.8 |
0.05 |
0.05 |
0.02 |
0.01 |
50 |
2.5 |
55 |
10 |
67 |
14 |
41 |
5.2 |
31 |
5.1 |
345 |
0.19 |
16.7 |
24 |
0.3 |
4.6 |
0.5 |
97.1 |
Head (calc.) |
100 |
0.36 |
0.16 |
0.16 |
0.04 |
283 |
15 |
229 |
35 |
223 |
42 |
123 |
17 |
107 |
15.0 |
1114 |
1.13 |
36 |
145 |
1.7 |
67.2 |
7.2 |
12.0 |
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Product |
Weight |
Distribution % |
|
% |
Ce |
Nd |
La |
Pr |
Sm |
Eu |
Gd |
Tb |
Dy |
Ho |
Er |
Tm |
Yb |
Lu |
Y |
TREO |
U |
Th |
ZrO2 |
SiO2 |
Al2O3 |
Fe2O3 |
WHIMS Mags |
19.3 |
81.0 |
80.1 |
80.8 |
80.9 |
76 |
73.7 |
73 |
70 |
69 |
69 |
69 |
67.6 |
65 |
60.0 |
69.4 |
78.3 |
46 |
74.4 |
21.5 |
13.6 |
12.0 |
33.0 |
WHIMS Non-Mags |
73.9 |
18.1 |
19.0 |
18.3 |
18.2 |
22 |
25.1 |
26 |
28 |
29 |
29 |
29 |
30.3 |
33 |
37.7 |
28.5 |
20.5 |
50.5 |
24.5 |
77.3 |
86.0 |
87.5 |
12.2 |
LIMS Mags |
6.8 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
1.2 |
1.2 |
1.6 |
2.0 |
2.1 |
2.3 |
2.2 |
2.1 |
2.0 |
2.3 |
2.1 |
1.15 |
3.2 |
1.1 |
1.2 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
54.8 |
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FOX MEADOWLIMS + WHIMS Combined
Products
Product |
Weight |
Assays, %, g/t |
|
% |
Ce % |
Nd % |
La % |
Pr % |
Sm g/t |
Eu g/t |
Gd g/t |
Tb g/t |
Dy g/t |
Ho g/t |
Er g/t |
Tm g/t |
Yb g/t |
Lu g/t |
Y g/t |
TREO % |
U g/t |
Th g/t |
ZrO2 % |
SiO2 % |
Al2O3
% |
Fe2O3
% |
WHIMS Mags |
18.2 |
1.34 |
0.62 |
0.53 |
0.16 |
1034 |
50.3 |
738 |
115 |
663 |
129 |
346 |
46.3 |
281 |
38.7 |
2633 |
3.91 |
48 |
96 |
0.9 |
23.4 |
2.2 |
16.6 |
WHIMS Non-Mags |
75.6 |
0.04 |
0.03 |
0.01 |
0.01 |
82 |
4.9 |
80 |
13 |
81 |
17 |
46 |
6.8 |
40 |
5.9 |
351 |
0.20 |
9.9 |
8 |
1.8 |
35.4 |
6.0 |
0.7 |
LIMS Mags |
6.2 |
0.04 |
0.04 |
0.02 |
0.01 |
72 |
5.5 |
78 |
14 |
81 |
15 |
40 |
5.7 |
32 |
3.4 |
321 |
0.18 |
13.8 |
6 |
0.3 |
6.3 |
0.8 |
91.9 |
Head (calc.) |
100 |
0.28 |
0.15 |
0.12 |
0.04 |
269 |
14 |
206 |
33 |
184 |
39 |
104 |
14 |
85 |
12.0 |
733 |
0.92 |
18 |
25 |
2.0 |
66.2 |
9.3 |
11.0 |
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Product |
Weight |
Distribution % |
|
% |
Ce |
Nd |
La |
Pr |
Sm |
Eu |
Gd |
Tb |
Dy |
Ho |
Er |
Tm |
Yb |
Lu |
Y |
TREO |
U |
Th |
ZrO2 |
SiO2 |
Al2O3 |
Fe2O3 |
WHIMS Mags |
18.2 |
88.1 |
82.6 |
89.9 |
85.9 |
74 |
69.5 |
68 |
66 |
65 |
63 |
63 |
60.6 |
61 |
60.2 |
62.6 |
81.8 |
51 |
73.5 |
10.6 |
13.7 |
8.0 |
41.4 |
WHIMS Non-Mags |
75.6 |
11.0 |
16.6 |
9.3 |
13.2 |
24 |
28.1 |
30 |
31 |
33 |
35 |
35 |
36.9 |
36 |
38.1 |
34.6 |
16.9 |
44.1 |
25.0 |
88.6 |
85.7 |
91.4 |
6.7 |
LIMS Mags |
6.2 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
0.8 |
0.9 |
1.7 |
2.4 |
2.3 |
2.6 |
2.7 |
2.4 |
2.4 |
2.5 |
2.3 |
1.7 |
2.7 |
1.25 |
4.8 |
1.5 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
51.9 |
Qualified Person:Dr. David
Dreisinger, Ph.D., P.Eng, is the Company’s Vice President,
Metallurgy, and Qualified Person (as defined by National Instrument
43-101) who has supervised the preparation of and approved the
technical information reported herein. The company will endeavour
to meet high standards of integrity, transparency, and consistency
in reporting technical content, including geological and assay
(e.g., REE) data.
About Search Minerals Inc.
Led by a proven management team and board of
directors, Search is focused on finding and developing Critical
Rare Earths Elements (CREE), Zirconium (Zr) and Hafnium (Hf)
resources within the emerging Port Hope Simpson – St. Lewis CREE
District of South East Labrador. The Company controls a belt 63 km
long and 2 km wide and is road accessible, on tidewater, and
located within 3 local communities. Search has completed a
preliminary economic assessment report for
FOXTROT, and a resource estimate for DEEP
FOX. Search is also working on three exploration prospects
along the belt which include: FOX MEADOW, SILVER
FOX and AWESOME FOX.
Search has continued to optimize our patented
Direct Extraction Process technology with the generous support from
the Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation,
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and from the Atlantic
Canada Opportunity Agency. We have completed two pilot plant
operations and produced highly purified mixed rare earth carbonate
concentrate and mixed REO concentrate for separation and
refining.
For further information, please
contact:
Greg AndrewsPresident and CEOTel:
604-998-3432E-mail: info@searchminerals.ca
Neither the 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.
Cautionary Statement Regarding
“Forward-Looking” Statements:
Except for the statements of historical fact,
this news release contains "forward-looking information" within the
meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is
based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of
this news release. "Forward-looking information" in this news
release includes information about the Company’s anticipated use of
proceeds of the Private Placement, and other forward-looking
information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those described in such forward-looking information
include, but are not limited to, the inability to obtain the
necessary Exchange approvals to complete the Private Placement or
to apply the proceeds of the Private Placement as anticipated by
management.
The forward-looking information in this news
release reflects the current expectations, assumptions and/or
beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to
the Company. In connection with the forward-looking information
contained in this news release, the Company has made assumptions
about the Company's financial condition and development plans do
not change as a result of unforeseen events, and that the Company
will receive all required regulatory approvals, including Exchange
approval, for the Private Placement.
Although the Company believes that the
assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are
reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of
future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put
on such information due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The
Company does not assume any 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 applicable securities
laws. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is
contained in the Company's filings with the Canadian securities
regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.
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