CZQ CTPMF--News Continental Precious hereby declares resource estimate
2007-08-28 19:59 ET - News Release
Mr. Ed Godin reports
CONTINENTAL PRECIOUS MINERALS INC.: UPDATED INFERRED RESOURCE ESTIMATE ON MMS VIKEN LICENCE-232 MILLION POUNDS OF URANIUM OXIDE
Continental Precious Minerals Inc., further to its news in Stockwatch issued on May 10, 2007, and subsequently respecting the company's 100-per-cent-owned multimetal sediment Viken mineral exploration licence in Sweden, has released a new resource estimate for Viken. Gerald A. Harron of G.A. Harron & Associates Inc., Eugene Puritch of P&E Mining Consultants Inc., and Fred Brown of FHB Consulting Services Inc., each a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, have updated the resource estimate as of today for the MMS Viken licence contained in Mr. Harron's report of June 22, 2007.
The updated inferred resource estimate is more than a threefold increase to Mr. Harron's prior resource estimate for the MMS Viken licence, with slightly lower grades for each of the four metals.
Metal/ Grade Grade (%) Tons Quantity (lbs)
oxide (lbs/ton)
U3O8 0.34 lbs/ton 0.017 % 685,242,000 232,982,280
Ni 0.61 lbs/ton 0.030 % 685,242,000 417,997,620
V2O5 5.83 lbs/ton 0.290 % 685,242,000 3,994,960,860
MoO3 0.73 lbs/ton 0.036 % 685,242,000 500,226,660
The drill information used for the inferred resource estimate pertains to approximately 40 per cent of the MMS Viken licence area.
All of the uranium mineralization is sedimentary in nature and is hosted in the Alum shale formation, a middle Cambrian to earliest Ordovician black shale lithostratigraphic unit that extends throughout Scandinavia. Generally the unit is 20 metres thick, and in the MMS Viken licence area tectonic repetition has increased the thickness to approximately 200 metres. The deposits suboutcrop beneath variable thicknesses of glacial deposits of up to nine metres thick.
Uranium mineralization is generally more abundant and uniformly distributed in the upper Cambrian facies of the Alum shale, with slightly lesser amounts in the middle Cambrian. Moreover, higher uranium contents are associated with organic carbon contents greater than about 10 per cent. The high organic content facies of Alum shale has a shiny to lustrous black colour resembling anthracite riddled with millimetre to centimetre thick calcite and pyrite veinlets. The primary uranium minerals are micron-sized uraninite and coffinite that appear to be bonded to clay minerals and organic carbon. The other metals are presumed to occur as organo-metallic complexes or oxides bonded to clay minerals.
The MMS Viken licence is considered to be advanced stage exploration, as grid drilling continues in order to define a deposit suitable for open pit exploitation. Historical work on the property consists of reconnaissance style diamond drilling carried out in the late 1970s by the Sveriges Geologiska Undersokning or the Geological Survey of Sweden. Diamond drill hole Myrviken 78-005 is located on the property. Assays from this vertical hole record a 194.77-metre true thickness intersection grading 0.41 pound U3O8 per ton (173 parts per million U), which provides the impetus for exploration at this site.
Mr. Harron visited the property on March 26 and March 27, 2007, at which time drill cores were examined and sampling protocols reviewed at Geoforum Scandinavia AB's core handling facility.
A major component of the QA/QC program on the MMS Viken licence consisted of drilling hole Myr 06-002, 25 metres south of historical drill hole Myrviken 78-005, and analyzing the core. The results show excellent correlation for both spatial distribution and absolute values for uranium. For QA/QC purposes, every 25th sample was sent to a second laboratory for reanalysis. Analyses were performed by ALS Chemex in Ojebyn and ALS Analytica in Lulea, Sweden. The correlation between six original and second assays of the same pulp is 96.8 per cent for uranium indicating no significant analytical problems.
Interlaboratory accuracy was also explored because two laboratories were used to generate analytical results. A total of 128 samples were analyzed at each laboratory. The resultant data indicate no significant bias exists for U3O8 and V2O5 values. A significant bias exists however for MoO3 (10.5 per cent) and Ni values (45.2 per cent). Accordingly, approximately 20 per cent of the data for MoO3 and Ni sent to one laboratory may need to be reanalysed prior to a preliminary feasibility study.
Core samples were two metres long or shorter where constrained by lithologic contacts. Sample lengths are approximately true widths. All samples sent for analyses were prepared using a jaw crusher, which was cleaned with compressed air between samples. A 250-gram split of the crushed sample with 70 per cent passing through a nine-mesh screen was pulverized with 85 per cent passing through a 200-mesh screen. A four-acid sample digestion allows complete digestion of the elements of interest, followed by a combination of ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy) and ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrophotometry) determination techniques. Total carbon was determined by a Leco furnace and the inorganic carbon was analyzed by a Coulometer.
The methodology used by the consultants to estimate the inferred resource involved generating a 3-D geological model based on 25-metre cross-sections with the mineralization constrained to the Alum shale lithology. Two-metre-long composite samples were created for U, V, Mo and Ni expressed as ppm concentrations. Grade capping was applied to the metal concentrations in order to reduce the impact of high-grade outlier values during block interpretation. Grade continuity was examined via variography suggesting that the optimal drill hole spacing is a 100-metre grid. A bulk density of 2.51 tons per cubic metre was assumed for all lithologic units.
Three-dimensional modelling methods were used in accordance with principles meeting Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy guidelines. Blocks measured 25 metres by 25 metres in plan by 10 metres vertical. An NSR grade element was calculated based on the U, V, Mo and Ni block values.
BLOCK VALUES
Mo Ni U V
Price US$25.00/lb US$12.00/lb US$55.00/lb US$5.00/lb
Recovery 15% 66% 90% 65%
Block grades were estimated with a single pass inverse distance cubed calculation. A reasonable continuity of grade across the Alum shale is demonstrated by the drill holes. However due to the complex geological model, limited number of drill holes, and lack of density and collar survey information, the resource has been classified as an inferred resource (within the meaning of Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy guidelines) in its entirety. Inferred resources are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as reserves.
For this resource estimate a break-even cut-off of $7.50 (U.S.) was selected based on a general knowledge of mining costs. The global resource estimate is defined by those blocks falling within a Whittle optimized pit derived from applying the cut-off NSR value and a 50-degree slope for the pit. Following this procedure the grades for U, V and Mo were then converted to standardized oxide units for reporting purposes.
We seek Safe Harbor.
