Apr 17 2019
QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. has recently provided an update on its 100%-owned Irgon Lithium Mine Project situated within the prolific Cat Lake-Winnipeg River rare-element pegmatite field of S.E. Manitoba, which also hosts Cabot Corporation’s nearby Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada (TANCO) rare-element pegmatite.
QMC reports the fruitful completion of its 2019 Phase One drilling program on the Irgon Lithium Mine Property. Altogether, 18 NQ diamond drill holes were collared and finished for a total of merely over 2,300 m of drilling, with the majority of holes intersecting significant visible spodumene mineralization.
The drill program formed and overseen by QMC’s consultant, SGS Canada, was set to confirm historic spodumene grades and intersections seen in the 1956 drill intersections and in channel samples gathered across the dike on the -61 m (-200 ft) crosscuts during that time. The deepest hole in the existing drill campaign, IR-19-18 (-65°) cut 14 m (not true width) of spodumene-bearing pegmatite approximately 130 m vertically below the dike’s surface. This intersection is quite below the 61-m level of the historic underground workings and verifies that substantial spodumene mineralization continues to depth. The broadest drill intersections cutting across the Irgon Pegmatite Dike were in holes IR-19-03 and 10 which cut 21 and 23.5 m, respectively (not true width). Both these intersections conveyed substantial visual spodumene mineralization.
The results gained from the existing drill program plus all preceding historical data will be utilized by SGS Canada to make a resource estimate of the Irgon Dike.
The core is presently being logged exhaustively with the entire pegmatite intersections being sawn and sampled. A preliminary drill-site evaluation of the core by QMC geologists established substantial visual white (signifying a low iron content) spodumene mineralization. Definitive assay results are yet to come through.
QMC and SGS Canada have executed a quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program to guarantee the dependability of all sampling and analyses of both surface and drill core samples. QMC introduced certified control standards, blanks, and duplicates into the sample stream which offers the ability to track data quality. The results of all data quality controls will be meticulously reviewed by QMC and SGS Canada before the public release of any data.
All samples will be transported straightaway to SGS Labs in Lakefield Ontario, a certified sample preparation facility and laboratory. After receiving the samples, the SGS Lakefield laboratory will test the samples for 56 elements including Li, Ta, Nb, Rb, and Cs using a sodium peroxide fusion followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES/ICP-MS). Analytical results are awaited and will be published upon receipt of the final lab reports, subsequent to the data having been compiled and assessed.
Historical Estimates
Between 1953 and 1954, the Lithium Corporation of Canada Limited drilled 25 holes into the Irgon Dike and then reported a historical mineral estimate of 1.2 million tons grading 1.51% Li20 over a strike length of 365 m and to a depth of 213 m (Northern Miner, Vol. 41, no.19, August 4th, 1955, p.3). This historical estimate is recorded in a 1956 Assessment Report by B. B. Bannatyne for the Lithium Corporation of Canada Ltd. (Manitoba Assessment Report No. 94932). This historical estimate is assumed to be based on rational assumptions, and neither the company nor the QP has any cause to contest the document’s significance and reliability. The thorough channel sampling and a succeeding drill program will be necessary to update this historical estimate to existing NI 43-101 standards. Historic metallurgical tests reported an 87% recovery from which a concentrate averaging 5.9% Li2O was acquired.
During this historical 1950s period work program, a full mining plant was set up onsite, designed to process 500 tons of ore daily, and a three-compartment shaft was sunk to a 74 m depth. On the 61-m level, lateral development was extended off the shaft for a total of 366 m of drifting, from which seven crosscuts transected the dike. The work was deferred in 1957 awaiting a more promising market for lithium oxides. During this period, the mine buildings were removed.
The mineral estimate mentioned above is presented as a historical estimate and uses historical jargon which does not adhere to existing NI43-101 standards. A qualified person has not done adequate work to categorize the historical estimate as existing mineral resources or mineral reserves. Although the historical estimates are said to be based on reasonable assumptions, they were calculated before the execution of National Instrument 43-101. These historical estimates do not match existing standards as fixed under sections 1.2 and 1.3 of NI 43-101; accordingly, the issuer is not treating the historical estimate as existing mineral resources or mineral reserves.
Qualified Person and NI 43-101 Disclosure
The technical content of this press release has been revised and approved by Bruce E. Goad, P. Geo., who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.