Feb 16 2011
CHAMPION MINERALS INC. (TSX:CHM)(FRANKFURT:P02) has announced the start of a 5,000 m diamond drilling campaign on the Company's Moire Lake iron project in the Fermont Iron Property in northeastern Quebec.
The 25 claim/11 km2 Moire Lake Project ("Moire Lake" or the "Project") in Champion's Fermont Iron Property Cluster 1 is located 4 km southwest of the town of Fermont (Quebec), and occurs adjacent and contiguous to the east of ArcelorMittal's Mt. Wright Mine and Concentrator operations.
The Project hosts the Moire Lake Iron Occurrence (MRNFQ Deposit File 23B14-0014). Explored in the 1950's, the occurrence hosts Historic Mineral Resources of 101.6 million tonnes grading 30.8% Iron (MRNFQ Assessment File GM13035, 1963). The iron formation is essentially a massive, thick-banded quartz-magnetite-hematite rock.
Champion's 5,000 m drill program at Moire Lake will test the deposit in order to validate the historical numbers as the Company seeks to potentially significantly increase tonnage while upgrading the Historical Mineral Resources into a National Instrument ("NI") 43-101 compliant Mineral Resource Estimate.
The Fermont Iron Property and the planned 60,000 m Drilling Program
Following the completion of a detailed assessment of the historic work and mineral resources potential on fourteen (14) individual properties of the Fermont Iron Property (refer to the Champion news release dated December 15, 2010) and the closing of a recent $30 million bought-deal financing (refer to the Champion news release dated February 3, 2011), Champion has outlined an aggressive 60,000 m diamond drilling program designed to validate and potentially significantly increase and upgrade Historical Mineral Resources from the current 613 million tonnes grading 31% Iron.
Of the fourteen (14) properties, seven (7) host a total of 613 million tonnes grading 31% Iron in Historical Mineral Resources (Paquet, 1963; MRNFQ Assessment File GM 13035). Two (2) additional properties, the Fire Lake North and Bellechasse Projects, host 603 million tonnes in current NI 43-101 Mineral Resources grading 29% Iron representing a near 5-times increase over the historic estimates. With the planned 60,000 m of drilling, Champion hopes to achieve similar success at several other properties with Historic Mineral Resources.