Feb 23 2011
Zena Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE:ZCC) has announced that it has completed its 2010 exploration program on its Lapin Barite property situated near Rock Creek, B.C.
The Company owns 100% of the rights to the Industrial Minerals subject to a 10% net profits interest and royalty and other payments based on production to the original underlying vendors. Barite, the primary industrial mineral on this property, is a major component and the weighting agent used in drilling mud for the oil and gas industry's exploration and developmental drilling programs.
Zena explored the "B" zone deposit in July 2010 by excavator stripping, mapping, and diamond sawing representative samples. Stripping exposed an area roughly 40 by 20 meters which contains at least five zones of Barite, of which the most important is the Main zone, exposed over a strike length of 20 meters and up to 10 meters wide. This zone is open to the north. Within the Main zone, seven samples ranged from 75% to 92% Barite (BaSO4). Specific gravity varied from 3.68 to 4.52, averaging 4.15. Analyses were done by ALS Chemex Laboratory in North Vancouver, a certified laboratory. A minimum specific gravity of 4.10 is required for Barite used as a weighting medium for drilling mud.
The samples were analyzed for Barite, for specific gravity and for 30+ elements using normal Induction Coupled Plasma (ICP) techniques. ICP analysis is a standard labororatory method widely used for determination of trace and major elements. Silica (SiO2) is the chief contaminant, averaging about 16% along with small amounts of calcium carbonate and phosphate which do not appreciably affect the specific gravity. There are only small amounts of base metals, copper, lead and zinc, and these are not significant in terms of commercial Barite.
During the mapping program a number of new Barite lenses were found north of the stripped area. The stripping was done on a Barite zone known as the "B" or hilltop zone. Total cost of the 2010 program was approximately $60,000.
The property has at present three known zones with Barite mineralization, known as A, B and C zones. Past exploration including trenching and drilling at the "A" zone has established a Barite deposit with grades above or near the specific gravity threshold of 4.10. A NI 43-101 measured resource of 5,800 tonnes with specific gravity of 4.25 and an inferred resource of 10,000 tonnes averaging specific gravity of 3.93 was estimated for the "A" zone by Godfrey Walton P.Geo. (2003).
According to a technical Report completed by B.J. Price Geological Consultants Inc. in January 2011, there is a reasonable chance that further exploration may develop an economic tonnage and grade of Barite; this possibility cannot be quantified and can only be verified by further work.
The Company's 2011 planned exploration program, with a cost budget to be approximately the same as the 2010 program, includes the stripping of the northern limits of the Barite lenses in the "B" zone, with the possibility of producing a test sample. The Company may also include in the exploration program further review of the "A" zone.