Advanced Explorations Inc. has announced the first set of assay results from the 2011 geophysical prospecting program at the Tuktu Iron Project located within 60 km north of the Company's Roche Bay Iron Project on the east coast of the Melville Peninsula, Nunavut.
High grade samples of 63.85% and 62.26% iron respectively were taken from banded iron formation ("BIF") on the HABS 2 claim located approximately 6 km from the south-east portion of the Tuktu deposit where a 2011 drill program is about to deliver an initial NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate.
The Tuktu program included mapping and sampling in addition to a ground magnetometer survey that traversed a large cluster of known magnetic anomalies on a 100 metre line spacing. The magnetic trend that yielded the two high grade results on the HABS 2 claim is approximately 3,300 metres long with a distance of approximately 1,600 metres between the high grade samples. There is increased glacial cover in this portion of the claim group and limits of the BIF are more reliably defined by the ground magnetometer survey. Zonation of grades is expected across the BIF sequence, and the true width of the high grade zone will require further trenching and drill testing.
Preliminary results from other zones within the Tuktu claim group are consistent with assays obtained on the Tuktu 1 deposit. Drilling at Tuktu 1 revealed high grade intersections of over 50% iron, and the new sample results greater than 60% iron further validate the potential for Tuktu to produce a direct ship ore product.
Table of sample assay results:
For a complete table of sample assay results received to date from the Tuktu prospecting program please visit the company website at www.advanced-exploration.com. All samples were submitted to Actlabs of Ancaster, Ontario for XRF geochemical analysis.
John Gingerich, President and CEO, commented:
"We are very encouraged by this recent high grade discovery at our Tuktu Project as we believed to see similar grades as Baffin Island's Mary River deposit within our property, based on the steadily increasing iron values found during this summer's drill program. The sample results clearly indicate a potential for direct ship ore from Tuktu and with the feasibility study for the Roche Bay Project's C Zone near completion, these impressive results for Tuktu add further production dimensions to the Roche Bay Project. Considering its close proximity, high grade ore mined at Tuktu could be direct shipped using Roche Bay infrastructure. As Roche Bay is at a very advanced stage, this discovery also adds significant flexibility to the development scenarios within the Melville Peninsula iron district."
All samples comprised grab samples or channel samples that were initially prepared for analysis at a facility located in Hall Beach. "Prepped" samples are then sent to Activation Laboratories Inc. in Ancaster, Ontario for analysis. Due to the inherent variability in rock grab sampling QC samples are not normally inserted in the grab sample stream, however, internal lab QC data was examined with no issues noted. All samples were analyzed by the XRF geochemical method.