Abcourt has Renegotiated the Aldermac Option
posted on
Jan 23, 2009 10:38AM
Near term producer & explorer - Abitibi, Quebec
January 23, 2009 |
Abcourt has Renegotiated the Aldermac Option |
MONT-ST-HILAIRE, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Jan. 23, 2009) - Mr. Renaud Hinse, president and C.E.O. of Abcourt Mines Inc. (TSX VENTURE:ABI) (BERLIN:ABI) (FRANKFURT:ABI), is very pleased to announce that the option on the Aldermac property has been renegociated. Considering the actual economic situation, all the payments of $300,000 per year for years 2009 to 2011 in the original option agreement have been postponed for one year and the term of the option was also extended by one year, in consideration of the issue to the Sellers of 375,000 class B shares of Abcourt and 75,000 warrants; one warrant and $0.20 is needed to purchase one class B share of Abcourt within 24 months. Securities that will be issued will have a hold period of four months. This modification to the original agreement is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange . The Aldermac property comprises 10 claims covering 303 hectares in range 5 to7 in Beauchastel township, Quebec, Canada. The Aldermac mine is located about 13 km west of Rouyn-Noranda, in north-western Quebec, along highway 117, near the Ontario Northland Railway line. The mine is serviced by a three-compartment 1625-foot shaft (495 meters) and drifts on nine levels. The mine was in production from 1936 to 1943 and about two million short tonnes of massive sulphides containing 1.78 % copper, 0.2 opt silver, 0.02 opt gold and an unknown amount of zinc were extracted. Because the price of zinc was very low, it was usual at that time to discard the zinc in the tailings rather than make a zinc concentrate. In the old mine, the Aldermac ore bodies were comprised of three major lenses (no. 3, 4, 5) accompanied by several small pods considered uneconomic at that time. The ore lenses strike roughly east, dip steeply to the south and are only roughly conformable with the enclosing rocks. The contact of massive ore with the underlying stringer-type mineralization and host tuff units suggests that the ore formed dome-like features. The entire ore body measures 180 feet in thickness, 300 feet along strike and 1,400 feet in the down-dip direction. The mineralogy of the ore is quite simple, being comprised principally of pyrite with lesser pyrrhotite and carrying minor chalcopyrite, sphalerite and magnetite in a gangue of quartz. In 1987, in the old shaft area, Seadrift International Exploration Ltd. which later became Deak Resources Corporation and subsequently A.J Perron Gold Corporation estimated the ore reserves in the old shaft area as follows: 623,480 short tonnes with a grade of 1.60% copper and an unknown amount of zinc. Subsequently, detailed stratigraphic drilling during 1987 and 1988 to the east of the Aldermac mine site resulted in the discovery by Seadrift International Exploration Ltd. of three new mineralized massive sulphide lenses less than 100 feet from an exploration drift on the 8th level. After the initial discovery hole in August of 1987, a total of 25 drill holes totalling some 41,400 feet of diamond drilling were collared to delineate these lenses. The No. 8 sulphide zone lies approximately 1000 feet east of the Aldermac shaft at about a vertical depth of 1000 feet. The No. 7 zone, which may be the faulted extension of the No. 8 lens, lies about 200 feet to the south. Detailed core logging by Seadrift geologists (principally Paul Jones) indicates that the new mineralization clearly represents a classical Noranda type massive sulphide deposit, as evidenced by the crude metal zoning between the copper and zinc mineralization as well as the presence of an underlying hydrothermal vent containing stringer-type copper mineralization. The dimension of the No. 8 lens has been established to be 300 feet along strike, 350 feet down-dip with a thickness of 60 feet. In addition to the main (no. 8) lens, an "upper zone" occurs 100 feet up-dip from the No. 8 pod. The No. 7 zone, which was actually intersected first, lies 200 feet to the south and east of the main No. 8 zone. The massive sulphide mineralization in these lenses ranges in drill core intersections from 25 to 161 feet with grades varying from 1 to 2 % copper, 1 to 5% zinc, 0.5 to 1.05 oz/t silver and trace to 0.04 oz/t gold. Individual assays ranged up to 7.4 % copper, 21.05% Zn and 0.15 oz Au/ton. A crude zonation from a copper rich base to a zinc enriched upper level within the massive sulphides has been noted. The historical ore reserves of the No. 7 and No. 8 zones, as calculated by Wright Engineers, a well-known firm of consultants, gave a total of 1.15 million short tonnes of proven and probable reserves grading 1.5 % copper, 4.13 % zinc, 0.91 opt silver and 0.014 opt gold. This information comes from a Deak Resources Corporation report titled "Aldermac Technical Summary" dated November 1989 from an unknown author, filed with the Department of Natural Resources of Quebec. In the preceding paragraphs, the terms "ore" and "reserves" are used in a historical context and they do not mean that current economic viability has been proven. Historical reserves should be treated as historical resources. Those were calculated before the introduction of National Instrument 43-101. The historical resources have not been verified and should not be relied upon. However Abcourt believes that these estimates, particularly the one prepared by Wright Engineers, were estimated by competent persons. This statement is made by Mr. Renaud Hinse, professional engineer and president of Abcourt. Mr. Hinse is a qualified person under 43-101. In 2008, 30 holes totalling 7,535 meters were drilled to confirm these resources and possibly to extend them. Excellent results were obtained (see our Press Releases dated March 4, March 12, March 25, March 31, April 17 and December 8, 2008). Abcourt Mines Inc. is an exploration and development company with strategically located properties in Northwestern Quebec, Canada. The Abcourt-Barvue project with 43-101 silver-zinc ore reserves and resources and the Elder mine with 43-101 gold resources and the Aldermac property with historical copper-zinc resources are all former producers. Abcourt is now focused on bringing the Abcourt-Barvue and Elder projects back in production and at the same time, it is working on other projects (Aldermac, Jonpol and Vendome), to increase its mineral resources inventory. A positive 43-101 feasibility study was completed in 2007 on the Abcourt-Barvue project. In addition, mill equipment has been purchased. To know more about Abcourt, please consult our web site www.abcourt.com and Sedar www.sedar.com, see "Abcourt Mines Inc". A small location plan and longitudinal projection of the Aldermac mineralized zones are shown on our web site. The Abcourt shares are trading on the TSX Venture Stock Exchange under the symbol ABI.V and at Frankfurt and Berlin in Germany |