Rogue Resources Acquires 100% Interest in Iron Ore Project with 427 Million Ton
posted on
Apr 27, 2011 08:49AM
Rogue Resources Inc. TSX VENTURE : RRS |
April 27, 2011 08:30 ET
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - April 27, 2011) - Rogue Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RRS) (the "Company") is pleased to announce it has completed its option agreement to earn a 100% interest in the Radio Hill Iron Ore property located in the Timmins mining district of Ontario. The property has had approximately $10,000,000 in exploration and metallurgy work expended on it, including 140 diamond drill holes, and hosts a historic resource of 427 million tons grading 27.3% iron.* The Company recently made the final payment of $100,000 and has now had the claims transferred into the Company's name.
*The Radio Hill historical estimates and feasibility values contained in this document are not in accordance with the mineral resources or mineral reserves classifications contained in the CIM Definition as required by National Instrument (NI) 43-101. Accordingly, the Company is not treating these historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves as defined in NI 43-101. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to date to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves.
"We've got a great iron asset, less than 20 million shares outstanding, and a team finalizing a plan to aggressively advance the project to bring its valuation in line with our peers in the iron market. The historical resource gives an indication to the potential size of the project and our focus is now to upgrade the historic resources to 43-101 compliancy," comments Company President, Steve de Jong. "The Technical Report completed on Radio Hill in April 2010 outlined the program required to upgrade the historical resources and the Company is now taking the necessary steps to make this program a reality."
Project Highlights:
The Radio Hill deposit has had historically, extensive sampling, drilling, and metallurgical work completed in support of the planning and development of an iron mine. Highlights of this work include:
To view a location map of Radio Hill (Figure 1.) please click on the following link:
http://www.brmstatpack.com/lt/1001/1165/radio-hill-transport-map
The Radio Hill Iron Ore property forms part of the larger Timmins West property which is about 12,800 hectares in size and includes the relatively untested 16 km long Nat River iron formation, in addition to several gold and base metal showings. The Company spent $256,000 over the past 12 months updating and preparing a Technical Report of Merit and conducting check drilling on the Radio Hill project.
Historical Work:
The Radio Hill deposit was developed in the 1960s by Kukatush Mining Corp. who spent approximately $10 million on exploration and metallurgical work. One hundred and forty drill holes and a number of metallurgical studies were conducted during this time. Following this work a feasibility study was initiated on the upper portion of the deposit and was deemed encouraging enough that Kukatush built a railway siding and grade from the CN mainline located in the southern end of the property to the deposit about 4 km away.
The historical deposit being located on a hill was envisioned to potentially be amenable to open pit mining. The historical feasibility study determined by FENCO indicated a 3.5 concentration ratio (3.5 tons of iron ore produced 1 ton of concentrate) which would produce a concentrate grade of 67%. At that time recovery and pelletizing tests were also conducted which included laboratory and pilot testing of grinding, concentrating and pelletizing practices to a complete feasibility study of a Radio Hill pelletizing operation, at an annual production rate of 1.2 million long tons of pellets (Neal and Ridell, 1965). This historic metallurgical test work indicated that a commercially acceptable iron concentrate could be produced from Radio Hill mineralized material using magnetic separation followed by flotation.
Iron Net Smelter Royalty (NSR):
In lieu of an NSR on the iron rights, the agreement requires a $50,000 per annum payment to be carried on in perpetuity until commencement of commercial production, at which time a $7,000,000 payment is required. The Company would also like to clarify an error made in a Company news release (March 4, 2008) and consequently repeated in the NI 43-101 Radio Hill Technical Report completed by Micon. The news release and report incorrectly state the Company must make the $7,000,000 payment by January 1, 2012 to acquire the iron rights to the project and failed to mention the option to extend this payment indefinitely for a $50,000 per annum payment. The Technical Report is currently being updated and will be filed on SEDAR accordingly.
Infrastructure
When developing iron ore projects, infrastructure and their costs are paramount. The project's location, in proximity to the Canadian National Railway (CN) and to Timmins, together with the associated mining infrastructure in the Timmins area, is a significant advantage for the future development of the property. The Radio Hill iron deposit is connected to Highway 101 by a gravel road. This road continues across the deposit and extends to the CN railroad siding at Kukatush. During the early 1960s a new railroad grade was constructed from this siding to the south edge of Radio Hill deposit and remains intact for future use. Gas and electricity lines exist in the area and potential hydro power generation exists about 20km away.
Development Plans
The Company conducted a combined magnetic-VTEM survey over the Timmins West property including the Radio Hill property. The 742 line-km survey covered a 50 km2 area with a75-m line spacing. A number of electro-magnetic (EM) and magnetic anomalies were identified in the survey area. The Radio Hill iron formation is easily identified in the total field magnetic. An EM conductor is also associated with the Radio Hill iron formation. Also of note is the unexplored Nat River Iron Formation. Its obvious exploration potential can be seen in Figure 2.
To view a geophysical map (Figure 2) of Radio Hill and the Nat River Iron formation please click on the following link:
http://www.brmstatpack.com/lt/1001/1164/radio-hill-airborne-survey
In November 2010 the Company drilled one hole through the middle of the deposit to verify historical work and intersected 354 meters of banded iron formation (press release November 23, 2010).
In order to bring the historical estimates up to current NI 43-101 standards, Micon has proposed an exploration program that includes surveying, mapping, drilling and the collection of samples for metallurgical test work. Core samples will be assayed and composites will be analyzed using metallurgical tests that are commonly used in operations in Minnesota, Michigan and the Labrador Trough. The metallurgical testwork will include Davis Magnetic Tube tests to determine the potential recovery of magnetite.
About Radio Hill and Iron Ore
The Radio Hill iron deposit outcrops along the crest of Radio Hill and has widths exceeding 200 m with a strike length of about 3.5 km. The Radio Hill iron formation lies in an area of high relief relative to surrounding flat-lying land, and as a result, the Radio Hill deposit will require minimal waste removal from any pits developed over the early years of a mine operation. Historical mine planning work indicated a stripping ratio of approximately 1:1.
Iron formations around the world are composed of iron oxides: magnetite, hematite and goethite. North American iron formations can be subdivided into two types: Superior-type and Algoma-type. These types can be further subdivided into direct shipping ores (DSO) and taconite ores. Baffinland Iron Mines resource of 1.2B tonnes at 66% is an example of a DSO. Taconite ores are lower in grade but can be upgraded to produce a marketable product by metallurgical processes that concentrate magnetite and/or hematite and, to a lesser degree, goethite. Alderon Resources' resource of 608M tonnes at 30% is an example of a taconite ore. The Radio Hill deposit is classified as an Algoma-type taconite mineralization similar to the Helen Mine in Wawa, the Soudan Mine in Tower, Minnesota, and the Sherman Mine in Temagami.
Kevin Montgomery, P.Geo., is the qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 for the Company's Radio Hill Project. The technical contents of this press release have been reviewed by Mr. Montgomery.
About Rogue Resources
Rogue Resources is an advanced stage exploration company, with offices in Vancouver, British Columbia and Timmins, Ontario. The Company has two advanced stage projects in Timmins; its Radio Hill iron-ore project and its Langmuir nickel deposit. The Company also has several projects it is advancing and seeking joint venture partners for in the Bathurst camp of New Brunswick and the Timmins and Kirkland Lake gold camps in northern and western Ontario.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Steve de Jong, President
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