URSA Major Minerals Drills Iron-Oxide Skarn MineraURSA Major Minerals Incorporated
TSX :
UMJ
June 02, 2011 12:38 ET
URSA Major Minerals Drills Iron-Oxide Skarn Mineralization at Fox Mountain Property, Thunder Bay Area, Ontario
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - June 2, 2011) -
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URSA Major Minerals Incorporated ("URSAMajor") (TSX:UMJ) announces results from an initial two hole drillingprogram at the Company's 100%-owned Fox Mountain Project, located 75 kmnorth of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Drill holes U17-01 and U17-02 weredrilled to test an airborne magnetic and time domain EM anomaly that wasidentified in the November 2010 survey flown for URSA Major.
Initially,the Company was targeting platinum group metal and nickel-coppersulphide mineralization on the property, however, the drill holesintersected a sub-horizontal four to five meter thick layer of massivemagnetite-iron sulphide mineralization that is interpreted to be anoccurrence of skarn mineralization within the Sibley Group sedimentaryrocks.
Richard Sutcliffe, URSA Major's CEO, commented "Ourprevious work at Fox Mountain suggested a favourable geologicalenvironment to host high-grade platinum group metals and nickel coppersulphides. This drilling program intersected a new skarn-typeoccurrence, which is a previously unreported style of mineralization inthis district. The significance of this skarn mineralization is that itopens up further exploration potential, particularly for copper and goldmineralization. In particular, we will evaluate the relationshipbetween the massive magnetite-iron sulphide skarn mineralization andpreviously reported copper occurrences in the Sibley Group. Geologicalmapping will be conducted in the summer to further evaluate this newexploration target."
Holes U17-01 and U17-02 both intersectedmassive magnetite with pyrite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyritemineralization within sub-horizontally bedded Sibley Group mudstonesthat are intruded by diabase and olivine gabbro. Hole U17-01intersected 5.45 meters grading 46.1% iron, 0.073% cobalt and 0.12%copper and hole U17-02 intersected 4.31 meters of 31.9% iron with 0.066%cobalt and 0.14% copper. The skarn-type mineralization isthought to be the result of replacement of carbonate rich sedimentaryrocks by metal-rich fluids related to gabbro intrusions.
Atthe Fox Mountain Project, the Company will also continue to targetplatinum group metals and nickel- copper sulphides in a similar geologicenvironment as Magma Metals Limited's Current Lake deposit (IndicatedMineral Resource of 9.49 MT at 2.3g/t Pt-Eq), located 25 km south of theFox Mountain Project, and Kennecott's Eagle Deposit (Reserves of 3.2MTat 3.89% Ni) in Michigan.
In November 2010, URSA Major contractedAeroquest Limited to complete a 610 line km airborne magnetic and timedomain EM survey of the Company's Property that hosts ultramafic andgabbroic intrusions. The Aeroquest survey identified a number ofgeophysical anomalies. The Company anticipates that additional anomalieswill be tested during the summer after the Company has had anopportunity to complete further geological mapping and prospecting.
Asannounced on March 14, 2011, URSA Major also has a 7,000 metre drillingprogram in progress at the Shakespeare East Deposit. The intent of theprogram is to increase the resource estimate down plunge from theShakespeare East Deposit.
The Company also reports that orehaulage from the Shakespeare nickel mine will resume in mid-June whenthe Municipality of Sudbury removes the half load trucking restriction.The removal of this restriction has been delayed relative to previousyears as a result of delayed Spring weather conditions in northernOntario. This delay will result in a delivery shortfall of approximately15,000 tonnes of ore relative to budget for the Company's quarterending July 31, 2011. The Company is currently blasting and crushing inanticipation of the resumption of shipments and anticipates that it willbe able to eliminate this shortfall prior to the end of the year.
About URSA Major Minerals- URSA Major is a Canadian mining company with a nickel mine and twonickel sulphide projects containing significant NI43-101 compliantnickel and copper reserves and resources. The Company is focused ondemonstrating profitable operations at the Shakespeare Mine and growingits nickel, copper and platinum group metal (PGM) deposits throughexploration and development, primarily in Ontario, Canada.
NationalInstrument 43-101 - Drill core was split using a diamond cutting bladeand sampled at a nominal length of 1.0 meter. Blanks andquarter-duplicate samples were inserted into the sample stream prior toshipment to Accurassay Laboratories, in Thunder Bay, Ontario. HaroldTracanelli, P.Geo., is the qualified person for the drill program andhas reviewed and approved the contents of this release. Iron, cobalt andcopper along with a number of other elements have been analyzed usingmulti-element ICP-MS.