RE:News TORONTO, March 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sparton Resources Inc. (TSX-V:SRI) ("Sparton" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a work program has been approved for the advanced evaluation of the vanadium mineralization in the 16 square km. Yao Wan (“YW”) Polymetallic Exploration License, in the Zhen’an area of Shaanxi Province, China. See Sparton News Release dated January 2, 2018.
Yao Wan Vanadium Project
The Vanadium mineralization is strata bound and similar to other “stone coal” carbonaceous shale type vanadium deposits in China. These deposits are generally of higher grade and lower in impurities than other types of vanadium deposits such as those associated with magnetite iron ores.
Past work programs by Warwick Mining Development Company Ltd. (“WMD”), included surface and underground core drilling, surface trenching, and tunneling.
The license contains a, Chinese Category 332 and 333 vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) mineral inventory (see Cautionary Statement below) which may be considered under NI 43-101 as “Historical Estimates”. Six vanadium zones have been identified along an 11kilometer strike length within a 9 square kilometer section of the YW License.
“Historical Estimates”
A total of 37,280,900 tonnes of vanadium mineralization in Chinese categories 332 and 333, grading an average of 0.85% V2O5 has been calculated for the six vanadium zones at YW. This equates to 316,096 tonnes of contained V2O5.
Of this total, 33% or 12,302,900 tonnes are classified as Chinese category 332 with an average grade of 0.82 % V2O5 containing 999,912 tonnes of V205. The remaining 24,973,000 tonnes are classified as Chinese category 333, grading an average of 0.86% V2O5, containing 216,284 tonnes of V2O5.
The vanadium horizon varies from 3 to 8.25 meters in thickness.
Work Program Approved
WMD, the owner of the YW License has approved the proposed work program submitted earlier by VStar Industries, the Company’s 90% owned subsidiary recently incorporated In the British Virgin Islands with a mandate to deal with the evaluation and development of vanadium related opportunities available to Sparton.
The initial part of the work program will include advance metallurgical testing of YW drill core for vanadium recovery tests. These will incorporate the technology patented by the Company in China for recovery of vanadium from stone coal mineralization similar to that at YW and will incorporate any new developments in this type of technology developed since the patents were granted in 2012-2013.
A detailed shallow drilling program of about 2000 meters is planned for the near surface vanadium mineralized zone with Historical Estimates provided by the WMD database, indicating 5,433,900 tonnes grading 1.02% V2O5 and containing 75,632 tonnes of V2O5. This work will permit conceptual open pit design and additional material for metallurgical testing.
Engineering studies will be done for process plant site location and conceptual underground mining as well. Initial environmental issues will be reviewed as results of these studies are assessed.
The full program is budgeted at approximately RMB 4.4 million or $850,000 CAD and is expected to begin in Q2 2018.
A. L. Barker M.A.Sc., P.Eng., P.Geol. the Company CEO, is the Qualified Person under NI 43-101 for the technical information in this news release. Mr. Barker has visited the YW area, reviewed all available data for the YW License, believes the “Historical Estimates” to be reliable, and has approved the contents of this news release.
For More Information Please Contact
A. Lee Barker, M.A Sc., P. Eng., P. Geol.
President and CEO
Tel./Fax: 647-344-7734 - Mobile: 416-716-5762
Email: info@spartonres.ca
Website: www.spartonres.ca