TORONTO, Nov. 26, 2012 /CNW/ - Liberty Mines Inc. (TSX: LBE) ("Liberty" or the "Company") announced today that it has fully exercised its options to acquire all of the Croxall properties in the Shaw Dome nickel area, which is located approximately 10 kilometers southwest of Timmins, Ontario and near the Company's Redstone mill, the only dedicated nickel mill in the region.
"In advance of the expected recovery of nickel prices, we have taken advantage of the opportunity to acquire all of the Croxall properties, and prepare for future exploration and production activities," said Mr. Chris Stewart, President and CEO of Liberty Mines. "Our decision to acquire all of the Croxall properties is consistent with our strategy to consolidate our land package in the area and take full advantage of the only nickel concentrate producing mill in the region."
Mr. Stewart added, "Our long-term success is dependent on advancing deposits from regional exploration programs through zone discovery, delineation, economic feasibility analysis and ultimately production. Acquiring the Croxall properties is the first stage of our long term strategy of delineation of existing deposits such as Hart, as well as exploration of targets which currently lie outside existing mine plans."
The acquired properties cover an area of approximately 1,760 hectares and consist of 110 mining claim units located within Eldorado, Adams, Deloro, and Shaw Townships. The acquired property is contiguous with Liberty's Redstone property, which hosts the Redstone Mine and Mill operations.
Liberty entered into three separate option agreements to acquire the properties beginning in 2006. Since then, Liberty completed cash payments and issued shares to vendors as well as completed significant exploration programs in 2007 and 2011 thereby fully exercising its options. These properties, identified as the "Croxall 1," "Croxall 2," and "Croxall 3" properties, are collectively known as the "Croxall Property." Property vendors retain Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalties on the claims acquired. The royalties total 3% and have buy-back provisions.
Croxall Project
The Croxall property is located on the southwest limb of the Shaw Dome, which is host to several nickel deposits in the Timmins area, including Liberty's Redstone Deposit, Hart Deposit, Hart East Zone, and the McWatters Deposit (Figure 1). A significant portion of the Croxall property lies within the preferred stratigraphic horizon of ultramafic volcanic rocks which are in close proximity to footwall iron formation, both features deemed prospective for Kambalda-type nickel deposits such as Liberty's other nickel deposits in the Shaw Dome. Previous work on the Croxall property discovered the "Mustang Zone," a nickel zone which the Company believes warrants further exploration. Highlights of previous drill results on the Mustang Zone include the interception of 1.20% Ni over 2.4 metres in drill hole CL-11-02.
Figure 1: Liberty's Shaw Dome Property
Resource estimation has not been completed as yet on the Mustang Zone as it is in early stage exploration. Numerous geophysical (airborne electromagnetic) anomalies are also present on the Croxall property, which the Company believes warrant further exploration.
Drilling, Sampling, Analytical Procedures, and Quality Assurance/Quality Control
The Company's exploration programs are subject to technical and Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) procedures conforming to industry best practices and NI 43-101.
Liberty conducted exploration diamond drilling on the Croxall property in 2007 and 2011. Drilling in 2007 was contracted to Major Drilling Group International Inc. (formerly Bradley Bros. Drilling Ltd.), based from its Timmins Regional office with analytical work completed by ALS Laboratories Inc. Liberty's 2011 drilling program was contracted to Mallette Drilling Ltd. of Kenora, Ontario with analytical work being completed by Agat Laboratories Inc. Liberty routinely employs standard reference materials and blank materials as part of its QA/QC procedures on drill core samples. Drill core is sampled according to geological parameters in its standardized technical procedures which include the core being sawn in half with one half of the core retained for future reference and one half sent to an accredited and reputable lab for analysis. Nickel and copper analyses for the work reported herein were completed via Induced Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP -OES) method. Both ALS and Agat Laboratories routinely employ their own internal QA/QC measures.
Qualified Person
Liberty's exploration programs are conducted under the supervision of Ms. Heather Miree, P. Geo., V.P. Exploration for Liberty Mines Inc. since May 2012. Ms. Miree is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and has confirmed, supervised, or prepared the scientific or technical information in this disclosure and has verified the data contained herein.
Ms. Miree is an economic geologist with over 25 years of experience in the mineral industry. Ms Miree has held senior geological and supervisory roles with several junior and mid-sized mining companies in the areas of exploration and operations. Ms. Miree is not independent of Liberty as is an employee of the Company.
About Liberty Mines Inc.
Liberty Mines Inc. is a mid-tier producer of nickel and is focused on the exploration, development and production of nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals from its properties in Ontario, Canada. It owns and operates the only nickel concentrator in the Shaw Dome, a prospective nickel belt region near Timmins, Ontario. With a new management team in place, Liberty is focused on growth initiatives not only through a more aggressive exploration program on its current properties but also through potential acquisition or partnership opportunities beyond its core Timmins area projects.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This News Release includes certain "forward looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, without limitation, statements regarding future plans and objectives of Liberty, are forward looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Liberty's expectations are: exploration risks; commodity prices; regulatory approvals; receipt of mining permits and leases; and assumed startup and operating costs detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by Liberty with securities regulators. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any such statement or reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances, except where required by securities regulations. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
PDF available at: https://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2012/11/26/20121126_C3229_DOC_EN_21128.pdf
SOURCE: Liberty Mines Inc.