ntc news
North American Tungsten acquires Bolivian interests
North American Tungsten Corporation Ltd NTC
Shares issued 28,322,365 Feb 28 close $0.71
Thu 1 Mar 2001 News Release
Mr. Udo von Doehren reports
The company has entered into a letter of intent with Empresa Minera
Himalaya Ltda, a Bolivian company, pursuant to which North American
Tungsten is to be granted the option to acquire up to a 70-per-cent
interest in Himalaya and in Himalaya's tungsten/tin deposit located in
Coheni and Panquaya counties of Murillo and Sadyumyai provinces, Bolivia.
In order to earn an interest in Himalaya and the property, NTC must
undertake a work commitment and incur expenditures on the property in
three-phase program over a three-year period as follows. Phase I -- NTC to
undertake a diamond drill program consisting of approximately 4,000 metres
of drilling on the property; phase II -- NTC to undertake a further program
of infill drilling of approximately 4,000 metres on the property and
preparation of a prefeasibility study; Phase III - NTC to complete a
bankable feasibility study of the property and pay to Himalaya $4-million
(U.S.) The agreement is an option only and completion of any phase of the
work program does not obligate NTC to continue; however, if NTC completes
the work and expenditure obligations for Phase II, it shall be deemed to
have earned a 25-per-cent interest in Himalaya and the property. On
completion of the exercise of the option, NTC will have earned a
70-per-cent interest and be responsible for committing the necessary
capital to bring the property into commercial production at an estimated
rate of up to 1,200 tonnes per day.
The Himalaya project comprises a stockwork vein-type tungsten-tin deposit.
Over the past 17 years, the Himalaya project has been explored continuously
by Himalaya. In excess of 6,000 metres of underground drifts, crosscuts and
raises have been driven, together with systematic assay sampling and test
mining and milling, at a total cost of approximately $2.9-million (U.S.).
Approximately a dozen principal veins have been recognized to date.
Himalaya commenced exploration in the mid 1980s, and in the process, a 500
metre-wide swarm of subparallel, vertical quartz-wolframite veinlets was
encountered and subsequently intersected on five other levels over a total
vertical interval of 300 metres. Within the zone, numerous, closely-spaced
quartz-wolframite veins comprise between 10 and 30 per cent of the rock.
As presently defined, the sheeted vein zone extends over a width of 500
metres, a strike length of 500 metres, and a minimum vertical distance of
300 metres. The zone is open both above zero level, with 450 metres of back
between this level and surface outcrops, and below the lowest level.
Himalaya has recently completed a program of systematic and continuous
channel sampling of the sheeted vein zone on several of the underground
levels. Approximately 800 samples have been collected, representing 2,400
linear metres of workings. Samples are being assayed for tungsten and tin
by neutron activation at the Becquerel laboratory in Mississauga, Ont., and
for other associated metals at Bondar Clegg, Vancouver. Full assay results
for this work are expected by the end of April, at which time a resource
calculation will be made. Based on assay results received to date, and on
mapping of the vein system, the deposit is estimated to contain a global
potential resource in excess of 50 million tonnes of tungsten
mineralization with accessory values in tin, copper, zinc and silver.
A separate cluster of quartz-wolframite veins located 1.5 km northeast of
the Himalaya deposit (also within the mineral claims of Himalaya) may
indicate the presence of a second sheeted vein zone.
The project is well-located with respect to access, power, water and
skilled mine labour. Previous batch mining and milling have demonstrated
that the ore is amenable to the production of high grade tungsten and tin
concentrates.
The company plans to move forward to a formal agreement subject to the
respective corporate board approvals and the approval of the Canadian
Venture Exchange. The company has agreed to pay a finder's fee within the
guidelines of the CDNX, to Andean Engineering of White Rock, B.C.
The company, which owns the CanTung mine and the MacTung deposit, continues
to advance startup plans for the CanTung mine and believes that the
addition of the Himalaya project represents and intermediate step in the
company's strategic plan.
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