newsCandorado set to launch Lucky Ship
2004-12-14 19:33 ET - News Release
Mr. Rene Bernard reports
DATA SEARCH REVEALS DRILL INTERSECTIONS IN THE LUCKY SHIP MOLYBDENUM DEPOSIT IN NORTH-CENTRAL BRITISH COLUMBIA
The Lucky Ship deposit is located near Houston, B.C., in a broad area that is known for its many molybdenum deposits and showings, the most well known being the Endako deposit.
The Lucky Ship was discovered by prospectors in 1956 and was explored intermittently by Amax in the mid-1960s. Amax's exploration included mapping, trenching, geophysical surveys and drilling. As was all too common in those years, Amax filed physical work on its claims for assessment credit and kept the results of its exploration secret. Canamax published a drill-inferred resource on the Lucky Ship deposit without details in a short paragraph in its 1983 filing statement. Both Amax and Canamax are no longer operating companies, so Candorado Operating Company Ltd. must search diligently for information. Recently, it found a summary report on the Lucky Ship deposit written to Amax by T.J.R. Godfrey in 1967. That report is full of valuable details about the deposit.
The Lucky Ship stock has two generations of breccias and two generations of granitic intrusion. The last intrusive phase produced a granite plug in the southern part of the complex. That plug was surrounded by a halo of silicic and pyritic alteration containing abundant molybdenite (MoS2). This was known to Amax as the Main Molybdenite zone. Two other zones, known as the Southern Lobe and the North Showing, were located about 305 metres (100 feet) southwest and 433 m (1,421 feet) north of the Main zone respectively.
The Main Molybdenite zone was drilled at many different angles from drill collars located all around it. The highest grade mineralization was found within a 45.7 m (150-foot) thick area adjacent to the contact of the second-stage granite plug. However, the outer limit of abundant molybdenite-bearing quartz veins and stockwork was mapped later by British Columbia geologists at an average of 68.6 m (225 feet) away from the plugs outer contact. Probably sparser molybdenite mineralization is present out beyond the halo.
The higher grade drill intersections from these zones were reported as follows:
Length
of Avg.
Drill inter- MoS2
hole section cont-
(m) (ft) tent
(%)
Main Molybdenite zone
Northern part
LS-65-08 33.5 110.0 0.22
LS-65-09 67.1 220.0 0.14
Northwestern part
LS-64-02 51.8 170.0 0.19
LS-64-01 36.6 120.0 0.29
LS-65-14(*) 48.8 160.0 0.16
LS-65-16(*) 85.3 280.0 0.08
Western part
LS-65-10 36.6 120.0 0.27
LS-65-06 79.2 260.0 0.14
LS-65-12(*) 79.2 260.0 0.16
Southwestern part
LS-65-11 128.0 420.0 0.13
LS-65-03(*) 125.0 410.0 0.11
LS-65-07(*) 64.0 210.0 0.22
LS-65-15(*) 15.2 50.0 0.15
Southern part
LS-65-15(*) 36.6 120.0 0.16
LS-65-01 60.2 197.5 0.12
LS-65-03(*) 55.8 183.0 0.12
LS-65-07(*) 27.4 90.0 0.14
Southeastern part
LS-65-12(*) 54.9 180.0 0.16
LS-65-14(*) 39.6 130.0 0.25
LS-65-16(*) 61.0 200.0 0.19
Northeastern part
LS-65-17 61.0 200.0 0.17
LS-65-04 12.2 40.0 0.11
Southern Lobe
LS-65-18 18.3 60.0 0.13
North Showing
LS-65-05 15.2 50.0 0.14
Note: This table is adapted from Table I of Godfrey, T.J.R., 1967: "Lucky Ship MoS2 Project; Summary Report for Amax."
* -- Denotes drill holes with multiple intersections that Mr. Godfrey (1967) included in more than one part of the Main Molybdenite zone.
Mr. Godfrey (1967) used data from the table above in conjunction with other knowledge of the property to arrive at a resource estimate. That estimate was based on an "off the cuff" calculation that was designed to give the Amax management some rough idea of what it had at the Lucky Ship. It wasn't intended to be a properly engineered reserve estimate. Thus, it now can be classified as a historic drill inferred resource only. Its calculation would not be considered rigorous under current practice and its calculation would not pass scrutiny for reserves under National Instrument 43-101.
Mr. Godfrey assumed an oval "tabular body (actually a ring) with a true width of 150 feet (45.7 m), an average depth of 900 feet (274.3 m) and a strike length around four-fifths of the granite plug of 1,400 feet (426.7 m)" and assumed "a tonnage factor of 10 cubic feet per ton."
He estimated that the Lucky Ship deposit contained about 18,409,090 tonnes (20.25 million tons) of material averaging 0.163 per cent MoS2. In the 1983 Canamax filing statement, this was equated to 0.098 per cent molybdenum using a ratio of MoS2/Mo of 1.6681. That would translate into a gross metal weight of 39.69 million pounds of molybdenum in the ground at the Lucky Ship deposit, not including lower grade material adjacent to the high-grade ring around the granite plug. Also, Mr. Godfrey's depth cut-off at a 900-foot (274.3 m) depth probably was based on the maximum depth of a pit based on reasonable dilution after factoring in the molybdenum price in summer, 1967. That price is a lot higher now.
Recently, molybdenum has exceeded $32 (U.S.) per pound, resulting in an in-ground gross metal value of $1.27-billion (U.S.) for Mr. Godfrey's 1967 resource calculation.
What's next
The company is assembling information in order to conduct an efficient and successful program on the Lucky Ship deposit during 2005.