Cdn Manganese drills 84.2 m of 10.53% Mn at Woodstock
2023-04-04 11:15 ET - News Release
Mr. Matthew Allas reports
CANADIAN MANGANESE VALIDATING POTENTIAL AT NORTH HARTFORD -- INITIAL DRILLING INTERSECTS HIGH GRADES OVER LARGE WIDTHS INCLUDING 84.2 M (CORE LENGTH) AVERAGING 10.53% MN & 14.55% FE
Canadian Manganese Company Inc. has released an update for its continuing exploration work at the historically documented North Hartford manganese-iron deposit within the company's wholly owned Woodstock project in New Brunswick, Canada. In 2022, the company completed an initial core drilling campaign at North Hartford (see the company's Aug. 11, 2022, news release). Results for this drilling are disclosed herein and successfully demonstrate grades and widths comparable to historical estimates for the North Hartford deposit, including drilled intercepts of up to 84.2 metres (core length) averaging 10.53 per cent manganese and 14.55 per cent iron. These results confirm the North Hartford deposit is analogous to the company's Plymouth deposit located approximately 2.2 kilometres to the southwest, where the company recently announced a mineral resource estimate of 56.7 million tonnes measured and indicated resources grading 10.07 per cent manganese plus 17.7 million tonnes inferred resource grading 10.02 per cent Mn (see the company's March 3, 2023, news release). Drilling at Hartford has been expanded in 2023 with the intention of delineating additional mineralization that may add significant resources to the project's mineral inventory.
Matthew Allas, president and chief executive officer, commented: "These results reinforce our belief that the historic Hartford deposits have potential to add significant mineral inventory to our Woodstock project. We are pleased to announce our decision to initiate additional drilling aimed at facilitating delivery of a maiden NI [National Instrument] 43-101 Mineral resource estimate for North Hartford in 2024."
Highlights from the 2022 program are summarized in the associated tables.
In December, 2022, the company permitted 29 drill hole locations at North Hartford in preparation for a 2023 exploration program. In March, 2023, the company permitted an additional four drill hole locations to test the extent of the geological sequence observed earlier in the program. The 2023 program has been designed by Mercator Geological Services Ltd. to further test the historically documented manganese-iron mineralization in the North Hartford area. The 2023 program was conceived based on 100-metre-by-100 m hole spacing encompassing the currently interpreted outline of the deposit down to a vertical depth of approximately 200 m. To date in 2023, the company has completed 10 diamond drill holes including one abandoned at 152 m due to poor ground conditions, and two currently in progress for a total of 3,479.5m drilled. Drill holes 5 through 8 were completed on section lines to the west of the initial 2022 program and the remaining holes, 9 through 16, were collared on section lines east of the 2022 program section line.
The company, with support and engagement from private landowners, is currently planning for completion of the drilling program over the next few weeks as well as possible extension of the current program and additional fall infill drilling initiative. As part of the company's continuing efforts to reduce environmental impacts and improve operational sustainability, the current drilling program is utilizing a recirculating centrifuge system for management of drill cuttings and drilling fluid. This system reduces water consumption by up to 75 per cent and prevents direct discharge of cuttings to the surface environment around the drill site. Use of the system has minimized potential impacts of drilling activities on agricultural land where the 2023 drilling program is being carried out.
North Hartford historic resource estimate
Historic resource estimates for the North and adjacent South Hartford deposits were compiled by Strategic Manganese Corp. in 1957. These deposits are located approximately two km on strike to the north of the Plymouth deposit and their respective historic resource estimates rely on a combination of historic results from diamond drilling and associated gravimetric data obtained and prepared by Strategic Manganese. Based on these data, Strategic Manganese estimated the North Hartford deposit to contain 50 million short tons (45 million tonnes) grading 8 per cent Mn and 12 per cent Fe, and the South Hartford deposit to contain 50 million short tons grading 8 per cent Mn and 12 per cent Fe. The geological information used to compile these historic resource estimates are themselves historical in nature and rely entirely on data provided by other sources which have not and cannot be independently verified at this time. As such, these historical resource estimates should not be relied upon but are presented herein as an indication of the exploration potential of the mineralization described. While the company has initiated further work to assess this mineralization with an intention of compiling a mineral resource estimate, successful estimation of additional resource estimates for this mineralization remains contingent on future results.
Technical information
Drill program field supervision, logging and sampling activities were carried out under supervision of professional geologists registered in the province of New Brunswick and employed by Mercator. Logging, sampling and assaying procedures were carried out in accordance with the company's QA/QC (quality assurance/quality control) protocols, whereby drill core was descriptively logged on site, aligned, marked for sampling and then split in half, longitudinally, using a diamond saw blade. Samples consist of half NQ-size diamond core (47.6-millimetre-diameter core). One-half of each core sample is preserved in core boxes for future reference and stored at the company's secure core logging facility in Woodstock, N.B.
Samples comprising the other half of the core were bagged, tagged, sealed and shipped to the ALS Canada Ltd. preparation facility in Moncton, N.B., with analytical procedures subsequently completed at ALS's Vancouver, B.C. facility. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) methods as described in ALS protocol ME-XRF26s were applied for analysis of manganese and iron contents and total sulphur levels were determined in accordance with ALS protocol S-IR08. Specific gravity determinations for selected core samples were carried out in accordance with ALS protocol OA-GRA08b. The QA/QC program applied to the 2023 drill core samples included systematic insertion and analysis of Certified Reference Materials, blank samples and duplicate pulp splits at one in 20 frequency and quarter core duplicates plus coarse reject splits at one in 40 frequency. A third party check sample program for pulp split samples is also included in the company's QA/QC program, with SGS Canada Ltd. providing analytical services.
Qualified person
The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul Moore, PGeo (New Brunswick), the company's designated non-independent, qualified person within the context of Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.