Champion Iron Mines Ltd. (
TSX: T.CHM,
Stock Forum) announced that drilling has resumed at its flagship Consolidated Fire Lake North (CFLN) project as part of the plan to complete a feasibility study for the project by year end.
The CFLN project is located in the Fermont Iron Ore District of Quebec.
According to the
Champion Iron Mines press release, two diamond drill rigs have been deployed to complete a 13-hole definition drilling program totaling 2,150 metres. The drilling is focused on converting existing, near-surface inferred resources to reserves within the northern portion of the currently defined West Pit.
The definition drilling program is expected to be completed by late March and is projected to yield a modest increase in reserves and a reduction to the waste/ore strip ratio within the existing West Pit design.
One drill rig will be retained upon completion of the definition-drilling program to commence condemnation drilling at the proposed gyro crusher and AG mill sites plus the tailings retention area.
Champion will deploy a third diamond drill rig in the coming days to continue the geomechanical study related to open pit slope stability and the selection of final open pit design specifications required for the feasibility study. A second geomechanical drill will commence drilling when one of the reserve definition drills is shutdown in early March.
The two geomechanical drills are expected to complete the 13-hole geomechanical program totaling 4,860 metres in early May.
Champion is an iron exploration and development company focused on developing its significant iron resources in the province of Québec.
On Thursday, Champion was up 1.5% and was trading at $0.34 a share. The company had a market cap of $46.9 million, based on 137.9 million shares outstanding.