Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 12, 2020) - Vendetta Mining Corp. (TSXV: VTT) ("Vendetta" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has been awarded an A$200,000 grant under the Queensland Government's Collaborative Exploration Initiative ("CEI") to test a conceptual exploration target, the Pegmont Deeps Zinc Target, as described below.
Collaborative Exploration Initiative
The CEI is a Queensland Government initiative designed to encourage the testing of new exploration concepts of economic and technical merit by directly supporting companies to test high quality exploration targets. The focus for this CEI round was on minerals deemed to be "new economy" minerals, critical for the future of the Queensland Mining industry, of which zinc is viewed to be a key component. The Pegmont Deeps Zinc Target was one of 25 high-quality projects recognised, with Vendetta securing the maximum funding available.
The Pegmont Deeps Exploration Target
The Pegmont Deeps Zinc Target is the postulated tracing of the Pegmont mineralised banded iron stone ("BIF"), at depth, into the lower limb of a large fold, where Zinc is anticipated to be dominant sulphide.
Metal zonation is a characteristic of Broken Hill Type deposits, such a zonation is present at Pegmont. Lead to Zinc ratios change from 2.5:1 in Zone 1 to 1:1 in Zone 5. Several pieces of structural evidence have now been synthesised and a large-scale fold nose has been recognised in Zone 5. Continued tracing of the BIF into the position of the lower fold limb (see Figure 1), at depth below the current known mineralisation, may yield a Zinc dominant system, if the conceptual structural model proves correct.
The CEI grant will fund the drilling of two 700 m deep drill holes, designed to test for the theorised repetition of the Pegmont host sequence at depth, as show in the schematic cross section below.
Vendetta will send the drill core from the two holes to be analysed by a hyperspectral core scanning system, an automatic system for logging the mineral / chemical and textural variations in drill core. Apart from the BIF and its associated garnet selvage there are no other known marker horizons at Pegmont. It is hoped that the hyperspectral core scanning will help to identify and characterise different quartzite/gneissic beds at Pegmont.
Peter Voulgaris, Director and Project Manager commented: "The acknowledgement of the target is a welcome endorsement of the potential that remains at Pegmont. While the Company's focus has been, and remains, value driven resource development, this Queensland Government initiative allows us the flexibility to step away from that development focus and test a very exciting conceptual structural target. If successful, the potential resource expansion has been enhanced significantly."
Figure 1: Schematic 300 m wide 3D cross section slice showing the known Pegmont Mineralised Horizon on the Upper Fold Limb and the theorised Lower Fold Limb repetition.
To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2983/61543_2049ac22e4efb80f_001full.jpg
Queensland Government Rent and Expenditure Relief
As part of efforts to combat the economic impact of COVID-19 the Queensland Government have waived the rent on exploration permits. The company's exploration permit (EPM26210) benefits from this relief.
With the Pegmont field season typically staring in March/April the Company felt it was not in the interests of our contractors and the broader community in which we work to safely commence drilling activities in Q1 2020. As a result, Vendetta made an application to the Queensland Government for relief from the balance of the minimum prescribed exploration expenditure on EPM 26210 for the 12-month period ending August 2020. The application has been approved.
The company is now preparing a COVID-19 operating procedure, in line with Australian Federal and Queensland State Government directives which will allow drilling activities to commence and has started planning the drilling of the Pegmont Deeps Zinc Target and a broader drilling program.
Michael Williams, CEO commented: "We would like to acknowledge the very meaningful efforts of the Queensland Government including the CEI program, exploration tenement rent and expenditure relief provided during the extraordinary conditions that explorers and developers are currently facing. The importance of mining and exploration to the Queensland economy is evident in these efforts and we consider ourselves fortunate to be operating in such a supportive jurisdiction."
Private Placement
In support or a larger drilling program starting with the drilling of the Pegmont Deeps Target the Company is announcing a non-brokered private placement of up to 6,250,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.08 per Unit for gross proceeds of $500,000. Each Unit will be comprised of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant exercisable for two years at a price of $0.11 per share.
The private placement is subject to the approval of the TSX:V and the securities will be subject to a four-month hold period under securities laws. Net proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the development of the Pegmont Lead-Zinc project as described above and for general working capital.
Finder's fees of up to 7% cash or 7% shares may be payable in this private placement.
About the Pegmont Lead Zinc Project
Vendetta's 100% owned Pegmont Lead Zinc Project is situated in the Mount Isa - McArthur Mineral Province, Australia which hosts one of the world's richest endowments of lead-zinc-silver mineralization, including several significant lead-zinc-silver mines.
The current Mineral Resource Estimate at the Project:
| Indicated |
5,758 Kt @ 6.5% Pb, 2.6% Zn, 11 g/t Ag |
| Inferred |
8,277 Kt @ 5.1% Pb, 2.8% Zn, 8 g/t Ag |
|
|
The results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on Pegmont were released by the Company by news release dated January 28, 2019. The PEA outlined a 10-year mine plan that generates a strong economic return with a (base case) pre-tax IRR of 32% (after tax 24%) and NPV8% of $201M ($128M after tax) using long term consensus metal prices of $0.91/lb lead, $1.09/lb zinc and $16.50/oz silver and a US$:A$ exchange rate of $0.75.
The PEA indicated a strong sensitivity to metal prices and US$:A$ exchange rate with a pre-tax IRR of 37% (after tax 27%) and NPV8% of $249M ($158M after tax), using metal prices as of January 22, 2019 of $0.91/lb lead, $1.18/lb zinc and $15.30/oz silver and a US$:A$ exchange rate of $0.71.
The PEA identified further project enhancements and Vendetta has identified several high priority exploration targets.
About Vendetta Mining Corp.
Vendetta Mining Corp. is a Canadian junior exploration company engaged in acquiring, exploring, and developing mineral properties with an emphasis on lead and zinc. It is currently focused on advancing the Pegmont Lead Zinc project in Australia. Additional information on the Company can be found at www.vendettaminingcorp.com.
Technical Disclosure
Peter Voulgaris, MAIG, MAusIMM, a Director of Vendetta, a non-independent qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr Voulgaris has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release, and consents to the information provided in the form and context in which it appears.
For details of the Pegmont Project including the effective date of the resource estimate, quality control measures applied, key assumptions, parameters and methods used to estimate the mineral resources set forth herein and any known legal, political, environmental or other risks that could materially affect the potential development of the mineral resource estimate, please refer to the technical report entitled "Technical Report - Pegmont Mineral Resource Update and PEA" dated effective January 21, 2019 and available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.
The Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) referred to herein, is preliminary in nature and includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
"Michael Williams"
Michael Williams
President & CEO
604-448-7855
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
Certain of the statements and information in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian provincial securities laws. Any statements or information that express or involve discussions with respect to interpretation of exploration programs and drill results, predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategies", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "budgets", "schedules", "potential" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements or information.
These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward‐looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward‐looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward‐looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward‐looking statements include, but are not limited to, changes in commodities prices; changes in expected mineral production performance; unexpected increases in capital costs; exploitation and exploration results; continued availability of capital and financing; differing results and recommendations in the Feasibility Study; and general economic, market or business conditions. In addition, forward‐looking statements are subject to various risks, including but not limited to operational risk; political risk; currency risk; capital cost inflation risk; that data is incomplete or inaccurate. The reader is referred to the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators for disclosure regarding these and other risk factors, accessible through Vendetta Mining Corp's profile at www.sedar.com.
There is no certainty that any forward‐looking statement will come to pass and investors should not place undue reliance upon forward‐looking statements. The Company does not undertake to provide updates to any of the forward‐looking statements in this release, except as required by law.
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