Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 19, 2021) - Battery Mineral Resources Corp. (TSXV: BMR) ("Battery" or "BMR" or the "Company") completed the design and commenced a diamond drill exploration program at the historic cobalt-silver producing Mapes-Johnston ("Mapes") target on its 100% owned Elk Lake property. Drilling commenced mid-May and is expected to conclude in early June.
Highlights
The Mapes target, on the Company's Elk Lake property, is a highly prospective exploration target because of historic production of cobalt and silver and recent successful surface sampling (Figures 1 and 3). A total of up to 11 diamond core exploration holes aggregating 1,550 meters are proposed. The purpose of the holes is to test possible extensions of the cobalt-silver mineralization at depth and along strike within and beyond the historic underground workings (Figure 2). An initial tier of 6 holes directly below the surface workings is designed to identify the mineralized structure(s) and would be followed by deeper cuts of the zone and test for possible extensions along strike.
Battery CEO Martin Kostuik states; "Continuing the progression of our 2020 exploration program throughout our extensive land claims package within the Ontario Cobalt Embayment, we are encouraged by the successful 2020 rock sampling results at Mapes and are looking forward to furthering this success with this initial drill test of the highly prospective Mapes target. The Cobalt Embayment hosts over 70 cobalt-silver deposits that collectively produced 525 million ounces of silver and 50 million pounds of cobalt from high grade cobalt-silver-nickel veins in the Cobalt, Gowganda and Elk Lake Mining Camps."
Background
The Elk Lake property is situated in Barber, Farr, James, Mickle, Smyth, Truax, Tudhope and Willet townships in Northeastern Ontario, approximately 135 kilometres ("km") north-northeast of Sudbury and 55 km northwest of Temiskaming Shores. The 1,221 claims of the Elk Lake property are centred on the town of Elk Lake covering 20,902 hectares (209 square kilometres) in a contiguous block.
Mining in the Elk Lake area started in 1906 following the discovery of native silver which gave rise to Elk Lake as a mining camp. Mining peaked between 1907 - 1913 at which time there were about thirty active mines in the area. Total reported production from the Elk Lake camp amounts to about 110,000 ounces ("oz") of silver and 3,155 pound ("lbs") of cobalt including 1,000 oz silver and 870 lbs of cobalt from the Mapes property.
The Mapes property consists of extensive surface workings and large muck piles that contained abundant cobalt bearing mineralized vein material with cobalt bloom (Photo 1). Mine records indicate the shaft extends to a depth of 84 meters ("m") with 320m of underground level development. A total of 70m of raises and minor stoping were also developed.
In 2020, Battery's geological work included prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling on the Elk Lake property. Additional focus was on ground- truthing and investigating Mapes historic workings and mineral occurrences. The objective was to assess potential for significant cobalt-silver mineralization and to plan a follow-up diamond drilling exploration program. Strongly mineralized calcite-quartz veins from the Mapes mine production area returned high grade cobalt values of 5.1 percent ("%"), 2.4% and 1.9% cobalt with accompanying high to anomalous silver assays of 31 grams per tonne ("g/t"), 97 g/t, and 631 g/t silver.
The Elk Lake block geology is dominated by Nipissing diabase sills and dykes (Figure 3). The sills are intruded into Proterozoic Huronian Cobalt Group metasedimentary rocks and near the Archean unconformity, here represented by granitic rocks. Mineralized veins generally occur in the stratigraphically lower part of the diabase, but also occur in the Huronian metasedimentary rocks or at the contact with the Archean basement rocks. The area is best known for high grade silver ("Ag"), with accessory cobalt ("Co") and nickel arsenides ("Ni-As"). Mineralized silver-cobalt veins are strongly focused within well-developed structures. Narrow high-grade Cu-Fe-Ag-Co-(+/-Au) rich calcite-quartz veins and Co-Ni-As rich calcitic veins occur parallel to dominant faulting, fracturing or jointing.
Photo 1: Top-Track on muck pile; Bottom-Calcite veining; Right- Open cut/shaft
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Figure 1: General location plan of Elk Lake project area
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Figure 2: Plan view of proposed drill holes with LiDAR topography with historic surface workings
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Figure 3: Elk Lake property geology map
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Quality Control
Sample preparation, analysis and security procedures applied on the BMR exploration projects is aligned with industry best practice. BMR has implemented protocols and procedures to ensure high quality collection and management of samples resulting in reliable exploration assay data. BMR has implemented formal analytical quality control monitoring for all sampling and drilling programs by inserting blanks and certified reference materials into every sample sequence dispatched.
Sample preparation is performed by ALS Minerals Laboratories (ALS) in Sudbury, Ontario and sample analyses by ALS in North Vancouver, British Columbia. ALS analytical facilities are commercial laboratories and are independent from BMR. All BMR samples are collected and packaged by BMR staff and delivered upon receipt at the ALS Laboratory in Sudbury. Samples are logged in a sophisticated laboratory information management system (LIMS) for sample tracking, scheduling, quality control, and electronic reporting. Samples are dried prior to crushing. The samples are crushed to 70% < -2 millimeters and a riffle split of 250 grams is then pulverized to 85% of the material achieving a size of <75 microns. These prepared samples are then shipped to the ALS Laboratory in North Vancouver for analyses by the following methods:
- ME-MS61: A high precision, multi-acid digest including Hydrofluoric, Nitric, Perchloric and Hydrochloric acids. Analysed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ("ICP") that produces results for 48 elements.
- ME-OG62: Aqua-Regia digest: Analysed by ICP-AES (Atomic Emission Spectrometry) or sometimes called optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) for high levels of Co, Cu, Ni and Ag.
- Ag-GRA21: Silver by fire assay and gravimetric finish; 30-gram charge. Weight. Used when samples contain > 1500 g/t silver.
- Au-AA25: Gold was analysed by a 30-gram fire assay method, followed by AAS (atomic absorption spectroscopy).
Certified international standards are inserted into sample batches by ALS. Blanks and duplicates are inserted within each analytical run. The blank is inserted at the beginning, internationally certified standards are inserted at random intervals, and duplicates are analysed at the end of the batch.
Qualified Persons
P. J. Doyle, FAusIMM (#208850), Battery Mineral Resources Corp. - Vice President Exploration - Canada, supervised the preparation of and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release pertaining to the Canada Exploration Program. Information about data verification procedures used to support scientific and technical information on the Company's Canadian properties presented herein, as well as with respect to the results of, processing and interpretation of exploration data.
About Battery Mineral Resources Corp.
Battery is a multi-commodity resource company. Battery is engaged in the discovery, acquisition, and development of battery metals (cobalt, lithium, graphite, nickel & copper), in North America and South Korea. Battery is the largest mineral claim holder in the historic Gowganda Cobalt-Silver Camp, Canada, with various high-grade primary cobalt silver-nickel-copper targets located in the Cobalt Belt of Ontario and Quebec. In addition, Battery owns approximately 89% of ESI Energy Services, Inc., a pipeline equipment rental and sales company with operations in Leduc, Alberta and Phoenix, Arizona. Finally, Battery is currently finalizing a concurrent financing and acquisition to acquire the Punitaqui Mining Complex, a recently producing copper-gold mine located in the Coquimbo region of Chile.
For further information, please contact:
Battery Mineral Resources Corp.
Martin Kostuik
Phone: +1 (604) 229 3830
Email: info@bmrcorp.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, which may relate to the Company's future outlook and anticipated events or results. In some cases, but not necessarily all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, predictions, indications, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events.
Forward-looking statements in this presentation may include statements regarding management's beliefs, expectations or intentions regarding the size, completion, expenses and timing of the closing of the Offering, industry trends, market growth rates and the Company's future growth rates, plans and strategies, projections of commodity prices and costs, the future financial or operating performance and condition of the Company, including its business, operations and properties, planned exploration and development activities and the costs and timing thereof, the intended use of the net proceeds of the Offering, trends in the global cobalt, lithium and graphite markets, the adequacy of the Company's financial resources, timing, receipt and maintenance of approvals, consents and permits under applicable legislation. The foregoing list should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the information in the prospectus under the heading "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information".
These statements and other forward-looking information are based on opinions, assumptions and estimates made by the Company in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that the Company believes are appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances as of the date of this presentation, including, without limitation, assumptions about the ability to raise additional capital; future prices of cobalt, lithium and graphite; the Company's competitive advantages; current market dynamics; the timing and results of exploration and drilling programs; and the availability and amenability of metallurgical and processing technologies for processing extracted minerals;. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. If any of the assumptions or estimates made by management prove to be incorrect, actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Accordingly, prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. The foregoing list of assumptions should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the information in the prospectus under the heading "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information".
While such opinions, assumptions and estimates are considered reasonable by the Company as of the date such statements are made, they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to future requirements for additional capital, a limited operating history, the demand for and prices of lithium, cobalt and graphite, property title risk, exploration risk, mineral processing risk, uncertainty in relation to Inferred Mineral Resources, a negative cash flow; governmental regulation of the mineral exploration and development industry; the loss of an investor's entire investment; an arbitrary offering price; volatility in the price of the ordinary shares; the potential for additional dilution; absence of a market for the ordinary shares and future sales of ordinary shares by directors and officers of the Company. These factors and assumptions are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors and assumptions that could affect the Company. Refer to "Risk Factors" in the prospectus.
The forward-looking statements included in this presentation are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and are made as at the date of the prospectus. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.
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