The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
AXI: TSX-Venture
President and CEO: John Gingerich, P. Geo
VP Engineering and Technology: Florin Gheorghiu, Ph.D.
Vice President, Exploration: Steve Roebuck
Advanced Explorations Inc. is aggressively exploring its Roche Bay and Tuktu iron ore projects in Nunavut, along with promising West Melville Peninsula nickel and copper showings and an iron sands project on the northwest coast of the Alaska Peninsula about 700 kilometers (434 miles) southwest of Anchorage, Alaska.
Advanced Explorations plans to produce iron products initially from the C Zone, one of four zones on the 3,730-hectare (9,213 acres) Roche Bay property, which is located in one of the world's largest developing iron ore districts in eastern Nunavut.
The C zone has an indicated resource of 323 million metric tons averaging 26.7 percent total iron (25.8 percent magnetic iron) and an inferred resource of 226 million metric tons averaging 25.8 percent total iron (23.8 percent magnetic iron), both at a 20 percent iron cut-off grade, representing only a small portion of the potential 140 kilometers (87 miles) of banded iron formation.
About 60 percent of the project's original inferred resource was re-classified as "indicated" in April 2011.
The company's primary objective in 2011 was to complete an open pit mine feasibility study on Roche Bay encompassing a base case of initially a minimum 3-million-metric-ton-per-year iron concentrate production.
Exploration plans included up to 7,500 meters of infill drilling and additional drilling along strike aimed at increasing the project's NI 43-101-compliant resource estimate to exceed 750 million metric tons.
A drill program began in the third quarter of 2011.
The junior also continued exploration of its Tuktu Project, which encompasses 11 claims covering about 22,000 hectares (54,340 acres) of previously unexplored land some 60 kilometers, or 37 miles to the north of Roche Bay.
During the six months that ended June 30, 2011, Advanced Explorations spent more than C$1.9 million on exploration and development activities, including geotechnical and environmental baseline studies, at Roche Bay; C$3.1 million on exploration at Tuktu and C$159, 235 on exploration in Alaska.
Additional expenditures were planned in the latter half of the 2011 calendar year.
Work at Tuktu, beginning in April 2011, included up to 3,000 meters in a phase 1 drill campaign designed to reveal a potential iron ore resource comparable to Roche Bay.
Preliminary assay results from the Tuktu Project returned very long intersections of 32-33 percent iron, with some results showing a high-grade lens that grades greater than 50 percent iron.
The proximity of Tuktu to Roche Bay and the deposit's exceptional iron results enhance the prospect of the project being a satellite operation leveraged from the proposed Roche Bay infrastructure.
Advanced Explorations expects to initiate a NI 43-101-compliant resource study for the Tuktu project once all detailed mapping has been completed and all drill assay results have been received.
By June 30, Advanced Explorations had won approval from its shareholders and the Toronto Stock Exchange to proceed with a strategic joint venture with Chinese state-owned mining and manufacturing conglomerate, XinXing Pipes Group Co. Ltd., in which XXP has acquired 15.5 percent of the junior's issued and outstanding stock for gross proceeds of C$5.3 million.
The agreement also included a seat for XXP on Advanced Explorations' board of directors.
A preliminary economic assessment for the C zone at Roche Bay indicates a potential US $1.1 billion net present value with a 24 percent internal rate of return and the potential for rapid advancement into development of either iron concentrate or high value iron nugget products.
Roche Bay also hosts additional resources in zones A, B and D that could support a 50-year mine life.
Advanced Explorations also intensified its efforts in 2011 to secure lands relevant to mineral showings on the West Melville Peninsula with additional staking and prospecting in an underexplored 3-billion-year-old greenstone belt.
The junior targeted prospective formations believed to be similar to the nearby Adamson River nickel showing as described by the Geological Survey of Canada (Open File 6729 with assayed grades up to 8 percent nickel).
In addition, the company reported undertaking an airborne magnetic survey of its Alaska iron sands project aimed at better defining the size, shape and distribution of magnetite-bearing sands in a placer deposit both onshore and in the offshore area.
A composite sands sample taken during an initial site visit returned a result of 8.23 percent Fe2O3, which compares favorably to other iron sands projects.
John Gingerich, president and CEO of Advanced Explorations, said the airborne survey was a rapid and cost-effective way to map the distribution and thickness of the magnetite-bearing sands, data that will be used to guide follow-up exploration as the junior further defines the attributes of the deposit.
"We believe the project's ocean location and proximity to China provide significant economic development advantages," Gingerich said Aug. 10.
Under an option agreement with Alaska-based 7th Sea Holding Company LLC, Advanced Explorations is required to undertake work commitments of US$2.0 million and cash and/or stock payments of US$ 1.6 million over a 15-month period.
The claims are subject to a 3 percent net smelter returns royalty with an option for the company to buy back up to 1.75 percent of the royalty.
However, the explorer has delayed work in Alaska to focus on the feasibility study for Roche Bay and its increased West Melville activities.
Advanced Explorations said it anticipates initiating a work program with a more systematic sampling and auger drill program to better characterize (tonnage and grade potential) of the resource at the Alaska project early in the fourth quarter.
Cash and short-term deposits: C$8.3 million (at June 30, 2011)
Working capital: C$7.2 million (at June 30, 2011)
Market capitalization: C$59.6 million (at Aug. 26, 2011)
Advanced Explorations Inc.
50 Richmond St. East, Suite 300, Toronto, ON Canada M5C 1N7
Tel: 416-203-0057 Fax: 416-203-0059 or 416-860-9900
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