The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Drilling will provide core for additional metallurgical testing North of 60 Mining News – April 10, 2020
A helicopter rests on a pad near the Cardiac Creek zinc-lead-silver deposit on ZincX Resources' Akie project in northern B.C.
Representatives from Tongling Non-Ferrous Metals of China during a 2018 visit to the Akie project.
ZincX Resources Corp. April 6 announced its largest shareholder, Tongling Non-Ferrous Metals of China, has agreed to participate in the funding of a 2020 drill program at Akie, a project toward the southern end of ZincX' 140-kilometer- (87 miles) long Kechika Trough zinc-lead property in northern British Columbia.
A 2018 preliminary economic assessment for the Cardiac Creek deposit on Akie envisions a 4,000-metric ton underground mine providing ore for a 3,000-metric-ton-per-day mill that is expected to produce 3.27 billion pounds of zinc and 362 million lb of lead over an initial 18-year mine life.
This is based on 22.7 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 8.32% (4.16 billion lb) zinc, 1.61% (804 million lb) lead and 14.1 grams per metric ton (10.3 million ounces) silver; and 7.5 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 7.04% (1.17 billion lb) zinc; 1.24% (205 million lb) lead and 12 g/t (2.9 million oz) silver.
The 2,000 meters of planned 2020 drilling at Akie will consist of three holes intended to provide new drill core for state-of-the-art metallurgical testing by Tongling, one of the largest smelting companies in China
These holes will target specific areas of the deposit that will provide mineralized sample material representative of the deposit across its strike and width. This material will be used to further investigate the metallurgical response of the mineralization with a focus on enhancing the recoveries for both zinc and lead into high-grade concentrates.
An extensive metallurgical program carried out by ZincX in 2017 demonstrated that flotation with a conventional reagent scheme produced clean, marketable concentrates that recovered 89% of the zinc in a concentrate grading 52.4%; and 46% of the lead in a concentrate grading 45%.
ZincX said no potential impurity or penalty elements were identified in the concentrates.
ZincX' technical team and advisors have worked with Tongling to design the 2020 work program and agreement for the upcoming season that will have Tongling conduct its own metallurgical and processing studies in China.
"Tongling is thoroughly familiar with the progress to-date on the Akie property, including the 2017 metallurgical test program and the robust and positive results from the 2018 PEA. Tongling last toured the Akie property in 2018 and to this day recognizes the inherent value of the company's significant prospective land package and the potential long-term district development opportunity," said ZincX Resources CEO Peeyush Varshney. "We are encouraged by the increased engagement with Tongling and look forward to working closely with them this upcoming season."
To fund this work, ZincX is in discussion and in general agreement with Tongling to convert the proceeds, which have already been advanced to the company, into shares at a price of C30 cents per share – a 400% premium to the ZincX share price on April 6. Tongling would thus be increasing its involvement and investment in the Vancouver, B.C.-based mineral exploration company by C$1.4 million.
Tongling had previously purchased ZincX shares through two large private placements and an exercise of warrants. As a result, Tongling owns a total of 48.64 million ZincX shares, representing a 28.55% equity position.
"We have had a long-standing and mutually beneficial relationship with Tongling and have greatly valued their investment in the company starting in mid-2009," said Varshney. "They have provided guidance and technical expertise over the years which have helped shape exploration at the Akie project. Today we announce an increased level of participation which is most welcome in these very challenging global market conditions."
Tongling has indicated a desire to send a technical delegation to visit the project site to inspect the drilling and give guidance to the sampling to create the metallurgical composites.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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