Curionopolis Iron Project
The Curionópolis Iron Project comprises a 1,365-hectare license area, covering banded-massive iron formations within the Company’s Curionópolis IOCG Project. This property has been ceded to Vertical, a special-purpose company owned by a group of Brazilian pig iron producers, under an option agreement whereby Vertical must pay approximately US$0.8 million in cash (US$200,000 paid to date) to Lara and production royalties of US$1.50/ton on sales of granular iron ore produced and US$0.75/ton on sales of fine-grained iron ore from the Project.
Vertical’s 2011 program has included exploration pits, shallow drilling and trenching, to assess near-surface iron mineralization. Vertical has also begun a more extensive evaluation of the iron mineralization throughout the property, with a view to submitting a resource statement to the Brazilian Department of Mines and applying for a Mining License. A 6,000-metre diamond drill program has been started on the Escondido target and will continue with testing of the Maravaia and Norte target areas on a roughly 100 by 100-metre grid.
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Vertical has defined granular iron mineralization on four target areas: Escondida, Maravaia, Serra do Meio and ITM, excavating 197 pits, each of which has been channel sampled, with the 35-40 kilogram samples generated for granulometric and geochemical analysis. 36 shallow diamond core holes have been drilled at Serra Morena and Escondida, and 515 metres of trenches at Serra Morena, giving a roughly 50 metre by 50 metre grid coverage of the areas of interest for shallow granular mineralization. This work has outlined sufficient granular iron mineralization to justify the start of operations and work is currently underway on permitting for pilot mining and construction of the processing plant.
During 2010 Vertical 17 diamond drillholes have been completed, testing an approximately one kilometre section of the on the Serra Morena Target, with most holes reporting significant iron mineralization from x-ray fluorescence analysis with drillhole intervals ranging from 53.81 to 168.4 metres in length returning average iron grades of between 36.41% and 65.51% Fe. The best intercept is 166.5 metres at an average grade of 62.62% iron with low impurities (silica, aluminum and phosphorous).
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Results of all the drillholes are summarized in Table 1 below:
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Table 1. - Drill Intercepts - Serra Morena |
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|
Drillhole |
From (m) |
To (m) |
Interval (m) |
Grade Fe (%) |
|
FD-0001 |
0.00 |
10.00 |
10.00 |
58.95 |
|
|
29.00 |
59.00 |
30.00 |
48.63 |
|
FD-0002 |
0.00 |
39.00 |
39.00 |
62.16 |
|
FD-0003 |
0.00 |
86.70 |
86.70 |
61.63 |
|
FD-0004 |
0.00 |
37.13 |
37.13 |
60.08 |
|
FD-0005 |
0.00 |
16.50 |
16.50 |
55.44 |
|
FD-0006 |
Hole abandoned due to drilling problems |
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|
FD-0007 |
0.00 |
6.66 |
6.66 |
51.76 |
|
FD-0008 |
0.00 |
25.00 |
25.00 |
58.97 |
|
FD-0009 |
0.00 |
131.70 |
131.70 |
65.51 |
|
FD-0010 |
0.00 |
123.00 |
123.00 |
63.83 |
|
FD-0011 |
0.00 |
166.50 |
166.50 |
62.62 |
|
FD-0012 |
0.00 |
168.40 |
168.40 |
46.17 |
|
FD-0013 |
0.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
36.41 |
|
FD-0014 |
0.00 |
90.00 |
90.00 |
53.18 |
|
FD-0015 |
0.00 |
136.35 |
136.35 |
37.60 |
|
FD-0016 |
0.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
63.50 |
|
FD-0017 |
0.00 |
70.00 |
70.00 |
45.38 |
|
FD-0018 |
0.00 |
53.81 |
53.81 |
61.55 |
These drillholes were angled at between 60 and 90 (vertical) degrees, testing a 50 to 300 metre wide zone of partially exposed, steeply dipping and strongly folded iron formations that comprise a mixed sequence of massive high-grade hematite and lower-grade siliceous iron formations (“itabirites”).
Mapping and surface sampling on the property indicates that the iron formations extend for over 10 kilometres within the property and work is underway to both extend the Serra Morena Target and to test other sections of the trend where reconnaissance mapping and surface chip sampling has identified exposures of massive hematite.
