Queenston Announces Initial NI 43-101 Mineral Resource at Upper Canada
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 05/04/11 -- QUEENSTON MINING INC. (TSX: QMI)(FRANKFURT: QMI) ('Queenston' or the 'Company') is pleased to report an initial mineral resource estimate on the 100% owned Upper Canada property located in Gauthier township near Kirkland Lake, Ontario. The mineral resource estimate was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. of Brampton, Ontario and incorporates 206 surface diamond drill holes (66,364 m) completed from October 2009 to February 2011.
Indicated and Inferred mineral resources have been determined for both near surface mineralization to an average depth from surface of 125 m with an optimized pit shell that is considered amenable to open pit mining and mineralization below the pit shell that would be amenable to underground mining methods.
Highlights
-- Total Indicated Mineral Resources of 1,959,000 tonnes ('t') grading 2.17
grams per tonne ('g/t') gold ('Au') (137,000 ounces ('oz')). The
Uncapped grade is 2.38 g/t (150,000 oz)
-- Total Inferred Mineral Resources of 4,895,000 t grading 4.02 g/t Au
(633,000 oz)
The uncapped grade is 4.55 g/t Au (787,000 oz)
-- Strong Potential for both open pit and underground resource growth
The open pit mineral resource assumes a 0.44 g/t Au cut-off and represents 1,721,000 t grading 1.88 g/t Au (104,000 oz) in the indicated category and 1,273,000 t grading 1.86 g/t Au (76,000 oz) in the inferred category. The mineral resource amenable to underground mining assuming a 2.4 g/t Au cut-off are 238,000 t grading 4.25 g/t Au (33,000 oz) in the indicated category and 3,622,000 t grading 4.78 g/t Au (557,000 oz) in the inferred category. To comply with the CIM Definition Standards requirement 'reasonable prospects for economic extraction' P&E Mining Consultants Inc. prepared a preliminary Whittle pit shell to constrain the open pit Mineral Resources estimate using a gold price of $1,200. Only mineralization located within the pit shell has been reported as the open pit portion of the Mineral Resource.
Table 1: Upper Canada In-Pit and Underground Mineral Resource
(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)
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Capped Resource INDICATED INFERRED
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Au Au
Cut-Off (Au g/t) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz)
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Pit (0.44 g/t) 1,721,000 1.88 104,000 1,273,000 1.86 76,000
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UG Below Pit (2.4 g/t) 238,000 4.25 33,000 3,622,000 4.78 557,000
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TOTAL 1,959,000 2.17 137,000 4,895,000 4.02 633,000
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Un-Capped Resource
Sensitivity INDICATED INFERRED
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Au Au
Cut-Off (Au g/t) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz)
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Pit (0.44 g/t) 1,721,000 2.04 113,000 1,308,000 1.95 82,000
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UG Below Pit (2.4 g/t) 243,000 4.73 37,000 4,075,000 5.38 705,000
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TOTAL 1,964,000 2.38 150,000 5,383,000 4.55 787,000
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(1) Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have
demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may
be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title,
taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues.
(2) The quantity and grade of reported Inferred resources in this estimation
are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to
define these Inferred resources as an indicated or Measured mineral
resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in
upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured mineral resource category.
(3) The mineral resources in this press release were estimated using the
Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM
Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines
prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and
adopted by CIM Council.
(4) Grade capping of 8 g/t to 15 g/t was utilized on raw assays
(5) A bulk density of 2.68 t/m3 was used for all tonnage calculations.
(6) Open pit resources were reported within a Whittle optimized pit shell.
(7) A gold price of US$1,200/oz and an exchange rate of US$0.95US=C$1.00 was
utilized in the Au cut-off grade calculations of 0.44 g/t open pit and
2.4 g/t underground. Open pit mining costs were C$3.00/t for mineralized
material, C$2.75/t for waste rock and C$1.75/t for overburden while
underground mining costs were C$75/t. Process costs were C$12/t and G&A
was C$5/t. Process recovery used was 95%.
Charles Page, President and CEO of Queenston said, 'We have achieved a significant first resource in less than 18 months of drilling with the clear potential for more. The presence of both a shallow, open pit and an underground resource demonstrates the diverse potential of this large mineralized system. We are now undertaking a further aggressive drill campaign to follow up these positive results. Currently four rigs are operating on the property with a 65,000 metre program designed to test the western, northern and depth extensions of the primary gold system. Drilling will also begin to test other targets that have recently evolved from new interpretation of the historic data base. Upper Canada provides a key contribution towards the Company's goal of advancing the Kirkland East Project to feasibility and ultimately production.'
Table 2: Resource Estimate Sensitivity Analyses at Various Cut-Offs
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Capped INDICATED INFERRED
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Au Au
Cut-Off (Au g/t) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz)
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Pit (0.30 g/t) 2,883,000 1.56 145,000 2,175,000 1.69 118,000
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UG Below Pit (2.4 g/t) 146,000 4.25 20,000 3,474,000 4.81 537,000
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TOTAL 3,029,000 1.69 165,000 5,649,000 3.61 655,000
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Un-Capped INDICATED INFERRED
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Au Au
Cut-Off (Au g/t) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz)
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Pit (0.30 g/t) 2,883,000 1.69 157,000 2,225,000 1.73 124,000
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UG Below Pit (2.4 g/t) 148,000 4.49 21,000 3,908,000 5.41 679,000
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TOTAL 3,031,000 1.83 178,000 6,133,000 4.07 803,000
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'BASE CASE' Capped INDICATED INFERRED
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Au Au
Cut-Off (Au g/t) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz)
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Pit (0.44 g/t) 1,721,000 1.88 104,000 1,273,000 1.86 76,000
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UG Below Pit (2.4 g/t) 238,000 4.25 33,000 3,622,000 4.78 557,000
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TOTAL 1,959,000 2.17 137,000 4,895,000 4.02 633,000
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'BASE CASE' Un-Capped INDICATED INFERRED
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Au Au
Cut-Off (Au g/t) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz)
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Pit (0.44 g/t) 1,721,000 2.04 113,000 1,308,000 1.95 82,000
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UG Below Pit (2.4 g/t) 243,000 4.73 37,000 4,075,000 5.38 705,000
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TOTAL 1,964,000 2.38 150,000 5,383,000 4.55 787,000
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Capped INDICATED INFERRED
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Au Au
Cut-Off (Au g/t) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz)
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Pit (0.50 g/t) 1,134,000 2.16 79,000 768,000 2.08 51,000
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UG Below Pit (2.4 g/t) 311,000 4.14 41,000 3,704,000 4.78 570,000
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TOTAL 1,445,000 2.59 120,000 4,472,000 4.32 621,000
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Un-Capped INDICATED INFERRED
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Au Au
Cut-Off (Au g/t) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz) Tonnes (g/t) Au (oz)
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Pit (0.50 g/t) 1,135,000 2.38 87,000 794,000 2.12 54,000
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UG Below Pit (2.4 g/t) 318,000 4.59 47,000 4,167,000 5.38 721,000
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TOTAL 1,453,000 2.87 134,000 4,961,000 4.86 775,000
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Upper Canada was an important past gold producer in the Kirkland Lake camp from 1936 to 1972. During that period the mine produced 1.5 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 11 g/t from narrow, steeply dipping 2 m wide veins. The mine closed in 1972 due to the low gold price and there remained an historic measured and indicated resource, a portion of which now forms the new NI 43-101 Mineral Resource. The remaining historical Measured and Indicated resource at Upper Canada is 774,000 t grading 7.7 g/t Au. The historic mineral resources at Upper Canada were reviewed by Roscoe Postle and Associates in a report prepared for the Company in 1995 and should not be relied upon as the resource has not been verified by a Qualified Person.
Qualified Persons
The Independent Qualified Persons for the mineral resource estimate, Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., Antoine Yassa, P.Geo. and Tracy Armstrong, P.Geo of P&E Mining Consultants Inc., are Qualified Persons under NI 43-101. The NI 43-101 technical report on the mineral resource estimate will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of this news release.
Quality Control
Program design, management, Quality Assurance/Quality control and interpretation of results is under the control of Queenston's geological staff many of which are qualified persons as defined by NI 43-101. Overall supervision is by William McGuinty, P.Geo., Queenston's Vice President Exploration. The design of the Queenston's drilling programs, Quality Assurance/Quality Control and interpretation of results is under the control of Queenston's geological staff including qualified persons employing a QA/QC program consistent with NI 43-101 and industry best practices. The Upper Canada project is supervised by Queenston's Senior Geologist, Frank Ploeger, P.Geo. A detailed review of Queenston's QA/QC procedures is filed in the 2010 Annual Information Form on SEDAR. The drill core is logged and split with half-core samples shipped to Swastika Laboratories of Swastika, Ontario and analyzed employing the appropriate gold fire assaying technique. For QA/QC purposes the Company as well as the lab submits standards and blanks every 25 samples. Approximately 5% of sample rejects and/or pulps are sent to other laboratories for check assaying. This news release was reviewed by Queenston's Vice President Exploration and QP, William McGuinty, P.Geo.
About Queenston
Queenston is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company with a primary focus on its holdings in the historic Kirkland Lake gold camp that comprises 200 km2. The Company has recently entered into a strategic alliance with Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited with the objective of advancing its key, 100% owned gold projects (Upper Beaver, Upper Canada, McBean, Anoki and Bidgood) at the Kirkland East project towards feasibility and ultimately production. The Company has working capital of approximately $75 million, no debt and a fiscal 2011 exploration budget of $25 million.
Forward Looking Statements
Except for historical information this News Release may contain certain 'forward looking statements'. These statements may involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity and performance to be materially different from the Company's expectations and projections. A more detailed discussion of the risks is available in the 'Annual Information Form' filed by the Company on SEDAR at www.sedar.com
Contacts:
Queenston Mining Inc.
Charles E. Page, P. Geo.
President and CEO
(416) 364-0001 (ext. 224)
Queenston Mining Inc.
Hugh D. Harbinson
Chairman
(416) 364-0001 (ext. 225)
Info@queenston.ca
www.queenston.ca
Queenston Mining Inc.
Andreas Curkovic
Investor Relations
(416) 577-9927