08:28:55 EDT Tue 23 Apr 2024
Enter Symbol
or Name
USA
CA



Minfocus Exploration Corp
Symbol MFX
Shares Issued 42,920,592
Close 2015-01-19 C$ 0.01
Market Cap C$ 429,206
Recent Sedar Documents

Minfocus Exploration options B.C. Zn property

2015-01-26 08:04 ET - News Release

Mr. Gerald Harper reports

MINFOCUS OPTIONS CORAL ZINC PROJECT IN BRITISH COLUMBIA CONTAINING A LARGE UNTESTED ZINC GEOCHEMICAL ANOMALY WITH NEARBY HISTORIC DRILLING AND TRENCHING RESULTS

Minfocus Exploration Corp. has signed an option agreement with a group of four individuals to earn up to a minimum 60-per-cent interest in the Coral zinc project in east-central British Columbia over five years by spending a minimum of $2.0-million on exploration work and making payments to the vendors totalling $160,000, in cash and/or shares, in years three to five. Two of the vendors are insiders of Minfocus. The option agreement is still subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Coral zinc prospect was discovered in the early 1970s, when there was intense exploration in the area of the central Rocky Mountains, north of MacKenzie, B.C., which resulted in the discovery of the Robb Lake zinc deposit. The Robb Lake deposit has strong similarities to the Pine Point zinc deposits in the Northwest Territories mined between 1964 and 1988. The Pine Point and Robb Lake zinc deposits are both examples of zinc deposits known as Mississippi Valley type (MVT), which are hosted by dolostone sediments and occur in clusters following along a bedding horizon.

The Coral zinc project is believed to share the same favourable MVT sediment-hosted geology. The Coral zinc prospect was initially discovered by prospecting above treeline but no extensive searching was undertaken down below the treeline. Then in the 1980s, later prospecting, mapping and geochemical surveys down below the treeline revealed a highly elevated soil geochemical anomaly for zinc, silver and lead covering a large area (300 metres by 600 m) on a hillside above a creek in which two outcrops of carbonate-hosted zinc mineralisation are exposed.

The 1980s exploration work, which was conducted by two of the vendors, includes the following results:

  • A large soil geochemical anomaly containing highly elevated zinc analyses of 2,000 to 6,680 parts per million Zn against a baseline average of about 120 ppm Zn contained within a grid of 600 metres by 800 metres. Within the zinc anomalous area there are contiguous elevated lead and silver values;
  • A hand trench was excavated for nine metres extending the showing either side of the creek and revealed gossan with zinc assaying from 0.4 per cent Zn to 2.1 per cent Zn in one and two m long samples;
  • Six short packsack-type drill holes were drilled close to the creek and four of which intersected significant zinc values immediately below the overburden as shown in the table.

These four mineralized holes and the mineralization exposed in the trench are 50 to 100 metres from the edge of the zinc soil anomaly. The zinc anomaly is open ended in at least two directions and has an aerial extent of 600 by 300 metres across an area of hillside with no exposure. Prospecting southwest of the soil anomaly across the hillside did locate one outcrop of mineralized dolostone breccia, 600 metres beyond the sampled limit of the soil anomaly, from which two grab samples gave 2.36 per cent Zn and 2.29 per cent Zn.

Logging roads access areas within 15 kilometres of the Coral zinc prospect anomaly area and a high-voltage power line is planned to pass within 25 kilometres to access an advanced mining development.

                                                                         
                      CORAL ZINC PROJECT HISTORIC DRILLING RESULTS (1988)
   
Hole                         C-88-2            C-88-3            C-88-4             C-88-6        
                                                                            
                                                       
% Zn in intervals  3.12 m to 4.12 m  4.25 m to 5.25 m  4.10 m to 5.10 m   8.40 m to 9.40 m
                            @ 2.54%           @ 7.67%           @ 0.87%            @ 1.28%       
                                     5.25 m to 6.25 m  5.10 m to 6.10 m  9.40 m to 10.40 m        
                                                                                   @ 0.54%       
                                     6.25 m to 7.25 m  6.10 m to 8.10 m               
                                              @ 1.61%           @ 3.04%                       
                                                       8.10 m to 9.10 m               
                                                                @ 3.63%                      
% Zn in overall     
interval              1.0 m @ 2.54%     3.0 m @ 3.44%     5.0 m @ 2.97%      2.0 m @ 0.91%

Under the terms of the option agreement, by Sept. 30, 2015, the anniversary date, Minfocus must spend a minimum of $50,000 on exploration and maintain the property in good standing. Thereafter it must spend cumulative $150,000 on exploration in year two. In year three, Minfocus must have spent a cumulative $450,000 on exploration work, plus pay the vendors $20,000 in cash or shares of Minfocus, for which it will have earned a 20-per-cent interest in the property. In year four, Minfocus must have spent a cumulative $1-million on exploration work, plus pay the vendors a further $40,000 in cash or shares of Minfocus, for which it will have earned a further 20-per-cent interest in the property to reach a 40-per-cent interest. In year five, Minfocus must have spent a cumulative $2-million on exploration work, plus pay the vendors a further $100,000 in cash or shares of Minfocus, for which it will have earned a further 20-per-cent interest in the property and increased its interest to a a majority 60-per-cent interest, and a joint venture shall be formed. After Minfocus has earned its majority interest of 60 per cent, if the vendors do not contribute to any work program thereafter, then Minfocus may earn another 10-per-cent interest if it incurs another $1-million on exploration over the next two years to increase its total interest to 70 per cent in the Coral zinc project.

Also, upon the formation of the joint venture, the vendors will be granted a 3-per-cent net-smelter-returns royalty, of which up to 2 per cent may be bought down by Minfocus for $4-million if the vendors have maintained their interest above 10 per cent. If the vendors' joint venture interest is diluted to a 10-per-cent level, Minfocus may buy down 2 per cent of the NSR royalty for the reduced amount of $2-million, plus Minfocus will have the right to buy out the remaining minority interest in the property for $100,000 in cash or shares in Minfocus.

The Pine Point and Robb Lake zinc deposits are both examples of zinc deposits known as Mississippi Valley type, which are hosted by dolostone sediments and occur in clusters following along a bedding horizon. At Pine Point, Cominco started mining in 1964 with an initial reserve (historic figures) of 21.5 million tonnes grading 7.2 per cent Zn and 4.0 per cent lead. By the time it finished mining in 1988, it had mined 48 deposits with an aggregate 64 million tonnes grading 7.0 per cent Zn and 3.1 per cent Pb. For the initial production Cominco mined ore with grades above 20 per cent combined lead and zinc, which was shipped directly to its smelter at Trail, B.C. Pine Point, Robb Lake and Coral are all connected by a geological feature known as the Presqu'ile barrier, which separates shallow-water and deeper-water sedimentary environments, and it is that interface which provides the depositional environment for these types of deposits.

More information will be available on the company's website.

We seek Safe Harbor.

© 2024 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.