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MARCH 1—14, 2021 / THE NORTHERN MINER
SPECIAL FOCUS BASE & BATTERY METALS
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BASE & BATTERY METALS SNAPSHOT From 49
rate, stands at US$616 million, with a 22% internal rate of return and a four-year payback period. A 2019 resource update estimated measured and indicated resources of 11 million tonnes grading 7.8% carbon graphite, containing 850,534 graphite tonnes and inferred resources of 91.9 million tonnes at 8% carbon graphite, for a further 7.3 million tonnes of graphite. In May 2020, Graphite One announced that preliminary testwork completed by an independent laboratory on Graphite Creek material suggests potential to produce additional graphite products, such as high-purity coatings, industrial synthetic diamonds and fire suppressant foams. The testing also indicates the presence of critical minerals (from the U.S. Critical Minerals List) within the non-graphite fraction. Graphite One has a $54.4 million market capitalization. n MANGANESE X ENERGY Manganese X Energy’s (TSXV: MN; US-OTC: MNXXF) key asset is the 12.3-sq.-km Battery Hill project in southwestern New Brunswick, 5 km from the town of Woodstock. According to CEO Martin Kepman, Manganese X is the only company in North America working on the commercialization of a manganese deposit. The property is within 12 km of the U.S. border and nearby power transmission lines and railway and road infrastructure that could provide transport to ocean shipping lanes. The project includes five manganese zones: Iron Ore Hill, Moody Hill, Sharpe Farm, Maple Hill and Wakefield. The site features a historic resource of 39 million tonnes grading 9% manganese. Three of the five known manganese occurrences include historic resources — Moody Hill, the company’s initial development target, hosts a historic estimate of approximately 9.1 million tonnes at 9.5% manganese. In February, Manganese X released assay results from the 28hole fall 2020 diamond drill program at Battery Hill, reporting the discovery of a new area of surface mineralization in the Maple Hill area, 4.4 km north of Moody Hill. The average assay results from five grab samples collected came in at 20.8% manganese oxide. Drilling at Moody Hill, completed on a 50-metre spacing, confirmed mineralization from surface, down to a maximum depth of 150 metres, over 500 metres of strike. Highlights included 50.4 metres of 11.62% manganese oxide and 54 metres of 11.85% manganese oxide. With a total of 53 holes, or 9,697 metres, completed by Manganese X at Battery Hill over approximately 2 km of strike, the company is working to deliver a resource estimate late in the first quarter. Once the resource is updated, Manganese X plans to start a preliminary economic assessment of the project. Test work is underway to develop a flow sheet to generate battery-grade manganese products. In the first phase of work, thirdparty research company Kemetco Research produced a high-purity manganese sulphate product, with up to 99.95% purity. According to Manganese X, this demonstrates the suitability of the Battery Hill mineralization for battery manufacturing applications. Second-phase metallurgical test results from mid-January suggest overall manganese recoveries of
Top: Two drills at Manganese X Energy’s Battery Hill manganese property in New Brunswick. PERRY MACKINNON Left: Rock samples from Manganese X Energy’s Battery Hill manganese property in New Brunswick. MANGANESE X ENERGY Below: First Cobalt’s cobalt refinery in northern Ontario. FIRST COBALT
85%, with the possibility of eliminating a ‘major step’ in the purification process. Manganese X also holds 100% of The Disruptive Battery Corp., a company created to advance the use of manganese in stored energy technologies and looking at opportunities in the air purification sector. Manganese X Energy has a $93 million market capitalization. n QC COPPER & GOLD QC Copper & Gold (TSXV: QCCU; US-OTC: QCCUF) is completing a 20,000-metre drill program at its past-producing 127.8-sq.-km Opemiska project in Quebec’s Chibougamau region. The site hosts four historic underground mines that together generated over 1.1 billion lb. of copper and 750,000 oz. of gold. Between 1953 and 1991, mined grades were at approximately 2.4% copper and 0.3 gram gold per tonne. QC’s vision for the property is of an open-pit, bulk tonnage operation, mining both the high-grade veins targeted by past operators, as well as lower-grade disseminated copper mineralization outside these veins that was previously overlooked. In 2019, the company completed a 23-hole, 3,300-metre drill program at Opemiska, focused around the historic Springer mine. Results confirmed QC’s hypothesis of near-surface disseminated mineralization, returning 12 mineralized intersections of approximately 100 metres. Drill highlights included 7.9 metres of 4.65% copper-equivalent from 81.1 metres; 25 metres of 4.15% copperequivalent starting at 38 metres; and 284.4 metres of 0.3% copperequivalent from 27.6 metres. In its current drill program, QC is focusing on defining a near-surface, in-pit resource around the Springer and Perry mines, while also targeting additional underground mineralization at Perry. A resource estimate for these two areas is expected in the first half of 2021. These grounds were added to the company’s portfolio in the fourth quarter of 2019. A total of 12,810 metres, in 62
Inside the processing facilities at First Cobalt’s refinery in northern Ontario.
holes, is scheduled for Springer. These holes, with an average length of just over 200 metres, are planned on a 50-metre to 75metre spacing and will target highgrade veins, disseminated zones and crown pillar mineralization. The past-producing Cooke mine is another potential satellite deposit at Opemiska. Unlike the three historic copper mines, Cooke is a high-grade gold project with copper by-products and previously generated approximately 320,000 oz. from material grading 5.17 grams gold per tonne. Opemiska covers a 12-km section of the Gwillim fault and also includes volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralization. The company also has a 36% stake in Athabasca-focused uranium explorer Baselode Energy (TSXV: FIND; US-OTC: BSENF). QC is part of the Ore Group.
FIRST COBALT
QC Copper & Gold has a $28.1 million market capitalization. n ROKMASTER RESOURCES Rokmaster Resources (TSXV: RKR; US-OTC: RKMSF) is a B.C.focused explorer and developer, where it holds the Revel Ridge polymetallic deposit, the Big Copper copper-silver occurrence and the Duncan Lake zinc property. The 142.8-sq.-km Revel Ridge project in southeastern B.C., 35 km north of Revelstoke, is the company’s most advanced project. A December 2020 preliminary economic assessment outlined a 12-year, 2,300-tonne-per-day underground mine, producing a payable average of 89,000 gold oz., 690,000 silver oz., 37.5 million lb. of zinc and 21.2 million lb. of lead annually (124,000 gold-equivalent ounces). Net of by-products, all-in sustaining costs are estimated at
US$560 per oz. of payable gold. Using a base-case gold price of US$1,561 per oz., the after-tax net present value estimate comes in at $423 million, based on a 5% discount rate, with a 29.5% internal rate of return and 2.6-year payback. The proposed mine would extract the Main and Yellowjacket zones, with the mined material processed at a mill with a pressure oxidation plant to produce goldsilver dore and saleable zinc and lead concentrates. Revel Ridge includes over three km of underground development as well as a permitted waste rock storage area and a full camp. Existing resources at the site include 5.3 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 4.52 grams gold per tonne, 54.9 grams silver per tonne, 2.01% lead and 4.51% zinc (7.57 grams gold-equivalent). Inferred resources add 5 million tonnes at 4.28 grams gold per tonne, 59.4 grams silver per tonne, 1.8% lead and 2.49% zinc (6.36 grams gold-equivalent). Based on a 2019 option agreement with privately held Huakan International Mining, Rokmaster may earn a 100% stake in Revel Ridge by making cash payments totalling $44.2 million over a fiveyear period. Diamond drill results from Revel Ridge, released in mid-February, suggest ‘remarkable’ continuity of mineralization in the parallel Main and Footwall zones and ‘significant’ sliver grades in the Yellowjacket zone. Highlights included 3.3 metres of 7.23 grams gold-equivalent; 4 metres of 11.02 grams goldequivalent; and 2.9 metres of 580 grams silver-equivalent. A revised resource is expected in the coming months and an 8,000metre underground drill program is ongoing at Revel Ridge. Big Copper in the Creston area of southern B.C. includes a copper-silver occurrence, with mineralization traced over three km of strike. The 39.4-sq.-km Duncan Lake property, also in southern B.C., is drill-ready and features a 15-km length of a prospective anticline crest. Prior surface and underground drilling has traced leadzinc mineralization over approximately 2,500 metres of strike. Rokmaster Resources has a $45.1 million market capitalization. TNM