TORONTO, June 20, 2013 /CNW/ - Search Minerals Inc. ("Search" or the "Company") (TSXV: SMY) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Alterra Resources Inc. ("Alterra"), are pleased to announce the discovery of three new prospects in the Port Hope Simpson Rare Earth Element ("REE") District in SE Labrador, with mineralization similar to that at the Company's Foxtrot Project ("Foxtrot") (the Company's revised Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for the Foxtrot Project has been filed on SEDAR and is available at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website). The new Prospects, Fleet Fox, Fox Run and Silver Fox, along with the two previously announced Foxtrot-like Prospects, Fox Pond and Foxy Lady, all occur within 10 km of the Foxtrot REE Deposit.
Search is targeting these five Prospects, as well as additional targets with similar geophysical signatures and geology, as exploration targets for the 2013 field season.
Stephen Keith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Search, stated, "Search is the only junior exploration company to identify and control an entire REE District. Our District, located close to a road network and the port and airport facilities at St. Lewis, has the potential for multiple REE deposits. The new Prospects that we have identified, combined with our flagship Foxtrot Project, illustrate the long-term growth value of Search. Foxtrot anchors the District with a positive and robust PEA, with a focus on critical elements such as dysprosium, while our exceptional team continues to add new prospects that could deliver significant value."
HIGHLIGHTS
THREE NEW FOXTROT-LIKE PROSPECTS
Exploration in the Fox Harbour Volcanic Belt for Foxtrot-like mineralization has been ongoing since 2010. Channel sample results are presented from three new Foxtrot-like prospects: Fleet Fox, Fox Run and Silver Fox. These prospects exhibit REE mineralization consisting of allanite, zircon and fergusonite, associated with felsic volcanic rocks in a mafic-felsic bi-modal volcanic belt.
Fleet Fox and Fox Run channels give REE analyses similar to the REE resource at Foxtrot (Table 1).
Silver Fox mineralization exhibits higher LREE (up to 9593 ppm total LREE; compare to Table 1), lower HREE (up to 525 ppm total HREE) and much higher Zr (up to 30,381 ppm Zr) than Foxtrot. Lower values of the more valuable HREE (e.g., Dy from 100-125 ppm and Tb from 20-25 ppm), compared to Foxtrot, indicate that Silver Fox is a lower-priority HREE target.
DISTRICT-WIDE OCCURRENCE OF FOXTROT-LIKE REE MINERALIZATION
There are now four prospects (Fox Pond, Foxy Lady, Fleet Fox and Fox Run) that exhibit Foxtrot-like grades (Table 1) over minimum true thicknesses of 3-5m. The Foxtrot High Grade Core ("HGC") resource occurs over a strike length of 500m and a true thickness of 3-25m. Strike lengths at the four Foxtrot-like Prospects range up to 800m. Fox Pond and Foxy Lady are drill-ready targets, whereas Fleet Fox and Fox Run will require additional exploration work before drilling.
Exploration work in the Fox Harbour volcanic belt indicates that the belt is continuous over at least 25 km. At least four additional, unexplored targets, with similar geology and geophysical signatures occur within this belt. Preliminary exploration work and data interpretation indicate that the Fox Harbour volcanic belt and associated REE mineralization sporadically occurs over an additional 25 km, for a potential total belt length of at least 50 km.
| FOXTROT-LIKE CHANNELS VS FOXTROT RESOURCE VALUES | ||||||||||||||
| FOXTROT RESOURCE | FOXY LADY | FOX POND | FLEET FOX | FOX RUN | ||||||||||
| FOXTROT | FOXTROT | FLC-11-02 | FPC-12-05 | FFC-12-01 | FRC-11-03 | |||||||||
| INDICATED | HGC INDICATED | (Channel) | (Channel) | (Channel) | (Channel) | |||||||||
| From (m) | 0.00 | 13.61 | 1.26 | 0.00 | ||||||||||
| To (m) | 5.16 | 16.9 | 4.90 | 5.08 | ||||||||||
| Interval (m) | 5.16 | 3.29 | 3.64 | 5.08 | ||||||||||
| Y | 1040 | 1230 | 1016 | 1368 | 1158 | 1104 | ||||||||
| Zr | 9619 | 11681 | 12993 | 12275 | 11701 | 11540 | ||||||||
| Nb | 626 | 669 | 508 | 856 | 574 | 834 | ||||||||
| La | 1646 | 1936 | 1433 | 2667 | 1654 | 1941 | ||||||||
| Ce | 3337 | 3942 | 2954 | 5228 | 3719 | 3727 | ||||||||
| Pr | 384 | 454 | 363 | 561 | 439 | 454 | ||||||||
| Nd | 1442 | 1704 | 1377 | 2093 | 1710 | 1714 | ||||||||
| Sm | 262 | 310 | 263 | 368 | 330 | 315 | ||||||||
| Eu | 13.0 | 16.0 | 13.5 | 18.3 | 16.9 | 15.3 | ||||||||
| Gd | 205 | 244 | 217 | 296 | 255 | 233 | ||||||||
| Tb | 33.0 | 39.0 | 34.6 | 43.1 | 38.3 | 36.3 | ||||||||
| Dy | 189 | 226 | 197 | 237 | 220 | 215 | ||||||||
| Ho | 37.0 | 44.0 | 39.0 | 44.4 | 41.1 | 40.6 | ||||||||
| Er | 103 | 123 | 111 | 123 | 110 | 118 | ||||||||
| Tm | 15.0 | 18.0 | 15.8 | 17.6 | 15.0 | 17.0 | ||||||||
| Yb | 92 | 110 | 97 | 109 | 87.4 | 105 | ||||||||
| Lu | 14.0 | 16.0 | 14.4 | 16.7 | 12.8 | 16.0 | ||||||||
| LREE | 7071 | 8346 | 6390 | 10917 | 7852 | 8151 | ||||||||
| HREE | 701 | 836 | 740 | 905 | 797 | 796 | ||||||||
| HREE + Y | 1741 | 2066 | 1756 | 2273 | 1955 | 1900 | ||||||||
| TREE | 7772 | 9182 | 7130 | 11822 | 8649 | 8947 | ||||||||
| TREE + Y | 8812 | 10412 | 8146 | 13190 | 9807 | 10051 | ||||||||
| % TREE | 0.78% | 0.92% | 0.71% | 1.18% | 0.86% | 0.89% | ||||||||
| % TREE + Y | 0.88% | 1.04% | 0.81% | 1.32% | 0.98% | 1.01% | ||||||||
| % HREE | 9.02% | 9.10% | 10.37% | 7.66% | 9.21% | 8.90% | ||||||||
| % HREE + Y | 19.76% | 19.84% | 21.55% | 17.23% | 19.93% | 18.91% | ||||||||
| Note: | All amounts parts per million (ppm). 10,000 ppm = 1% = 10 kg/tonne | |||||||||||||
| REE | Rare Earth Elements: La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu (Lanthanide Series). | |||||||||||||
| TREE | Total Rare Earth Elements: Add La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu. | |||||||||||||
| LREE | Light Rare Earth Elements: Add La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm. | |||||||||||||
| HREE | Heavy Rare Earth Elements: Add Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu. | |||||||||||||
| Y | Y not included in HREE due to relatively low value compared to most Lanthanide series HREE. | |||||||||||||
| %HREE+Y | %(HREE+Y)/( TREE+Y) | |||||||||||||
| %HREE | %( HREE/ TREE) | |||||||||||||
Table 1.
There are currently three identified sub-belts, with felsic volcanic-hosted REE mineralization, in the well-known portion of the Fox Harbour volcanic belt. Foxtrot, Fox Run and Silver Fox occur in the same sub-belt (Mt Belt). Foxy Lady, Fox Pond and Fleet Fox, along with most of the unexplored targets occur in a nearby sub-belt (Road Belt). The third belt contains abundant low grade REE mineralization but no significant targets to date.
2013 FIELD SEASON EXPLORATION PROGRAM
Search is planning an exploration program for the 2013 field season to map and sample Foxtrot-like mineralization throughout the Fox Harbour volcanic belt (targets and prospects mentioned above) and to prioritize targets for a small exploration drilling program. The aim of this program is to discover/document additional Foxtrot-like deposits in close proximity to the Foxtrot Deposit and to add to the Foxtrot resource; currently 9.3 million tonnes indicated at 189 ppm Dy and 5.2 million tonnes inferred at 176 ppm Dy (see Nov. 1, 2012 news release, "Search Minerals Phase III Drilling Increases Foxtrot REE Project Resource Estimate by 55% of Similar Grade").
Qualified Person:
Dr. Randy Miller, Ph.D., P.Geo, is the Company's Vice President, Exploration and Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101. Dr. Miller has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release as applicable. The Company will endeavor to meet high standards of integrity, transparency and consistency in reporting technical content, including geological and assay (e.g. REE) data.
About Search Minerals:
Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMY) is a TSX Venture Exchange listed company. Search is the discoverer of the Port Hope Simpson REE District, a highly prospective light and heavy REE belt located in southeast Labrador, where the Company controls a dominant land position in a belt 135 km long and up to 12 km wide. In addition, Search holds a number of additional mineral prospects in Newfoundland and Labrador in its portfolio, including claims in the Strange Lake Complex (where Quest Rare Minerals has a Joint Venture with Search); and at the Red Wine Complex (where Great Western Minerals Group has a Joint Venture with Search).
Furthermore, Search Minerals is the owner of patents relating to the Starved Acid Leaching Technology ("SALT"), a process with the potential to economically recover nickel and cobalt from known deposits currently considered sub economic.
Search Minerals is led by a management team and Board of Directors with proven track records in the mining industry, with geological and metallurgical teams led by Dr. Randy Miller and Dr. David Dreisinger, respectively.
All material information on the Company may be found on its website at www.searchminerals.ca and on SEDAR at sedar.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility of the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Statement:
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include those risks set out in Search's public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although Search believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by law, Search disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Image with caption: "Fox Harbour Zone Port Hope Simpson REE District Geology (CNW Group/Search Minerals Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20130620_C9940_PHOTO_EN_28307.jpg
SOURCE: Search Minerals Inc.
Stephen Keith
T: 416-368-8288
President & Chief Executive Officer
E: [email protected]
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