C/o ADANSONIA MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED C1-204, Level 2, Office Block C, La Croisette, Grand Baie 30517, Mauritius
C/o ADANSONIA MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED C1-204, Level 2, Office Block C, La Croisette, Grand Baie 30517, Mauritius www.alphaminresources.com News Release 2015-13 ALPHAMIN ANNOUNCES A 30% INCREASE TO ITS INDICATED MINERAL RESOURCE (AT 0.5% TIN CUT OFF GRADE) AT ITS 95% OWNED MPAMA NORTH PROSPECT, BISIE TIN PROJECT, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Highlights
- The updated Mineral Resource consists of:
- Indicated Resource of 3.94 million tonnes @ 3.94% Sn for 155,300 tonnes
contained tin using a 0.5% Sn cut-off. A 30% increase in contained tin since March 2015.
- Inferred Resource of 0.84 million tonnes @ 4.64% Sn for 38,900 tonnes
contained tin using a 0.5% Sn cut-off. A 9% decrease in contained tin since March 2015.
- The Mineral Resource was defined over 650m down plunge to a depth of 550m
- Tin mineralisation has a strong chute geometry with a high grade chute
interpreted to plunge to the north and is open at depth
- Best visible cassiterite to date (accumulative thickness of 6m) intersected in
northernmost line supports mineralisation open down plunge to the north
- Significant new results included in the Resource Estimate from infill and deep
drilling at Mpama North included:
- 21.7m @ 7.44% Sn from 300m
- 13m @ 5.76% Sn from 386m
- 10m @ 5.59% Sn from 323m
- 13.6m 7.59% Sn from 534.4m
- Significant new results included in the Resource Estimate from the Wedge
drilling at Mpama North included:
- 7.5m @ 3.69% Sn from 110m
MAURITIUS – October 22nd , 2015 – Alphamin Resources Corp (AFM: TSXV, “Alphamin” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce a 30% increase to its Indicated Mineral Resource (at a cut-off of 0.5% Sn) at the Mpama North target announced in March 2015 on its 95% owned Bisie Tin Prospect (Bisie Project) in east central Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The remaining 5% was transferred to the State in compliance with the Mining Code on granting of PE 13155.
Mpama North
The updated Mineral Resource estimate at Mpama North has increased the current resource to 3.94 million tonnes @ 3.94% Sn for 155,300 tonnes contained tin (at 0.5% Sn cut-off) in the Indicated Category and 0.84 million tonnes @ 4.64% Sn for 38,900 tonnes contained tin (at 0.5% Sn cut-off) in the Inferred Category as shown in Table 1. The Indicated Mineral Resource increased by 30% contained tin to that announced in March 2015. The Inferred Mineral Resource decreased by 9% contained tin with the majority of the March 2015 Inferred being transferred to the Indicated category and replaced by extensions identified by the ongoing drilling programme.
The robust and high grade nature of the orebody is illustrated by the grade-tonnage table that shows that should the Mineral Resource be reported at a 2% Sn cut-off grade, it decreases to 2.54 million tonnes @ 5.43% Sn for 138,000 tonnes contained tin in the Indicated Category and 0.63 million tonnes @ 5.82% Sn for 36,500 tonnes contained tin in the Inferred Category.
One hundred and eleven NQ holes and 21 PQ holes drilled for a metallurgical sample were used in the Mineral Resource estimate. The mineralised zone contains two parallel high grade chutes that plunge approximately 25° to the north over approximately 700 m in the down plunge direction. The Mineral Resource Area extends over 100m-300m perpendicular to the plunge direction to a maximum vertical depth of approximately 550m below surface, the high grade mineralisation being open at depth and down plunge. Several faults causing local displacement were modelled into the Mineral Resource estimate and the mineralisation is likely to be affected by smaller faults that have not been modelled. Where artisanal mining has taken place, the top 50m has been depleted and any mineralisation remaining in the area to this depth was not included in the Mineral Resource.
| Table 1: Bisie Mpama North Zone Mineral Resource at 0.50% Sn Cut-Off Grade, 15 October 2015 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Tonnes (Millions) | Sn % | Sn Tonnes (Thousands) | Cu % | Zn % | Pb ppm | Ag g/t |
| Indicated | 3.94 | 3.94 | 155.3 | 0.31 | 0.15 | 110 | 2.7 |
| Inferred | 0.84 | 4.64 | 38.9 | 0.22 | 0.13 | 140 | 1.8 |
Notes:
1. All tabulated data has been rounded and as a result minor computational errors may occur
2. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves have no demonstrated economic viability.
3. Alphamin has a 95 percent interest in the Bisie Project. The Gross Mineral Resource for the Project has been reported.
| Table 2: Bisie Mpama North Zone Mineral Resource at 2.0% Sn Cut-Off Grade, 15 October 2015 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Tonnes (Millions) | Sn % | Sn Tonnes (Thousands) | Cu % | Zn % | Pb ppm | Ag g/t |
| Indicated | 2.54 | 5.43 | 138.0 | 0.34 | 0.16 | 110 | 3.0 |
| Inferred | 0.63 | 5.80 | 36.5 | 0.24 | 0.14 | 130 | 1.9 |
Notes:
1. All tabulated data has been rounded and as a result minor computational errors may occur
2. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves have no demonstrated economic viability.
3. Alphamin has a 95 percent interest in the Bisie Project. The Gross Mineral Resource for the Project has been reported.
| Table 3: Bisie Mpama North Zone Indicated Mineral Resource Grade Tonnage Table, 15 October 2015 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut Off Sn% | Tonnes Sn Sn Tonnes Cu Zn Pb Ag (Millions) % (Thousands) % % ppm g/t | ||||||||
| 0.25 | 4.09 | 3.81 | 155.9 | 0.31 | 0.15 | 110 | 2.7 | ||
| 0.50 | 3.94 | 3.94 | 155.3 | 0.31 | 0.15 | 110 | 2.7 | ||
| 0.75 | 3.72 | 4.14 | 154.0 | 0.32 | 0.16 | 105 | 2.8 | ||
| 1.0 | 3.44 | 4.40 | 151.5 | 0.32 | 0.16 | 105 | 2.8 | ||
| 2.0 | 2.54 | 5.43 | 138.0 | 0.34 | 0.16 | 110 | 3.0 |
Notes:
1. All tabulated data has been rounded and as a result minor computational errors may occur
2. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves have no demonstrated economic viability.
3. Alphamin has a 95 percent interest in the Bisie Project. The Gross Mineral Resource for the Project has been reported.
| Table 4 Bisie Mpama North Zone Inferred Mineral Resource Grade Tonnage Table, 15 October 2015 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut Off Sn% | Tonnes Sn Sn Tonnes Cu Zn Pb Ag (Millions) % (Thousands) % % ppm g/t | ||||||||
| 0.25 | 0.86 | 4.55 | 39.0 | 0.22 | 0.13 | 140 | 1.8 | ||
| 0.50 | 0.84 | 4.64 | 38.9 | 0.22 | 0.13 | 140 | 1.8 | ||
| 0.75 | 0.79 | 4.91 | 38.5 | 0.22 | 0.14 | 135 | 1.8 | ||
| 1.0 | 0.75 | 5.13 | 38.2 | 0.23 | 0.14 | 135 | 1.9 | ||
| 2.0 | 0.63 | 5.80 | 36.5 | 0.24 | 0.14 | 130 | 1.9 |
Notes:
1. All tabulated data has been rounded and as a result minor computational errors may occur
2. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves have no demonstrated economic viability.
3. Alphamin has a 95 percent interest in the Bisie Project. The Gross Mineral Resource for the Project has been reported.
The Mineral Resource was prepared by an independent consulting company, The MSA Group (MSA), of Johannesburg, South Africa and was estimated using The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Best Practice Guidelines (2003). The Mineral Resource is reported in accordance with the 2014 CIM Definition Standards which have been incorporated by reference into National Instrument – 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). A technical report prepared in compliance with NI-43-101 with respect to the updated Mineral Resource estimate will be filed on www.sedar.com.
The Mineral Resource estimate was based on tin, copper, lead, zinc and silver assays and density measurements from 111 NQ size and 21 size PQ diamond holes drilled at Mpama North. Drill holes not included in the estimate were within the top 50m depleted zone or drilled outside of the main zone of mineralisation. A three dimensional grade and density block model was created using Ordinary Kriging. Two populations of tin grade were defined, the high grade population being estimated separately from the lower grade and the estimates then combined. Table 5 below details a summary of the Mineral Resource estimate and pertinent reporting criteria.
Mineralisation occurs as several narrow veins, blocks or disseminations of cassiterite hosted in a chlorite schist and was defined in three discrete vein systems, namely the Hangingwall, Main and Footwall Veins. The Main Vein generally occurs over thicknesses of between 2m and 22m with an average thickness of approximately 9m and is the most consistent overall, reporting the highest grades. The Hanging Wall Vein mineralisation occurs between 4m and 20m above the Main Vein, is generally between 0.5m and 4m wide and occurs in the central area of the deposit although, it appears to taper out northwards. The middling between the Hanging Wall Vein and the Main Vein decreases from north to south and it is possible that this vein merges into the Main Vein in the central area. The Footwall Vein mineralisation occurs between 2m and 12m below the Main Vein. This zone is restricted to the southern areas, is very narrow (<50 cm) and high grade in its most northern occurrences but thickens to the south to several metres. It is possible that this vein merges into the Main Vein in some parts of the deposit.
Recent significant results received from the infill and deep extension and Wedge drilling are summarised in Table 6 and include:
- 21.7m @ 7.44%Sn from 300m, including 5.2m @ 15.75% Sn from 315.5m in BGC127
- 13m @ 5.76% Sn from 386m, including 5.5m @ 7.47% Sn from 388.5m in BGC130
- 10m @ 5.59% Sn from 323m, including 3.5m @ 13.88% Sn from 327m in BGC133
- 13.6m @ 7.59% Sn from 534.4m in BGC140
- 15.6m @ 3.23% Sn from 32.9m including 8m @ 5.80% Sn from 40.5m in BGC115 – Wedge
The results from the aforementioned drillholes have been included in the Mineral Resource update.
Drilling intervals quoted are drill intercepts and are not true widths. True mineralisation width is approximately 70-80% of intersection length for all holes. The reported grades were determined using a cut-off grade of 0.1% Sn, 25g/t Ag, 1% Zn, 1% Pb and 0.1% Cu to select significant and anomalous intersections, with a maximum of 3m internal dilution being incorporated into the composite where appropriate. A top cut of 60% was applied to Sn, 30% to Zn and 20% to Pb.
Half core samples for all drillholes were submitted to accredited ALS Chemex laboratory in Johannesburg where samples were analyzed using ME-XRF05 conducted on a pressed pellet with 10% precision and an upper limit of 5 000ppm (10 000ppm prior to 2014). Over limit samples were sent to Vancouver for ME-XRF10 which uses a Lithium Borate 50:50 flux with an upper detection limit of 60% and precision of 5%. ME-ICP61, HF, HNO3, HCL04 and HCL leach with ICP-AES finish was used for 33 elements including base metals. ME-OG62 a four acid digestion was used on ore grade samples for Pb, Zn, Cu & Ag. Industry accepted QA/QC checks were applied including use of duplicates, blanks and standards.
The current infill and extension drilling programme to define mineralisation down to 500m below surface at Mpama North is near completion with 4 holes remaining for the year.
Mpama South
Planned drilling at Mpama South has been put on hold until 2016.
Regional Exploration
Soil sampling has defined coherent tin (laboratory) and copper, arsenic, zinc and lead (Niton XRF) anomalies over 14km of the Bisie ridge including Mpama North and South (Figure 2). The Company is planning a ground EM survey over the ridge. The survey is expected to better define the source of the soil anomalies due to the strong association of base metals and tin.
Qualified Person
Mr. J.C. Witley (BSc Hons, MSc (Eng)) is a Principal Mineral Resource Consultant for The MSA Group, an independent geological consulting company to Alphamin and a “Qualified Person” as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects. Mr Witley has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this press release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Boris Kamstra, Acting Chief Executive Officer
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 for the adequacy or accuracy of this News Release.
CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Information in this news release that is not a statement of historical fact constitutes forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information includes statements regarding the Company’s planned exploration programs and other corporate activities. Actual results, performance or achievements of the Company may vary from the results suggested by such forward-looking statements due to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such factors include, among others, that the business of exploration for tin and other precious and base minerals involves a high degree of risk and is highly speculative in nature; few properties that are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines; geological factors; the actual results of current and future exploration; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company’s publicly filed documents.
There can be no assurance that any mineralisation that is discovered will be proven to be economic, or that future required regulatory licensing or approvals will be obtained. However, the Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the Company’s ability to carry on its exploration activities, the sufficiency of funding, the timely receipt of required approvals, the price of tin and other precious and base metals, that the Company will not be affected by adverse political events, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain further financing as and when required and on reasonable terms. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
Alphamin does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable laws.
Figure 1: Latest results at Mpama North
Figure 2: Copper and tin in soil anomalies over Bisie ridge on interpreted geology Table 5: Summary of resource estimate and reporting criteria
| Drilling techniques | All drillholes were diamond drill cored and drilled from surface (mostly NQ) at angles of between -60° and -75°. The drillholes were drilled from east to west along section lines spaced between approximately 25 m and 50 m apart. 21 PQ sized holes from a metallurgical drilling campaign were included that were drilled in three clusters approximately 25 m apart |
| Logging | All of the drillholes were geologically logged by qualified geologists. The logging is of an appropriate standard for grade estimation. |
| Drill sample recovery | Core recovery in the mineralised zones was observed to be very good and is on average greater than 95%. Five of the shallow drillholes intersected artisanal workings and so recovery of the high grade mineralisation was poor and therefore the data from these holes were not used for grade estimation. |
| Sampling methods | Half core samples were collected continuously through the mineralised zones after being cut longitudinally in half using a diamond saw. Drillhole samples were taken at nominal 1 m intervals, which were adjusted to smaller intervals in order to target the vein zones. Lithological contacts were honoured during the sampling. MSA’s observations indicated that the routine sampling was performed to a reasonable standard and is suitable for evaluation purposes. |
| Quality of assay data and laboratory tests | The assays were conducted at ALS Chemex in Johannesburg where samples were analysed for tin using fused disc ME-XRF05 conducted on a pressed pellet with 10% precision and an upper limit of 10 000ppm. This was reduced to 5,000 ppm from 2014 onwards. Over limit samples were sent to Vancouver for ME- XRF10 which uses a Lithium Borate 50:50 flux with an upper detection limit of 60% and precision of 5%. ME-ICP61, HF, HNO3, HCL04 and HCL leach with ICP-AES finish was used for 33 elements including base metals. ME-OG62, a four acid digestion, was used on ore grade samples for Pb, Zn, Cu & Ag. External quality assurance of the laboratory assays for the Alphamin samples was monitored using the following measures: • Blank samples, certified reference materials and duplicate samples were inserted with the field samples accounting for approximately 10% of the total sample set. • 150 pulp duplicates were sent to SGS (Johannesburg) in 2013 for confirmation assay and a further 173 were assayed in 2015. In 2015, 99 pulp duplicates were sent to Setpoint (Johannesburg) for confirmation |
| assays. The QAQC measures used by Alphamin revealed the following: • The high grade CRM (31.42% Sn) appears to have been over-assayed by approximately 8% by ALS prior to 2015. The lower grade CRM assays (<2% Sn) indicated that the Sn and Cu assays were accurate and unbiased, consistently returning values within two standard deviations of the accepted CRM value. • The field duplicates confirmed the nuggetty nature of the tin mineralisation. The majority of the duplicate assays were within 20% of the field sample. • Blank samples indicated that no significant contamination occurred for most of the programme. • The pulp duplicates assayed by SGS in 2013 showed excellent correlation with the ALS assays at both high and low grade ranges. However both SGS and Setpoint assays were lower than ALS for grades above 20% for the 2014 data checked in 2015. As the high grade CRM assays indicate a potential over-assaying of the high Sn grade assays by ALS completed prior to 2015, a correction was applied to the data to mitigate this risk. The mineral resource estimate was completed on the corrected data. Work is ongoing in order to resolve this issue. | |
| Verification of sampling and assaying | A selection of cores representative of the entire drilling programme at Mpama North have been visually verified during three site visits by the QP (July 2013, May 2014 and August 2015). The QP observed the mineralisation in the cores and compared it with the assay results. It was found that the assays generally agreed with the observations made on the core. The QP took ten quarter core field duplicates for independent check assay in 2013, which confirmed the original sample assays within reasonable limits for this style of mineralisation. |
| Location of data points | All except two of the Bisie surface drillhole collars used in the mineral resource estimate were surveyed by digital GPS. For the two that were not surveyed, the hand-held GPS readings were used with the elevation being corrected to that of the LIDAR topographic survey. Down-hole surveys were completed for all of the holes drilled at Mpama North. |
| Tonnage factors (in situ bulk densities) | Specific gravity determinations were made for 1,890 drillhole samples using laboratory gas pycnometer. A regression formula of tin grade against specific gravity was developed that was applied to the samples that did not have direct SG measurements. The assigned specific gravity was interpolated into the block |
| model using Ordinary Kriging. | |
| Data density and distribution | The drillholes were drilled from east to west along section lines spaced approximately 50 m to 60 m apart with infill drilling on 25 m to 30 m spaced sections in a portion of the shallower area. Along the section lines, the drillholes intersected the mineralisation between approximately 25 m and 50 m apart in most of the Mineral Resource area. 21 PQ sized holes from a metallurgical drilling campaign were included that were drilled in three clusters approximately 25 m apart. Within the clusters, the PQ holes were drilled approximately 5 m apart. In the Mineral Resource area, 111 NQ drillholes were used for the grade estimate. A number of holes intersected mineralisation outside of the area currently defined as a Mineral Resource and five of the shallow drillholes intersected artisanal workings. The data from these holes were not used for grade estimation. |
| Database integrity | Data are stored in an Access database. MSA completed spot checks on the database and is confident that the Alphamin database is an accurate representation of the original data collected. |
| Dimensions | The area defined as a Mineral Resource extends approximately 700 m in the down plunge direction. It extends for between approximately 100 m and 300 m in the plane of mineralisation perpendicular to the plunge. The main zone of the Mineral Resource, which accounts for 95% of the Mineral Resource, is on average approximately 9 m thick, although is narrower (less than 1 m) at the margins and up to 20 m thick in the central areas. The zones that occur several metres above and below the main zone are considerably narrower than the main zone and cover areas of between 100 m and 200 m in the dip and strike directions. |
| Geological interpretation | The mineralised intersections in drill core are clearly discernible. The Mineral Resource is interpreted to occur as tabular mineralised zones, dipping 65° to the east, containing several narrow veins, blocks and disseminations of cassiterite. The mineralised zones are hosted in chlorite schist that is the result of intense alteration and may originally have been a distinct stratigraphic interval. The main zone of the Mineral Resource is almost continuous for over 650 m although it may be affected by a number of faults causing local displacement. Several faults have been modelled in the up-and down-plunge extremities. • The Main Vein mineralisation consists of a number of uncorrelated cassiterite veins within pervasively choritised schist. This zone generally occurs over thicknesses of between 2 m and 22 m with an average thickness of |
| approximately 9 m. The Main Vein zone is generally the highest grade and most consistent overall. • Hanging Wall Vein mineralisation occurs within partly chloritised schist and micaceous schist between 4 m and 20 m above the Main Vein. This zone of mineralisation is generally between 0.5 m and 4 m wide and occurs in the central area of the deposit and tapers out northwards. The middling between the Hanging Wall Vein and the Main Vein decreases in areas and it is possible that this vein merges into the Main Vein in the some parts of the deposit. • Footwall Vein (FW Vein) mineralisation occurs within the micaceous schist and amphibolite schist between 2 m and 12 m below the Main Vein. This zone is restricted to the southern areas, is very narrow (<50 cm) and high grade in its most northern occurrences but thickens to the south to several metres. It is possible that this vein merges into the Main Vein in the some parts of the deposit. A three dimensional wireframe model was created for the three zones of mineralisation based on a grade threshold of 0.30% Sn. The main zone is the most consistent zone and occurs within a persistent chlorite schist. Narrower less continuous zones occur above and below the main zone within chlorite- mica schists. | |
| Domains | The mineralisation was modelled as three tabular zones containing irregular vein style mineralisation. A hard boundary was used to select data for estimation in order to honour the sharp nature of vein boundaries. |
| Compositing | Sample lengths were composited to 1 m. Composites of less than 1 m occurred in the narrow vein areas, which were retained. Accumulations of Sn%-density- composite length were calculated for grade estimation so that narrow extremely high grade composites did not excessively influence the estimate. |
| Statistics and variography | Two populations of Sn mineralisation occur, a high grade population of cassiterite veins and a lower grade population containing disseminated cassiterite as vein fragments and blebs. The data were separated into the two statistical populations, which resulted in the coefficient of variation for the Sn accumulation composites in the high grade population being 0.59 and for the lower grade population being 1.49. The histograms are positively skewed. Normal Scores variograms were calculated in the plane of the mineralisation, down-hole and across strike. Variogram ranges for the Sn accumulation in the main zone were modelled with a ranges in the order of 50 m in the plane of mineralisation. Reliable variograms could not be produced for either the hangingwall or footwall zones and the main zone variogram was used to |