Search Minerals Expands Critical Rare Earth Element Mineralized Zone at Fox Meadow, Se Labrador
SEARCH MINERALS EXPANDS CRITICAL RARE EARTH ELEMENT
MINERALIZED ZONE AT FOX MEADOW, SE LABRADOR
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 06, 2020 -- Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMY) (“Search” or the “Company”) is
pleased to report assay results from FOX MEADOW, its third major mineralized zone in it’s Critical Rare Earth Element
(“CREE”) District in SE Labrador. Trenching/channelling (6 new channels), mapping/prospecting and a UAV Magnetometer
Survey indicate that the surface expression of this mineralized zone is up to 124m wide and 650m long. This surface
expression is significantly larger than those over the related FOXTROT and DEEP FOX Resources. The mineralization is
similarly hosted by peralkaline volcanic rocks and contains similar grades of the REE magnet materials (Nd, Pr, Tb and Dy);
Zr and Hf also occur in significant concentrations.
HIGHLIGHTS OF FOX MEADOW 2019 CHANNEL PROGRAM
• FOX MEADOW (all true widths) exhibits higher grade mineralization (> 190 ppm Dy) measuring at least 21.2m to
46.0m over 200m strike length; and, measuring at least 7.1m to 46.0m over 450m strike length;
• Channel assay highlights (all true widths):
◦ Section FMC-19-01: 244 ppm Dy, 1098 ppm Nd, 270 ppm Pr, 838 ppm La over 15.79m;
◦ Section FMC-19-02: 234 ppm Dy, 1184 ppm Nd, 296 ppm Pr, 943 ppm La over 7.8m;
◦ Section FMC-19-03: 221 ppm Dy, 990 ppm Nd, 241 ppm Pr, 763 ppm La over 10.84m;
◦ Section FMC-19-04: 269 ppm Dy, 1486 ppm Nd, 370 ppm Pr, 1126 ppm La over 4.61m;
◦ Section FMC-19-05/06: 220 ppm Dy, 1456 ppm Nd, 373 ppm Pr, 1399 ppm La over 3.23m.
• Section FMC-19-01contains 85.1m higher grade mineralization over 123.6m total thickness;
• FOX MEADOW CREE mineralization is similar to DEEP FOX and FOXTROT; third potential CREE deposit in the Port
Hope Simpson-St. Lewis CREE District of SE Labrador.
Greg Andrews, President/CEO states; “These results are very encouraging and support the vision of multiple deposits of High
Grade CREE’s in our CREE district. FOX MEADOW will be advanced through further exploration work to better define the
surface expression to make the project drill-ready. We congratulate Dr. Randy Miller and his team with identifying this
prospect. It is the surface expression channels widths, up to 124m, which is compelling to explore. A potential drill program
would help to understand whether the geological model is similar to FOXTROT and DEEPFOX. Also, the assays contain
significant quantities of zirconium (0.79 to 1.54% Zr) that mostly occurs in the mineral zircon in these rocks. We will
investigate the possibility of extracting the zirconium as a value-added product from our existing processing flow sheet, which
could also benefit the FOXTROT and DEEPFOX projects”.
The 2019 channelling program at FOX MEADOW (totalling 308.1m) consisted of adding new channels/sections through the
mineralized zone. Four new sections and one extended section, with mineralization, were sampled into treed areas with
significant overburden; a mini-excavator with a backhoe-like bucket was used to expose bedrock in several sections. This
program exposed mineralization between (joining) the southern and northern mineralized bands identified in the 2018 program
(see Search Minerals news release, March 14, 2019). Section FMC19-01 (123.6m) and Section FMC19-04 (111.8m) sampled
the entire mineralized zone (southern and northern mineralized bands combined). New sections FMC19-02, FMC19-03 and
FMC19-05/06 and a previously sampled section (Section FMC16-01; see Search Minerals news release, November 3, 2016)
currently sample only a portion of the mineralized zone.
Assay results for seven medium- and high-grade mineralized zones in Section FMC19-01 and some representative mineralized
zones in other sections are found in Table 1 and Table 2 respectively.
Section FMC19-01 contains seven major mineralized units (Table 1) that range from 3.3 to 25.7m thick. These mineralized
units, in aggregate, make up 85.1m of the 123.6m thickness of the FOX MEADOW mineralized zone. Intervening units consist
of thinly interbedded un-mineralized and mineralized units.
Many of the assay intervals in Table 1 and Table 2 contain significant quantities of zirconium (0.79 to 1.54% Zr) that mostly
occurs in the mineral zircon in these rocks. The company is currently exploring the potential/possibility of producing and
marketing a zircon concentrate, in addition to a mixed REE concentrate, from the mineralized peralkaline rocks in the Port
Hope Simpson – St. Lewis CREE District.
The trenching/channelling programs at FOX MEADOW have outlined a mineralized zone of up to 123.6 m wide and at least
500m in strike length; mapping and airborne magnetic anomalies suggest that the zone is up to 650m long. The mineralization
is hosted in felsic, mostly magnetite bearing, peralkaline volcanic flows and ash-flow tuffs and subvolcanic equivalents;
pantellerite, Zr-poor pantellerites, Zr-rich pantellerite and trachytic pantellerite equivalents. Mineralized units are up to 5m thick
and are commonly separated by thin un-mineralized zones of pegmatite or mafic volcanic rocks.
In contrast, both the DEEP FOX and FOXTROT mineralized resources are about 350-450m long and up to 40m thick. The
surface expression of the FOX MEADOW mineralized zone is greater than that of DEEP FOX and FOXTROT combined.
The FOX MEADOW prospect occurs about 11 km west of Port Hope Simpson and 1 km from a gravel-covered, three-season
forest access road. Port Hope Simpson is about 40 km northwest of FOXTROT and 50 km from DEEP FOX on paved and all-
season gravelled roads.
Table 1 - FOX MEADOW SECTION FMC-19-01 SUMMARY
FMC 19-01 FMC 19-01 FMC 19-01 FMC 19-01 FMC 19-01 FMC 19-01 FMC 19-01
From (m) 7.10 21.15 31.36 38.65 54.44 77.41 117.19
To (m) 13.07 24.42 38.41 54.44 75.41 103.11 123.55
Interval (m) 5.97 3.27 7.05 15.79 20.97 25.70 6.36
Y 976 976 742 1,037 836 598 659
Zr 12135 9733 11,918 15,379 7,863 15,173 14,945
Nb 283 400 322 265 377 248 269
Hf 323.7 234.6 297.5 393.2 206.1 379.6 354.5
La 855 1147 931 838 1,054 665 634
Ce 2188 2570 2,186 2,072 2,370 1,599 1,445
Pr 278 340 294 270 290 201 186
Nd 1133 1271 1,101 1,098 1,131 797 752
Sm 246 251 219 242 220 164 163
Eu 12.7 13.2 11.4 12.8 12.6 9 9
Gd 204 206 179 217 194 144 138
Tb 35.3 33.3 29.3 39.2 32.1 24.9 24.0
Dy 218 197 174 244 192 149 147
Ho 42.6 37.5 33.4 49.2 38.0 30.1 29.8
Er 123 105 94 144 109 88 88
Tm 17.4 14.4 13.1 20.7 15.5 13.0 13.5
Yb 108 90 85 132 98 86 85
Lu 15.7 12.9 12.7 19.4 14.3 13.5 12.4
LREE 4,700 5,579 4,731 4,521 5,066 3,426 3,181
HREE 776 709 631 878 706 558 546
HREE + Y 1,751 1,685 1,374 1,914 1,542 1,156 1,206
TREE 5,475 6,288 5,363 5,399 5,772 3,984 3,727
TREE + Y 6,451 7,264 6,105 6,436 6,608 4,582 4,386
% TREE 0.55% 0.63% 0.54% 0.54% 0.58% 0.40% 0.37%
% TREE + Y 0.65% 0.73% 0.61% 0.64% 0.66% 0.46% 0.44%
% HREE 14.16% 11.27% 11.77% 16.25% 12.23% 14.00% 14.66%
% HREE + Y 27.14% 23.19% 22.50% 29.74% 23.33% 25.22% 27.48%
Mag REE 1,665 1,842 1,598 1,651 1,646 1,173 1,109
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)
Mag REE Sum of Pr, Nd, Tb and Dy (used in REE magnets)
Table 2. - FOX MEADOW SECTIONS 19-02 TO 19-05/06 SUMMARY
FMC 19-02 FMC 19-03 FMC 19-04 FMC 19-04 FMC 19-05 FMC 19-06
From (m) 6.84 14.3 4.19 27.38 6.65 0
To (m) 14.64 25.14 8.8 34.55 9.88 8.49
Interval (m) 7.8 10.84 4.61 7.17 3.23 8.49
Y 1,018 963 1,251 1,036 979 819
Zr 17,084 14,941 15,792 13,587 10,406 17,807
Nb 290 282 403 395 487 352
Hf 400 346 346 315 259 448
La 943 763 1,126 862 1,399 780
Ce 2,289 1,894 2,957 2,131 3,094 1,888
Pr 296 241 370 267 373 238
Nd 1,184 990 1,486 1,069 1,456 948
Sm 250 221 305 221 274 201
Eu 13.1 11.7 16.0 12.0 15.4 10.7
Gd 222 212 265 198 233 186
Tb 38.9 36.8 45.3 35.4 37.2 33.0
Dy 234 221 269 213 220 199
Ho 47.1 45.2 52.8 42.3 42.8 40.2
Er 139 132 151 121 124 118
Tm 19.9 19.4 21.6 17.0 17.6 17.2
Yb 128 121 133 108 113 114
Lu 19.3 18.4 19.6 15.6 17.1 17.6
LREE 4,963 4,110 6,244 4,550 6,595 4,056
HREE 861 817 973 763 820 735
HREE + Y 1,879 1,779 2,224 1,799 1,799 1,555
TREE 5,824 4,927 7,217 5,312 7,415 4,791
TREE + Y 6,842 5,889 8,468 6,348 8,394 5,610
% TREE 0.58% 0.49% 0.72% 0.53% 0.74% 0.48%
% TREE + Y 0.68% 0.59% 0.85% 0.63% 0.84% 0.56%
% HREE 14.78% 16.58% 13.48% 14.35% 11.06% 15.34%
% HREE + Y 27.46% 30.21% 26.26% 28.33% 21.43% 27.71%
Mag REE 1,754 1,489 2,170 1,585 2,086 1,418
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)
Mag REE Sum of Pr, Nd, Tb and Dy (used in REE magnets)
Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC):
Channel samples, 10cm deep and 8cm wide, are cut by gas-powered diamond saw from cleaned outcrops to provide samples
for assay and logging/reference. Each channel is cut into two vertical sections, similar to drill core, with a 6 cm thick section
(weathering removed) being sent out for assay to Activation Laboratories Ltd. A 2 cm thick section is stored in channel boxes
for reference and to provide due diligence/verification samples. The channels are cut perpendicular to strike, pieced together,
logged and photographed to produce geological and geochemical sections. These channel samples, or horizontal drill holes,
produce the same data as vertical diamond drill holes, except the data is from horizontal geological sections and the collected
sample is 6 to 8 times bigger than NQ drill core. Additional 8 cm wide cuts from a channel interval make excellent preliminary
metallurgical samples (1m of channel yields about 30kg of sample).
Lithogeochemistry samples, all from bedrock, are collected by Company personnel, bagged and described. Reference
samples are also collected for each grab, lithogeochemistry and channel sample. The samples are shipped to Activation
Laboratories Ltd. (ActLabs) sample prep facility in Ancaster, Ontario, where they are crushed to 80% -10 mesh and riffled to
produce a representative sample. This sample is then pulverized to 95% -200 mesh with the pulverizing mills being cleaned
between each sample with cleaning sand. A representative sample is treated by a lithium metaborate/tetraborate fusion and
then analyzed by ICP and ICP/MS techniques. Mass balance is required as an additional quality control technique and
elemental totals of the oxides should be between 98% and 101%. For QA/QC purposes Search requires pulp and coarse
reject duplicates every 20 samples and two Search reproducibility standards every 40 samples. ActLabs analyzes duplicates
and splits approximately every 15 samples and also analyses 29 measured standards for QA/QC. To further enhance our
QA/QC procedures Search has a program of checking analytical results with other labs to confirm the ActLabs results.
ActLabs is a ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory.
Qualified Person:
Dr. Randy Miller, Ph.D., P.Geo, is the Company's Vice President, Exploration, and Qualified Person (as defined by National
Instrument 43-101) who has supervised the preparation of and approved the technical information reported herein. The
company will endeavour to meet high standards of integrity, transparency, and consistency in reporting technical content,
including geological and assay (e.g., REE) data.
About Search Minerals Inc.
Led by a proven management team and board of directors, Search is focused on finding and developing resources within the
emerging Critical Rare Earth Element (“CREE”) District of South East Labrador. The Company controls a belt 63 km long and
2 km wide including its 100% interest in the FOXTROT and DEEP FOX Projects, which are road accessible and at tidewater.
Exploration efforts have advanced FOX MEADOW as a new CREE prospect very similar to and in close proximity to
FOXTROT and DEEP FOX. The FOXTROT Project has a capital cost to bring the initial project into production ($152 M), a
short payback period and is scalable due to Search’s proprietary processing technology.
For further information, please contact:
Greg Andrews
President and CEO
Tel: 604-998-3432
E-mail: [email protected]
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