Taranis Excavates and Improves Thor Mill Site, Recycling 50t of Legacy Debris
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Taranis Resources Inc.
681 Conifer Lane
Estes Park, Colorado
80517
www.taranisresources.com
Taranis Excavates and Improves Thor Mill Site, Recycling 50t of Legacy Debris
Estes Park, Colorado, October 19, 2020 – Taranis Resources Inc. (“Taranis” or the “Company”) [TSX.V:
TRO] is pleased to update its shareholders with respect to important developments at its 100%-owned Thor
polymetallic project in British Columbia.
Despite complications related to the COVID -19 pandemic, the Company was able to safely remove
approximately 80t of dangerous wood and metal waste from the Thor project which were left behind by
historical mining companies and never properly reclaimed. Metals were removed from the site via excavator
and truck and recycled at the Revelstoke transfer station.
The Thor project is comprised of five historical mines dating back as far as 1896; none of these mines were
reclaimed to current BC standards. As Tarani s advances its 10,000-tonne bulk sample project and
investigates the possibility of commercial production at Thor, it will continue to develop and execute plans
for removal and proper disposal of potentially hazardous materials so that eventual reclamation of the site
will yield more thorough habitat restoration.
“Taranis Resources is dedicated to the use of sustainable mining practices, and we are excited to put new
technologies to work at Thor which will create steady jobs in the area, and leave it clea ner for future
generations.” says Thomas Gardiner, V.P. of Operations. “The Thor area has been severely impacted by
over 100 years of old fashioned mining techniques, and our on -site pre-concentration plan will create the
economic incentive to finally reclaim these historical disturbances.”
Background
The area known as the “True Fissure mill site” at Thor has been significantly disturbed by historical mining
and milling activities conducted between the late 1930s and early 1970s. Taranis is presently finalizing the
bulk sample site plan, which prescribes emplacement of pre-concentration equipment at the True Fissure
mill site.
Taranis is preparing for the bulk sample activities using engineering plans developed by Allnorth
Engineering and Knight Piesold. It has been recognized that the True Fissure mill site is the best location
for the pre-concentration facilities, so that no new disturbances to potential habitat in the area will have to
be made. To build disposal facilities for the acid -generating legacy stockpile in the True Fissure open pit,
the Company must remove the historical debris left at the mill site. Upon securing permits for commercial
production after completion of the bulk sample, this pattern of legacy disturbance removal, implementation
of greener technologies, followed by reclamation and monitoring, is expected to continue.
A melange of mill components, structural materials, vehicles, heavy equipment, and other objects were
hastily buried in a shallow pit and covered with topsoil around the mill site in the early 1970’s. Taranis used
a variety of geophysical methods to locate the debris including ground magnetometer and resistivity
surveys. These surveys are part of the work that was completed for the application to permit a 10,000 tonne
bulk sample at Thor.
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Previous Mining Efforts at the True Fissure Mill Site
Records about the history of mining activity at Thor are incomplete. They are sometimes vague,
contradictory, or fail to adequately explain the rationale for decisions pertaining to mine and mill operation.
This complicates the removal of legacy material , which has been concentrated at various sites around the
Thor mine.
Taranis has been able to roughly reconstruct a timeline and history of mining and milling activity on the
Thor project, but some details remain unknown . Two separate milling operations were run at the True
Fissure mill site in the past century. The first of these was a 91 t/d mill that was built in 1930 by the Latonia
Milling Company for Comara Mining and Milling Company. The Comara/Latonia mill was completed
although at that time there was no ore ready to process. The mill operated during the winter of 1937-38 and
processed 5,600 t of ore. 376.8 t of lead concentrate were shipped. The Latonia mill produced a smaller
amount of zinc concentrate at the same time (roughly 270 t) , but not all of it was shipped. Further
development work was carried out in 1939, but the company ceased operations sometime between 1940
and 1944.
Taranis has photographs of the mill site circa 1938 , and they show extensive infrastructure and
crushing/milling equipment. This plant included a crusher, ball mill, flotation plant as well as a bunkhouse,
blacksmith, assay lab, dry and other related offices. The Latonia mill was destroyed by extreme weather at
some time in the 1940’s.
In the early 1970 ’s, Columbia Metals constructed a second plant, rated at 115 t /d, that again comprised a
complete processing plant. There are no known photographs of this operation, but much of the equipment
was subsequently moved offsite to Ferguson in 1971. Annual Reports to the Minister of Mines suggest that
the Columbia Metals mill was shut down after only a few days’ operation in 1971 “due to improper
installation and ecological problems relatin g to tailings disposal ”. The remainder of the plant was later
destroyed by snowfall and appears to have been bulldozed into the earth alongside , or among the ruin of
the Comara/Latonia mill.
The approximate age of equipment and material removed from the T rue Fissure mill site varied between
1930s and 1970s vintage.
Taranis Envisions Unique Approach to Mining at Thor
The amount of precipitation (including snowfall) at Thor presents unique challenges to operating a mine,
and these appear to have been insurmountable using traditional hydrometallurgical processes .
Technological constraints and metal prices restricted previous operations , forcing them to put a full -scale
processing plant onsite. This approach proved unsuccessful, owing to maintenance of mine i nfrastructure
under adverse climate conditions, and disposal of waste-water and mine wastes in a mountainous terrain.
Taranis envisions a unique approach to these issues that will put minimal mining infrastructure onsite and
produce a pre -concentrated product that can be more easily shipped large distances to a downstream
concentrator. The pre -concentrator (Gekko plant) will recycle most of the water and separate valuable
material of higher specific gravity from the lower specific gravity rejects. Use of the Gekko plant will reduce
the amount of material removed from the site by 66%. Coarse rejects from the pre-concentrator are proposed
to be discarded into open pits at surface , and recontoured to the original surface configuration. Upgrading
of the pre -concentrate will be performed off -site at existing hydrometallurgical facilities to improve
environmental outcomes and reduce risks inherent in the weather patterns of the region.
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About Taranis Resources Inc.
For additional information on Taranis or it s 100% -owned Thor project in British Columbia, visit
www.taranisresources.com
Taranis currently has 73,594,500 shares issued and outstanding (87,123,266 shares on a fully-diluted basis).
TARANIS RESOURCES INC.
Per: John J. Gardiner (P. Geol.),
President and CEO
For further information contact:
John J. Gardiner
681 Conifer Lane
Estes Park, Colorado
80517
Phone: (303) 716-5922
Cell: (720) 209-3049
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