Clear Hills Project - Alberta, Canada
Ironstone holds a 100% interest on 16 metallic and industrial minerals permits and leases, encompassing over 80,000 hectares in the Clear Hills region of northwestern Alberta.
Ironstone’s Project Development History
Ironstone acquired its Clear Hills mineral properties, encompassing the four blocks noted in Hamilton’s report, in mid-2007.
In early 2008, the company drilled 51 holes on its Rambling Creek (Block B), coring a total of 385m of mineralized ironstone (Bad Heart formation).
SGS Lakefield Research was engaged in Q2 2008 to perform geochemical, mineralogical and metallurgical analysis on the core, recently completing a third phase of iron beneficiation work and gold deportment tests.
Ironstone successfully applied for, and currently is the sole applicant for, significant near-surface lignite “A” coal resources overlying the ironstone. The coal has been determined to be a low-cost alternative to natural gas for thermal energy in addition to providing a nearby source for iron reducing carbon.
Ironstone acquired major land positions in Alberta in 2010 at Botha River and Smoky River, based on the presence of ironstone and potential for precious metals.
The Rambling Creek block was assigned a compliant resource of 140Mt of indicated and 63Mt of inferred resource upon release of SRK Consultants NI 43-101 report in October 2010. The report is based on the results of the 2008 drilling program.
During February and March 2011, the Company carried out a second drill program focused on extending the known ironstone deposit south of the Rambling Creek permit on to the North Whitemud River project area. Ironstone drilled a total of 148 holes and recovered 12,086m of core.
SRK Consultants (Canada) Inc. incorporated the results of the Rambling Creek resource with the North Whitemud River resource in a revised NI 43-101 report in November 2011. Ironstone’s total compliant resource in the Clear Hills is currently 556.5Mt indicated, 86.9Mt inferred with the 556.5Mt of indicated resource also grading 0.20% V2O5.
Ironstone permitted a 45,000t/a bulk sample pit on its Rambling Creek block and extracted 11,000 tonnes in Q1 2011. The ore has been stockpiled on Ironstone’s Hines Creek property close to highway for shipment to several pilot plants in 2011.
Dr. Ed Betram has joined Ironstone’s process and pilot development team as an advisor, having intimate knowledge of the GE Process or Grain Enlargement process, originally developed in 1970s at the Alberta Research Council.
Kingston Process Metallurgy (KPM), of Kingston, Ontario, was contracted to further the earlier beneficiation work of Dr. Bertram. The firm has special expertise in the development of processes through their knowledge of the reaction mechanisms associated with the metallization of the ore. KPM has recently completed Phase 3 work, demonstrating excellent metallization of the iron ore. Results of this work will be incorporated into Ironstone’s continuing metallurgical and pilot development work.
HATCH consultanting engineers have been contracted to oversee Ironstone pyrometallurgical and pilot development work through 2011 and into 2102. Extensive metallurgical testing and ongoing GE Process flow development is currently underway, with results showing great promise. Ironstone expects to complete most of its process flow work by the end of Q2 2012.
A map illustrating Ironstone’s 199 drilling locations on its Rambling Creek and North Whitemud River blocks
REFERENCES
Bertram, E.F. and Mellon, G.B., (1975): Peace River iron deposits; Alberta Research Council, Alberta Geological Survey, Information Series 75, 53 p.
Arseneau, G., Johnson, M. (2010) Clear Hills Iron Project, Clear Hills Alberta. SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. Vancouver, BC.