Resource World Magazine

62 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 2 0 Wolfden Resources expanding Pickett Mountain VMS resource by Ellsworth Dickson WOLFDEN RESOURCES CORP. [WLF-TSXV; WLFFF-OTC] is pleased with the latest drilling results from the 100%-owned Pickett Mountain VMS (zinc-lead-copper-silver) Project in Penobscot County, Maine, USA. The program was designed to expand Indicated Resources of 2.05 Mt at 19.3% ZnEq (9.9% Zn, 3.9% Pb, 1.4% Cu, 102 g/t Ag and 0.92 g/t Au) and Inferred Resources of 2.03 Mt at 20.6% ZnEq (11.0% Zn, 4.4% lead, 1.2% Cu, 111 g/t Ag and 0.92 g/t Au). A series of 25-35-metre step-out intersections included 15.3% ZnEq over 4.2 metres. In addition, new drill targets were delineated on the property and along the 30-km trend. Wolfden acquired the property in 2017 just as Maine announced a new mining code, stated Ron Little, President and CEO, in an interview with Resource World. Little said "Maine is host to high-grade VMS deposits simi- lar to the adjacent world-class deposits of New Brunswick and Newfoundland. Known as the Gander Terrain, the roughly 500 million year old sequence of volcanic rocks is largely un-explored in Maine," Little said. "Pickett Mountain would be an analogue to the high-grade Buchans Mine of Newfoundland that produced 16 Mt of +20% ZnEq. Pickett Mountain has two lenses containing 4 Mt of at 20% ZnEq in qualified resources and Wolfden is focused on expanding the deposit and exploring the remainder of the 30 km belt. Considering the associations with the rest of the world-class terrain and that Pickett Mountain and the belt are largely under- explored, Little is of the view that Pickett Mountain has excellent expansion potential. "Drilling to date has focused on expanding the known lenses, while airborne and ground geophysics, soil sampling, trenching and mapping have successfully identified other local and regional drill targets that will be drill tested in 2020. Ultimately, we hope to discover additional near-surface resources (lenses) close by, as we don't doubt the deposit extends further than the known depth of 800 metres below surface," said Little. Buchans mined up to seven lenses for the combined total pro- duction of 16 Mt. The average grade of zinc mining today is about 8% ZnEq and Pickett Mountain is more than double that. "Given we are close to excellent infrastructure in Maine (highway, power, rail, town) and the area is thinly populated for miles around the deposit, the project is well positioned for future development and good margins," he said. "The orebody is semi-vertical and lends itself well to an underground operation with an average mining width of 4-6 metres. This suits the new mining code in Maine which only allows underground mining for metals. In addition, they've have instituted dry stack tailings mine closure monitoring into per- petuity, much like several provinces in Canada. This is less of a concern as we envision a zero discharge scenario with any mine or run off water being the same quality or better than the cur- rent surface waters once cleaned," said Little. "The mining code has been streamlined with set time lines and they've eliminated all the typical exploration permits that you would require in much of Canada for line-cutting, geophysics, diamond drilling – which can be completed under an annual proposed program report." He has confidence Pickett Mountain grades are high enough to support underground mining. "At the current grade of 20% ZnEq with conservative metal prices, the in-situ value of the rock $530 a tonne and with, preliminary recoveries at 75-80%, you're achieving about $400 a tonne recovered," commented Little. "This would be the equivalent of a 1 million ounce gold deposit at 10-13 g/t, and there are not many of those sitting beside a high- way in North America." Wolfden is willing to consider various options for taking the project to production, even building the mine themselves if mar- ket conditions improve. "I've not seen another deposit like this, that is so well set up to build and with such obvious upside exploration potential," said Little. "We're just off a main highway, there's power, there's a town 10 miles away and a railroad siding 15 miles away. The locals are very supportive of our efforts and keen for more employment. This is timber country and we think the wood cutters will easily convert to underground miners. We're not far from the Canadian border and more than likely concen- trates would be shipped for smelting to Quebec, New Brunswick and to deep water ports destined for Europe." "Another alternative could be to ship the high-grade ore in a raw or a semi-concentrate form to another operation in New Brunswick. Under such a scenario, we wouldn't have to build a concentrator and tailings facility in Maine and significantly reduce the up-front capital to start the operation," remarked Little. "Regardless, this operation will have a very small footprint," said Little. "We'll essentially remove all of the sulphides from MINING

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