Resource World Magazine

A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 www.resourceworld.com 55 The PFS anticipates that Relief Canyon's three open-pit mines (North, South, and Light Bulb) would be mined as one pit. Perkins points out that, "We've got a 25,000-acre land package and we are drilling in the Pershing Pass area, south of the existing pits. We are drilling 3,200 feet with six holes in that area. This is exploration drilling. It is about six miles south of the existing pit, in the Black Jack area, so any satellite discoveries could potentially come into a near term produc- tion profile at Relief Canyon." In June, Pershing Gold announced that it entered into a Mining Sublease with Newmont USA Ltd. for the Black Jack property further consolidating the Antelope Springs mining district in the Pershing Pass area south of the Relief Canyon Mine. Under the terms of the Sublease, Pershing Gold has the exclusive right to prospect, explore for, develop, and mine minerals on these areas. The Sublease has an initial term of 10 years and may be extended by Pershing Gold. Stephen Alfers, Chairman, CEO, and President of Pershing Gold said, "We are hopeful that the drilling at Blackjack will result in the discovery of satellite deposits on our 25,000 acre land posi- tion, which could extend the life of the entire project." "The thing that everyone should keep in mind," concluded Perkins, "is that we have a project here that we have derisked significantly over the last few years; the PFS coming out is another significant derisking factor. We believe Relief Canyon may have the lowest initial CAPEX of any project of relative size in its peer group with very robust economics. We are just very excited to move this project forward as quickly as we can and we are looking forward to doing just that." Pershing Gold has 28,402,389 com- mon shares outstanding, 2,725,092 shares of series E convertible preferred stock, 2,497,763 warrants, 1,035,337 restricted stock units and 1,794,453 stock options with a market cap of ~US $80 million. n Voyageur Minerals plans near term barite production Calgary-based Voyageur Minerals Ltd. [VM-TSXV] is gearing up for mining and producing a saleable barite rock product from its 100%-owned Frances Creek quarry south of Golden and 55 km from Radium Hot Springs, eastern British Columbia. The company has three barite properties in the area with resources totaling about 1.6 million tonnes. The other two are Pedly Mountain and Jubilee Mountain. In an interview, Steven Livingston, VP Finance, told Resource World that talks are underway for an off-take client in the oil & gas industry to purchase 1,000 to 2,000 tonnes of barite (95%-99% BaSO 4 – barium sulphate) per month. Voyageur would bring a portable crusher to the road-accessible quarry site and crush the barite to under one-inch in size. The customer would pick up the crushed rock at the quarry. Livingston explained that dolomite is the waste rock which, in the past, Voyageur has sold for road construction which will continue. Drilling permits have been approved and production permits have been submitted and Voyageur is awaiting approval for 10,000 tonnes. First Nations relationships are on track. Voyageur expects that after about three years of quarrying, the next step would be to begin underground mining operations. There is strong demand in North America for barite as currently most of it is shipped from China and India. In Canada, some 90% of barite is imported and 80% is imported in the US. Barite is used by the oil & gas industry during drilling to control pressure, prevent cave-ins and prevent the uncontrolled release of oil and gas. Barite is also used as filler in paints, plastics and paper, brake pads for vehicles, rubber and carpet underlay, copper smelting, pharmaceuticals and paper production. Barite (specific gravity 4.1) currently sells for about CDN $450/tonne in central Alberta. Voyageur Minerals has farmed out its Paradox Basin lithium prospect in south- east Utah to Australian company Anson Resources Ltd. [ANS-ASX] which can earn an initial 70% interest in the 2,290-hectare Paradox lithium brine project. Anson can earn a 10% interest by paying $75,000 (paid), 40% by defining the location(s) for one or more drill holes, issuing a NI 43-101 technical report, and spending US $666,000 and 70% by drilling one or more holes, issuing an updated NI 43-101 technical report, and spending US $2,330,000. Anson can earn a 70% interest in the project post-feasibility. Work is under way on the project where the nearest town is Moab. Anson has conducted a testing program using synthetically prepared brine with a composition that matches samples from Clastic Zone 31 located 800 metres south of the project. The objective of the testing was to determine the best method of eliminating the undesirable magnesium present in the lithium brine. The Clastic Zone 31, which has yielded assays of 1,700 ppm lithium, is subterranean pressurized brine approx- imately 6,000-7,000 feet below surface. There are additional 20 untested Clastic Zones possibly containing lithium brines. Voyageur also holds the Lithium King brine project in the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. John Rucci, President and CEO of Voyageur, has been directly involved with bringing two gold projects from discovery to production. n

• Cover