Resource World Magazine

D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8 www.resourceworld.com 67 Happy Creek's high-grade tungsten project progressing well by Thomas Schuster HAPPY CREEK MINERAL LTD. [HPY-TSXV] holds a 100% interest in the 130 km 2 Fox tungsten property in south-central British Columbia. The project boasts seven mineralized zones within an area that measures 10 by 3 km and is centred around a granite intrusive. So far, only two of these zones have resource estimates and these have only been partially delineated. The southern and central portion of the property are easily accessible by paved and gravel logging roads from 100 Mile House, the larg- est community in the region. Happy Creek acquired the property in 2005 and since that time has completed extensive trenching, drilling, sampling and mapping as well as geophysical surveys. Building on this data the company has tabled a resource estimate that covers two zones within the larger mineralized system; the Ridley Creek (RC) zone and the Blann (BN) zone. Resources at Fox remain open to expansion with grades com- parable to the Cantung Mine in the Yukon/Northwest Territories. This mine was regarded as the highest-grade tungsten mine in the western world until it closed a few years ago. Probable reserves at Cantung were 1.8 million tonnes averaging 0.81% WO 3 . The RC and BN zone resource estimate was based on the con- cept of a small scale, open pit and underground room and pillar operation for the RC Zone and a small-scale underground room and pillar mining operation for the BN Zone. Open pit resources use a cut-off grade 0.20% WO 3 and underground resources use a cut-off grade of 0.55% WO 3 . Total indicated resource estimate in the RC zone (combin- ing both open pit and underground resources) tallies to 486,000 tonnes averaging 0.818% WO 3 , or 397,000 contained MTU. For the open pit portion of the Ridley Creek Zone, there is 329,000 tonnes of 0.759% WO 3 (indicated) having a strip ratio of 3.3:1. Tungsten is priced in Metric Tonne Units (MTU). One MTU is equivalent to 10 kg of tungsten trioxide concentrate. So, if the price of WO 3 is US $265/MTU, that translates to US $26.50/kg or US $26,500/tonne of tungsten trioxide concentrate. The inferred portion of the resource for the RC and BN zones add another 361,000 tonnes grading 1.568% WO 3 , containing 566,000 MTU of tungsten trioxide. The Fox property is underlain by a tungsten-molybdenum porphyry type system which is believed to have developed in an anticline of metasediment and limestone units that have been converted to hornfels, calc silicate and skarn. This large scale "porphyry-driven" mineral system focused hydrothermal tung- sten-rich fluids into surrounding carbonate rocks and formed a very favourable geological setting. Although the primary commodity is tungsten, the company has identified potentially recoverable amounts of gold, silver, indium, and zinc that are also present in some of the mineral- ized zones. In addition, exploration has identified well defined molybdenum and tungsten-in-soil anomalies. These have been only partially tested by diamond drilling and may offer additional potential for the discovery of other mineralized zones. Between December 2015 and April 2016, Happy Creek collected a 400-kg sample for metallurgical testing. Results indi- cated a 75.8% WO 3 recovery and formed a concentrate grading 68% WO 3 . Based on this initial test work, Fox mineralization is believed to have the potential to produce a concentrate with acceptable commercial grades containing no deleterious elements affecting its ability to be sold. Metallurgical testing also indicated a by-product containing zinc, gold, silver and indium is also potentially achievable. Further test work is required to fine tune and improve the recovery process. Recently, Happy Creek Minerals completed a 4,446.3-metre drill program (38 holes) to further expand resources. David Blann, President and CEO of Happy Creek, said, "This year, drilling at the BN Zone expanded the mineralized area by about four times. The Fox has again returned globally top-tier tungsten grades such as drill hole F17-29 with 5 metres of 2.98% WO 3 that is more than 75 metres east of F12-27 containing 14.8 metres of 4.0% WO 3 in the Middle layer. Reconnaissance drill- ing further west has confirmed that a 1 km long tungsten-in-soil anomaly is underlain by mineralized calc silicate layers at and near-surface and provides potential to expand resources in this direction. While the BN deposit still remains open, we expect the new results to make a substantial contribution for the Fox Project in an updated resource estimate. Since the previous resource esti- mate, tungsten prices increased 44% which will have a beneficial effect on lowering the economic cut-off grade". Happy Creek Minerals has 92.2 million shares outstanding and a market capitalization of $19.4 million. n Diamond drill core from the Fox Project of high-grade scheelite, a fluorescent tungsten mineral, as viewed under ultraviolet light. Photo courtesy Happy Creek Minerals Ltd.

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