Bluejay Mining plc (LON:JAY), the AIM and FSE listed company with projects in Greenland and Finland, has today published an updated JORC compliant Mineral Resource Estimate and significant resource upgrade for the Dundas Ilmenite Project (‘Dundas’ or ‘the Project’) in Greenland, which reaffirms Dundas as the highest-grade mineral sand ilmenite project globally whilst highlighting the Project’s significant commercial and strategic value. The updated Mineral Resource Estimate has been prepared by SRK Exploration Services Limited (‘SRK’).
Highlights
· Total resources identified to date at Dundas now sit at 96 million tonnes at 6.9% ilmenite (in situ). An increase of some 400% on the maiden resource announced in April 2017.
o Resources comprised of the following;
§ Indicated Mineral Resources at Moriusaq equal to 81 million tonnes at 6.1% ilmenite in situ.
§ A detailed breakdown of the indicated Mineral Resources at Moriusaq can be seen in the table below;
§ Inferred Mineral Resources of;
· 7 million tonnes at 12.2% ilmenite (in-situ) at Iterlak East, a newly identified area ~15km east of Moriusaq
· 7 million tonnes at 9.2% ilmenite (in-situ) surrounding the Moriusaq indicated resources and,
· 1 million tonnes at 6.1% (in-situ) at Iterlak West
§ A newly identified additional Exploration Target over the Iterlak Delta of between 20 million tonnes and 60 million tonnes at between 6% and 10% ilmenite (in-situ). See Figure 1.
· Also underway is an assessment of the shallow marine area where potential for additional resources is being evaluated. Results will be announced in due course.
· Opportunity to upgrade the in-situ grade by up to 30% via a simple oversize separation step prior to processing, further enhancing run of mine (ROM) grade and project economics.
· Results clearly indicate the strong possibility of a large and long-life operation with obvious expansion potential.
Bluejay Mining Plc CEO Roderick McIllree said: “We are delighted with this result, a lot of hard work by a lot of people has gone into this upgrade confirming Dundas’s place amongst other major global ilmenite deposits. We expect that the natural advantages of a homogenous material new high grade indicated resource to pin an operation around and a very interesting set of very high grade targets to the East around Iterlak which is the main feeder zone will help the project economics in the long term. Coupled with the fact that this material is recognised by industry majors as being suitable for sulphate pigment and both sulphate slag and chloride slag production means we are well placed to make some big strides in the short term.
“These results matched our best internal expectations of size and grade for the indicated resources at Moriusaq, the surprise of 2017 was the realisation that Iterlak, where mineralisation is found in raised beaches and the delta, appears to host similar sized zones with much higher grades (2017 result from Iterlak was 77% ilmenite in situ on the raised beach) which says to me that if things continue as they did during 2017 Dundas could quickly become unique amongst all known deposits.
” We have continued to progress permitting, pre-feasibility work modules, as well as a general preparation towards a busy 2018, and we expect to be in a position to update shareholders shortly. The recent award of “Prospector and Developer of the Year” by the Government of Greenland is a testament to our competence and compliance to date in ensuring that the Dundas Project meets its qualifying obligations for an exploitation licence. Alongside this, the team at Bluejay has been working hard with our consulting partners (Wood Plc, IHC Robbins, SRK, Royal IHC and study managers Quedtech ltd and Keypointe ltd) in developing our mine and operational plan.
“The Company maintains a cash buffer of more than £15 million having already secured a 30t mining fleet, conveyor & trommel systems as well as other necessary equipment and accommodation necessary to prepare and ship out material for smelter testing. During the year we will prepare the site with various infrastructure works. This equipment will continue to be augmented throughout the year.
“As part of evaluating the commercial realities of viable long term ilmenite production, we have identified a simple and low cost processing route levering off natural characteristics such as the ability to remove ~30% of the oversize material prior to processing (thereby improving the in-situ grades by up to 30% also). We have also optimised the mine plan and schedule such that the operation starts on the highest grade material, a situation that we should be able to maintain for many years. Importantly, the ore contains concentrations of radionuclides that are below detection limits”.
“The Company will be updating shareholders regarding all other activities in due course.”
