Gord, time for a recap, also see Jesse's comments at ASHTON MINING THREAD:
Time
15:15
TTS
Tintina Mines Ltd
News Release
Tintina Mines Asphalt and
Buckton sampling results
ntina Mines Ltd -
Tintina Mines Asphalt and Buckton sampling results
Tintina Mines Ltd
TTS
Shares issued 7,102,277
1999-04-16 close $0.9
Monday Apr 19 1999
Mr. S.F. Sabag reports
Investigation continues of gold content of base metals enriched zones in black
shales at the company's Asphalt and Buckton properties in northeastern Alberta.
The zones have been under active exploration to assess economics of their
elevated base metal content, and while native gold had previously been physically
recovered from a surface exposure of the zone, low grades otherwise reported by
routine analytical work had mitigated against further investigation of gold content
of the rocks and the conflict between grades as recovered and grades as analyzed
had been attributed to inhomogeneities of gold distribution within the zone.
Additional details and background information for the two properties were
outlined in Stockwatch Feb. 26, 1999.
As reported, gold was sporadically reported from certain samples of composite
drill core from the two properties, from experimental test work conducted during
late 1998 for the purposes of evaluating desliming procedures to help assess
reagent consumption economics of base metals recovery. The tests were carried
out by Claytech Environmental Services Inc., a division of Ateba Mines Inc., at its
Sudbury facilities. The discovery of gold in concentrates from the test work was,
accordingly, incidental and accidental, and grades reported to Tintina were
considerably higher than its 1997 analyses of material from individual core
intervals comprising the composite samples deslimed.
Since the above tests were not formulated to determine gold grades, an aggressive
check assaying program was commenced by Tintina during late January to assess
the veracity of data reported to it from the above test work, and that of data
collected by it from routine analyses during the 1996-1997 drilling program.
Specific objectives of the check assaying program were (i) to investigate the
possibility of inadvertent or deliberate contamination; (ii) to evaluate veracity of
analytical procedures used in the above test work and during the 1997 analytical
work; and (iii) to help formulate a reassaying program intended to establish gold
content of the zones otherwise previously drilled in search of base metals. Other
objectives included expansion of scope of the work to assess the relevance of
holes previously localized to probe base metal enriched zones to proper
exploration for gold zones at the two properties.
Considerable assaying was completed during February and March. Results from
this work are erratic and are, on the whole, suggestive of extreme nugget effect
attributed to the suspected presence of native gold in at least some of the samples
tested. While work is continuing to mitigate nuggeting during analyses, several
objectives of the check assaying program have to date been satisfactorily met. The
recent tests serve to categorically rule out possibility of contamination during
earlier test work, and conclude that given the incidental discovery of gold during
routine desliming tests, analytical work then carried out was completed in
considerable haste and under test conditions ill-suited to accurate determination of
gold grades. To that end, some of the high as well as low assay results reported to
Tintina are equivocal and are likely artifacts of the combined effects of less than
rigorous analytical controls and shortfalls in sample preparation procedures, all of
which further compounded by the reliance on restrictive sample sizes as
necessitated by fire assaying procedures during analysis of concentrates. It is also
evident from the recent work that comparisons of analytical results from highly
variable sample sizes, ranging from standard 1AT subsamples to concentrates
prepared from five kilogram subsamples, may be misleading given the known
presence of native gold grains in the rocks and inherent nugget effect.
In addition to analytical work, a series of mineral investigations was also
commenced to compare concentrates previously analyzed with new material
concentrated under more controlled conditions. To date, native gold grains
recovered from a concentrate produced from work at Claytech were examined in
detail and found to be similar to gold grains previously recovered by Tintina from
the zone at the Buckton property and to gold grains recovered from stream
sediments downslope from other exposures of the Cretaceous zones elsewhere.
Examination of two recently prepared concentrates from two new samples has
reported diamond indicator minerals but as yet reported no gold and intentions are
to broaden this work in the months to come. The discovery of diamond indicator
minerals comes as no surprise, since same have been previously documented from
several bentonitic sections of drill core from the properties, and more recently also
from a suite of several hundred mineral picks from drill core samples and stream
sediments. Results from this work will be released at a later date under separate
cover.
In the interest of disclosure, results from reassaying of suites of multiple cuts from
individual samples from Asphalt property drill hole AS2 and Buckton property
drill hole BK2 are tabulated below, annotated with respective results previously
released therefrom. Other results in hand from the two holes comprise data from
round robin analyses of one 100 gram subsample of composite material from each
hole all of which reported nil gold (Lakefield Research, Activation Labs, Feb.
1999); results from other incidental assaying of isolated small subsamples of
composite material from AS2 reporting traces of gold (Activation Labs, Mar/99);
and results from recent bottle roll cyanidation tests of composite material from
hole AS2 which are summarized on a later page of this release.
Asphalt property hole AS2
Reassaying program 1999
From To Length Au
21.61 33.02 11.41 0.62 g/t
Additional material from drill hole AS2, from sections below the Second White
Specks formation, have also been submitted for assay, to reassess a number of
anomalous bentonitic sections which may well be extensions of the formation
below what had previously been interpreted to be its lower contact.
Buckton Property drill hole BK2
Reassaying program 1999
Total
Sample Weighted
Weight average
From To Assayed Au Au Au
m m max. min. g/t
60.78 61.13 65.2 0.68 3.41 1.21
61.13 61.46 112.1 0.26 1.86 0.55
61.46 61.78 110.1 nil 0.24 0.19
61.78 62.74 40.4 0.22 1.55 0.67
62.74 67.18 708.1 nil 0.21 0.10
67.18 67.30 49.9 0.05 0.65 0.20
67.30 68.45 119.0 nil 0.12 0.08
68.45 69.61 114.9 nil 0.04 0.03
72.63 72.93 132.2 0.08 0.22 0.11
69.61 70.62 112.0 0.08 0.58 0.13
70.62 77.22 834.3 nil 0.13 0.02
77.22 77.55 103.0 nil 0.27 0.19
77.55 78.44 109.9 nil nil nil
78.44 79.15 193.0 nil 0.08 0.03
Sieved metallics fire assays of non-pulverized samples, Loring Labs, Tintina check
assaying program March 1999.
Grades reported which are less than 0.05 of a gram per tonne should be regarded
to be in most part nil.
The majority of gold reported is from the fine fraction of the sample (less than 80
mesh).
The high clay content of the smectitic shales has continued to present challenges to
standard sample crushing and pulverization procedures as has their high organic
content varying 5 per cent to 11 per cent organic carbon by weight. Due to their
often ductile behaviour during crushing, many of the samples have necessarily
required longer than normal sessions in the crusher circuit to achieve acceptable
disaggregation, occasionally resulting in sample weight losses varying 2 per cent to
10 per cent. Given the known detrimental effects of overgrinding on native gold
bearing rocks, orientation tests were commenced to generally assess the effects of
pulverization on a suite of reconstructed samples. The tests suggest that
pulverization may not be as significant a systematic contributor to gold losses as
previously suspected since at least one of the reconstructed samples reported the
calculated gold grade after being pulverized. The tests do, however, suggest that
repeated sample handling and pulverization of isolated small subsamples may
indeed contribute to significant gold losses since assaying of some pulverized as
well as unpulverized test charges with known gold content under reported the
reconstructed calculated gold grade or reported nil.
Considering the highly variable analytical results documented thus far by all, recent
efforts have focused on the testing of progressively larger samples to establish
representative sample size. Orientative tests have also been directed toward
reduction of large samples by way of concentration to manageable quantities for
analysis, necessarily relying on deflocculants to segregate the high clay content of
the shales as a pretreatment to concentration. The efficacy of several deflocculants
is being evaluated including a deflocculant held under patent by Claytech which
has to date proven to be a good clay sequester reagent capable of producing
relatively high yields of clean mineral separates. Compositions of several such
separates are being assessed to determine whether they can be regarded as
chemical concentrates with beneficiated metal content.
To help formulate procedures for the analysis of large samples from the zones, 12
bottle roll cyanidation tests were completed during February to March at
Lakefield Research Laboratories on six 0.5 kilogram charges from each of two
composite samples. Although the tests were orientative, results therefrom served
to confirm extractability of gold by conventional leaching, following deflocculation,
using activated carbon. Of the total of 12 charges tested, only charges which were
deflocculated reported gold. Fire assaying carried out by Lakefield of 11 head
samples of the material cyanidated reported highly variable results reiterating that
considerable nugget effect is associated with routine gold analyses of the shales
and suggesting the presence of coarse gold therein.
Given that preg-robbing was also observed and confirmed during the above
cyanidation tests, gold grades reported therefrom are provisionally regarded as
being minimum grades which may be upgraded pending optimization of
cyanidation procedures or use of other leaching procedures better suited for the
treatment of carbonaceous material. Preg-robbing is a phenomenon common to
cyanidation of carbonaceous ores wherein adsorption of leached gold by organics
can considerably impede its recovery leading in some extreme cases to as much as
80 per cent losses of the gold to tails.
As of April 19, 1999, additional samples have been submitted for cyanidation to
corroborate earlier results. Several hundred core samples are also in hand
awaiting analysis, including footages resampled during February from archived drill
core. Work on the additional core samples will commence once a number of
procedural issues, believed to be the principal contributors to erratic results, have
been resolved. While nugget effect has thus far been repeatedly cited as a
convenient culprit, a good deal of the erratic data documented might be better
attributed to sample size and sample preparation issues.
In closing, most of the results from the recent work indicate that subgram overall
gold grades from the zones with an apparent enrichment nearer the upper and
lower contacts of the Second White Specks formation. Whether these grades will
ultimately prove to be economic is as yet unknown although overall grades ranging
0.5 g/t one g/t must be regarded as highly significant given the economic latitude
afforded large unconsolidated surface bulk-minable deposits. The zones
discovered at the two properties have analogues from elsewhere in the world,
from other bulk mining operations of large low-grade deposits hosted in
unconsolidated sediments. In the least, it is clearly evident from the recent work
that the two zones, otherwise explored only for base metals, also host gold
bearing sections which were missed by 1997 routine analytical work. The recent
test work has served to underscore that these sections merit closer scrutiny as do
similarly mineralized exposures of the Formation upslope from large gold placers
discovered at the McIvor property 25 kilometres to the north of the Buckton
property.
(c) Copyright 1999 Canjex Publishing
>Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 08:59:46 -0400
>To: "edevlin@earthlink.net" <edevlin@earthlink.net>
>From: Chuca Marsh <bondee@ici.net>
>Subject: BMD NEWS JUNE 98- see thichness, like this past weeks Clay Posts at Thread..
>
>Birch Mountain Resources Ltd BMD
>Shares issued 22,179,422 1998-06-03 close $0.25
>Friday Jun 5 1998
>See Lytton Minerals Ltd (LTL) Research
>Art Ettlinger gives no rating
>Lytton Minerals, the operator, and its joint venture partner, Birch Mountain, completed eight holes covering six anomalies in the Athabasca region of Northeastern Alberta. The property drilled lies along the northern flank of the Peace River Arch in an area of relatively thin glacial cover. HRAM surveys conducted earlier by Birch Mountain identified several targets with kimberlite characteristics. Detailed structural interpretation of the arch showed some of these targets to lie along potentially deep penetrating structures. While the limited drilling program did not intersect kimberlite, intensely fragmented structural zones were encountered. The partners are continuing with their structural interpretation of the region and are likely to begin additional geophysical surveys on their properties this spring. Drilling will resume after additional high priority targets are identified.
>Lytton recently announced the acquisition of an additional 773,000 acres of land adjacent to the Athabasca property. This expansion is the result of structural analysis, using geological, geophysical and topographic data. We believe this is an indication of their increasing level of understanding of area geology and the joint venture's commitment to diamond exploration in the region.
>
>(c) Copyright 1999 Canjex Publishing Ltd. canada-stockwatch.com
>
>
>old url (better for printing)
Birch Mountain Resources Ltd -
Advances in search for sediment hosted gold-platinum deposits
Birch Mountain Resources Ltd
BMD
Shares issued 22,179,422
1998-09-03 close $0.55
Friday Sep 4 1998
Mr. Doug Rowe reports
In response to market activity on the ASE and questions from shareholders, Birch
Mountain Resources advises that progress has been made toward the discovery
of a potential sediment-hosted gold-platinum deposit on Birch Mountain's
Athabasca property in northeastern Alberta. Over the past year, Birch Mountain
has concluded that the Prairie Gold model, developed by Birch Mountain and
used to guide its gold-platinum group metal (PGM) exploration program, probably
represents a low temperature variant of some unconformity-related,
sediment-hosted gold deposits in Nevada that are not associated with intrusive or
volcanic heat sources. This recognition has primarily been driven by the company's
detailed examination of cores obtained from oil sands operator Syncrude Canada
and structural mapping using core-based information combined with results of
Birch Mountain's 1997 high resolution aeromag survey.
This information shows that preliminary geochemical indications of alteration that
were recognized over a year ago can now be extended to show that characteristic
alteration types including decarbonation, desulphidation, sideritization, baritization
and, locally, silicification, are recognized in areas of structural disturbance directly
overlying Precambrian basement faults. Core examinations show that platinum and
gold from Syncrude drill hole 11-7-AE-96-10W4 (2.2 to 4.9 g/t platinum and 0.2
g/t gold over 1.6 metres from 72.0 to 73.6 metres depth, previously reported
April 7, 1997), occur in characteristically altered Devonian limestone within 1
kilometre of a basement structure that coincides with an alteration fairway at the
top of the Devonian.
Birch Mountain continues to use the Prairie Gold model as a guide to its
exploration for large-tonnage sediment-hosted gold-PGM deposits. The company
currently is in the process of identifying drill targets to test sediment-hosted
platinum and gold prospects in Athabasca. Plans for ground geophysical surveys
followed by drilling are expected to be announced once financing activities
currently under way have been completed successfully.
(c) Copyright 1999 Canjex Publishing Ltd. canada-stockwatch.com
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>
Birch Mountain leads Kaiser's 1999 portfolio
Birch Mountain Resources Ltd
BMD
Shares issued 24,622,290
1999-04-13 close $1.2
Tuesday Apr 13 1999
MYSTERIOUS FORCES FLOAT PRAIRIE GOLD
by Stockwatch Business Reporter
Douglas Rowe's Canadian precious metals and diamond play, Birch Mountain
Resources, now leads letter writer John Kaiser's recommendations for 1999.
Mr. Kaiser tipped Birch Mountain a medium-priority buy at 30 cents on Dec. 11,
1998. It was the only time he has recommended the stock. Birch Mountain closed
Monday on the Alberta Stock Exchange at $1.50, down 10 cents from Friday's
close on volume of 26,711 shares. No other letter writer followed by Stockwatch
has recommended the stock that is one of this year's surprise performers.
Birch Mountain's performance helped boost Mr. Kaiser's 1999 bottom-fishing
portfolio to a 17.75 per cent gain.
The reasons for Birch Mountain's dramatic rise over the last month are not
abundantly clear. One analyst says whatever is driving the stock, its search for
diamonds in Northern Alberta has nothing to do with it. "Based on geological
information of the diamond exploration program, there is no reason for the stock
to be going up," he says.
A number of brokers offered no rumours about the stock, and even the insightful,
speculative and details-oriented Mr. Kaiser has not provided to his subscribers
any fresh insights, speculations or details about his star performer.
In his original recommendation, Mr. Kaiser did not say why he liked the one-time
junior capital pool, although for many the reasons are abundantly clear. He noted
Birch Mountain's run to $8 in January 1996 was based largely on its links to
Robert Friedland and for venturing into then-hot Indonesia. In May 1995,
Diamond Fields Resources director Richard Garnett was named chairman of
Birch Mountain, whose board also boasts Calgary hockey icon Lanny McDonald.
The company in December had a modest cash position of $800,000; additionally,
Mr. Kaiser's buy tip came in spite of what he called its "controversial" Prairie gold
model that hopes to locate gold and platinum in shale. Precious metals are not
often found in shale.
Birch Mountain's recovery caught hold about a week after March 1 results were
released by Tintina Mines and NSR Resources from their Asphalt and Buckton
properties in Northeastern Alberta, which is also Birch Mountain's main area of
interest. Tintina and NSR are searching for shale-hosted base metals, but also
hope to find diamonds; traces of precious metals have been discovered. Even
though the March 1 results were inconclusive at best, they coincided with recent
highs for Tintina and NSR reached on March 2.
Birch Mountain owns 500,000 of Tintina's 7.1 million shares. The company
picked up 500,000 units of Tintina in a September 1996 private placement
totalling $625,000. The units consisted of one share at $1.25 and one warrant
exercisable within a year at $1.50. Birch Mountain coincidentally invested
$208,333 in another private placement for 300,625 units of NSR. Each unit
consisted of one share at 69 cents and a warrant exercisable within a year at 83
cents.
The relationship was deepened at the same time with a three-way property deal in
which Birch Mountain acquired an option to purchase a 51 per cent interest in the
Tintina-NSR-held Fort McKay property. The cost was $700,000 if Birch
Mountain paid within six months, or $1-million within 12 months.
In November 1998, the three companies agreed to amend the Fort McKay deal
to provide Birch Mountain with more time to continue its evaluation of the
property. In the agreement, the expiry date on the option was extended to Sept.
18, 1998, and the price revised to $1.2-million.
To date there has been no indication from Birch Mountain that the money was
paid. In a March 12, 1999, statement, however, Birch Mountain updated drilling
activities on Fort McKay and reiterated that Birch Mountain "holds an option to
acquire up to 51 per cent working interest in the property."
During the past month, Birch mountain has issued a no-material-change report and
an update of activities at its three most active properties -- Athabasca, Fort
McKay and the Birch Mountain block.
Many of Birch Mountain's statements mention the Prairie gold model and it is this
rather speculative aspect of the stock that has drawn the most comment from the
stock's on-line supporters. Silicon Investor's Birch Mountain thread was
established on March 11 after its first spurt of activity.
Birch Mountain's manager of exploration, Dr. Hugh Abercrombie, is scheduled to
give a 30-minute speech at the Calgary Mining Forum on April 22, which has
impressed many members of the forum. The topic is "Birch Mountain's Prairie
Gold Model: A Low Temperature Variant of Carlin-Type Sentiment-Hosted Gold
Deposits?" Dr. Abercrombie is an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary.
Birch Mountain stock, which slid steadily since mid-1996, hit bottom at 12 cents
in August 1998 -- along with much of the junior market -- in spite of buy
recommendations six months earlier by Yorkton Securities. At that time, Yorkton
liked Birch Mountain's exposure to Alberta diamonds near Ashton Mining's
Buffalo Hills play. The market responded favourably but only briefly to the Alberta
diamonds move (it reached 95 cents in February 1998), which involved a joint
venture with Lytton Minerals and New Indigo Resources. Lytton and New Indigo
amalgamated on March 2 as Tahera Corp.; Tahera is now exploring for diamonds
in the Northwest Territories.
During the last month, Canaccord Capital was the largest net buyer of the stock.
In the last 30 days, it bought 392,335 shares while selling 71,510. Yorkton
bought 537,639 and sold 472,609. The total number of shares traded since
March 13 is 1,403,840. On March 11, a day of particularly high volume that
immediately preceded the March 12 no-material-change statement, 569,102
shares traded.
Mr. Kaiser's current portfolio gain of 17.75 per cent compares with a nine per
cent gain last month. At that time, Pacific Rim Mining led the way with a double
from its December buy price of 81 cents. Pacific Rim continues its winning ways,
closing on Monday at $1.80.
As of Monday, the California cheap-stock writer's gainers led losers by a
surprisingly slim margin of 52 to 48.
Mr. Kaiser's second and third strongest stocks were both gold explorers. Oro
Nevada Resources closed on Monday at $1.46, up from 36 cents since Dec. 11
amid speculation surrounding a private placement and an acquisition. On March
25, Mr. Kaiser said Oro Nevada was a hold. Latin America-focused Aquest
Minerals closed at 50 cents, up from 10 cents December, based largely on
speculation surrounding its acquisition of a private Guatemalan gold mining
company and early results from that company's Anabella property. On March 31,
Mr. Kaiser repeated his buy recommendation on Aquest.
The negative side of Mr. Kaiser portfolio was once again led by Queenstake
Resources (at 24 cents from 62 cents since Dec. 11), followed by Borneo Gold
(at eight cents from 23 cents), and Alamos Minerals (at 23 cents from 52 cents).
(c) Copyright 1999 Canjex Publishing Ltd. canada-stockwatch.com
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Chuca- we are all interwined...best fortunes to all. I know not how they will fall. |
