Mountain Lake Resources Inc. (TSX-V: MOA) has reported that analytical results from the latest drill program confirm two areas of interest on the Little River Gold-Antimony Property, located in southern Newfoundland.
The Little River Property (the "Property") has a strike length of ~31 kilometres (km) and Mountain Lake has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Property.
“The intervals of high grade antimony are significant and are typical of the material being mined at the Beaver Brook Antimony Mine situated 80 km to the north of the Le Pouvoir Vein Zone.”
A total of 301 metres (m) were drilled in 5 short holes in the Le Pouvoir Zone, which is located in the northeast area of the Property. These holes were drilled in the vicinity of the partially exposed antimony + gold (Sb+Au) vein, where 6 grab samples from a vein exposed in shallow pits over a 40 m length during this past summer's prospecting campaign returned values from 27.6% to 50% Sb with Au values up to 24.1 grams per tonne (g/t), (see news release of September 8). The best intercept occurred in drill hole LR-10-16, which contained a 0.92 m interval (all widths are true widths) of 30.6% Sb at a vertical depth of 18 m. Hole LR-10-18, the most northerly hole drilled 100 m to the north of LR-10-16, encountered a 0.5 m interval of 0.52% Sb and a 0.64 m interval of 0.11% Sb, both between 30 and 33 m vertical depth. The highest gold value encountered in this area was 0.25 g/t.
A total of 299 m were drilled in 5 short holes in the Southern Zone located 21 km southwest of the Le Pouvoir Zone. Antimony was encountered in 3 of the holes. Hole LR-10-13 encountered a 3.6 m zone (from 42.9 to 46.5 m downhole) containing 1.13% Sb and 0.4 g/t Au including a 0.5 m interval of 6.3% Sb; and a separate interval (from 48.5 to 49 m) containing 2.58 g/t Au and 1.81% Sb. Holes LR-10-11 and -12, the nearest holes, were drilled 200 m south of LR-10-13. LR-10-11 encountered a 0.5 m interval of 4.01% Sb and 0.98 g/t Au and LR-10-12 encountered several zones with Sb values of 0.87% / 0.7 m, 0.44% / 0.62 m and 0.78% / 0.4 m.
Gary Woods, President and CEO of Mountain Lake commented, "The intervals of high grade antimony are significant and are typical of the material being mined at the Beaver Brook Antimony Mine situated 80 km to the north of the Le Pouvoir Vein Zone."
Beaver Brook is the only primary Sb mine in North America. The alteration assemblage associated with the Sb veins at both Beaver Brook and the Le Pouvoir Zone is sericite and chlorite, with significant fuchsite. The mineralization at Beaver Brook is found in narrow veins and breccia zones. The nature of the narrow, high grade mineralized intervals in some of the early drill holes at the Beaver Brook property can be viewed on the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources (NLDNR) website at:>
Mountain Lake plans to continue to follow up on both of these Zones at the earliest opportunity next year as well as on yet untested areas where interesting Sb and Au values have been encountered in the soil sampling and trenching programs situated between the two Zones of interest which were drilled this year.
Mountain Lake would again like to extend its gratitude to the NLDNR, Mines and Energy Division, for its continued support through the Junior Exploration Assistance Program and the approval of a $100,000 grant to offset some of this year's exploration costs on the Little River Project.
Gary Woods, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person on the Little River Property, and has reviewed and verified the contents of this news release.
Antimony can occur in its native form, but is usually found in other minerals and most commonly in the mineral stibnite. A silvery-white crystalline metal, antimony is used to increase hardness and strength of metal alloys. Antimony and its compounds are widely used in the production of batteries, bullets, cable sheathing, flame-proofing compounds, glass, ceramics, paints, pottery and in the semiconductor industry. According to the USGS - Mineral Commodity Summaries 2010, China was the world's leading producer of antimony in 2009 having produced 90% of the estimated 187,000 tonnes of total global output. The latest available (Dec 14) bid price for a tonne of antimony (99.6% pure ingot) is US$ 12,000 (source: MinorMetals.com).
Mountain Lake has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Property, which consists of 382 mining claims comprising 9,550 hectares over a strike length of ~31 km in the Baie D'Espoir area of southern Newfoundland. The Property is close to local population centres, is cross cut by major power lines, and can be accessed by way of the Bishop Falls to Harbour Breton highway and secondary roads and trails that exist on the Property.
Although originally optioned for its numerous gold occurrences, Mountain Lake continues to encounter interesting antimony values on the Property as well; and antimony (stibnite) bearing veins having now been identified over a 20 km strike length. The antimony vein in the northeastern portion of the Property ( the "Le Pouvoir Zone") is of particular interest as it is significantly larger than the vein that was initially discovered in 1989 on the Beaver Brook property ~80 km to the north. That discovery resulted in extensive exploration and development and the Beaver Brook antimony mine being brought into production in 1998. Beaver Brook is one of the largest antimony deposits in the world, the only primary antimony mine in Canada or the United States, and the largest outside of China. Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corp., the largest integral metals producer in China by production volume excluding aluminum, acquired 100% of the Beaver Brook Mine in October 2009.
Source: Mountain Lake Resources Inc.