Laurion Mineral Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE:LME)(OTCQX:LMEFF) announced that assay values have been received from a comprehensive sampling program of the mill tailings at its Sturgeon River Property located near Beardmore, Ontario.
The survey data and the assay results of the comprehensive sampling program of the mill tailings and the waste rock pile as reported in the January 4, 2011 news release are currently being incorporated into a mineral resource estimate by the Corporation's Consultants GeoVector Management Inc ("GeoVector"). It is anticipated that this estimate should be completed before the end of January 2011.
On May 13, 2010 Laurion reported that grab sampling by the GeoVector of the mill tailings returned a sample of 0.68 g/t gold. Historical sampling by Phoenix in 1984 returned 0.58 g/t from the edges of the tailings disposal area. At that time it was postulated that potential for higher grade gold values existed at the base of the tailings where gold would have accumulated from gravity settlement of the tailings. Based on reported production records, there is a potential of 125,000-135,000 tons of tailings that could possibly be processed to recover any contained gold. This estimate of tonnage is historical and does not conform to the current National Instrument 43-101 standards, and should not be relied upon.
On the basis of the above initial positive results, Laurion commissioned a comprehensive program to accurately determine the location and volume of the tailings and to sample the tailings pile using an overburden drill to acquire representative samples throughout the tailings containment area. This information will be used to calculate a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate.
The survey of the tailings area was carried out by TBT Engineering Consulting Group ("TBTE") of Thunder Bay, using a Trimble R8 RTK GPS with an accuracy of approximately 1 cm. The overburden drilling was also carried out by TBTE with hole locations determined using the Trimble R8 RTK GPS. Holes were planned on a diamond grid with 20 meter hole spacing. A total of 93 drill collars were spotted and 87 were drilled. Six holes were not drilled as they appeared to be off the tailing area, or were inaccessible. A total of 376 samples were collected, ranging from 0.10 meters to 1.10 meters, with an average thickness of 0.42 meters. Tailings thickness intersected in the drilling ranged from 0.60 meters to 3.90 meters. Most drill holes penetrated through the tailings into the underlying organics, which were also sampled.
Sampling of the overburden drilling was carried out by TBTE under the supervision of GeoVector. The samples were sent to Actlabs and were analyzed by fire assay with AA finish. Any high grade samples over 3000 ppb gold were further treated to fire assay with gravimetric finish to determine a final gold grade. Individual assay results ranged from nil gold to 21.50 g/t gold. The gold grade was consistently higher in the lower intervals of the tailings intersections, thus confirming that percolation of the gold had indeed occurred. Drill intersections through the total mill tailings thickness ranged from a low of 0.13 g/t over 1.0 meter to 9.65 g/t over 0.90 meters.
In a press release on January 4, 2011, Laurion announced the completion of a comprehensive survey/sampling program of the waste rock pile in which assay values of up to 32 g/t gold were reported. The Sturgeon River Mine operated between the period 1936 to 1942. The quartz vein material mined from the No. 3 main vein was reportedly hand sorted and milled at an average grade of 15.71 g/t gold, thus higher grade material of current economic value was either designated to the waste rock pile or to the tailings disposal area after milling.
All samples from the 2010 waste pile program were delivered by GeoVector Management Inc. personnel to the Activation Laboratories ("Actlabs") facility in Geraldton. Actlabs is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited analytical laboratory.
The work programs at the Sturgeon River property are designed and managed by GeoVector Management Inc. The technical information contained in this news release has been verified by Joseph Campbell, P. Geo., President of GeoVector, who is a Qualified Person as defined in "National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Properties."
Source: Laurion Mineral Exploration Inc.