Greenland Exploration Update

RNS Number : 0311P

Bluejay Mining PLC

29 August 2017

 

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Bluejay Mining plc / EPIC: JAY / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining

29 August 2017

Bluejay Mining plc ('Bluejay' or the 'Company')

Greenland Exploration Update

Bluejay Mining plc, the AIM and FSE listed company with projects in Greenland and Finland, is pleased to provide an update on exploration and development work currently underway at its flagship Pituffik Titanium Project in Greenland ('Pituffik' or the 'Project').  Furthermore, the Company is pleased to confirm that exploration work at the Company's Disko-Nuussuaq Magmatic Massive Sulphide Nickel-Copper-Platinum Project ('Disko') in south-west Greenland is on-track to commence in Q4 2017.

Drilling nearing completion:

·    All sonic drill holes outside of existing resource area completed see (Figures 1 & 2)

·    A further 50 sonic holes now planned within the existing Pituffik resource area

·    Auger drilling is underway at Itelak, which represents the largest target on the licence area, as well as a recently discovered super high-grade deposit to the east where initial sampling shows that extensive areas of up to 80% ilmenite in-situ exists in large quantities (Figure 3)

·    High grade ilmenite observed in all holes to date with some holes returning exceptional high-grade results from top to bottom (Figure 4)

·    New resource calculation is expected to potentially increase the current resource of 23.6Mt at 8.8% ilmenite

Bulk sample complete:

·    Initial first batch of 250 tonne ilmenite rich run-of-mine ('ROM') material shipped, second batch of 250 being prepared for shipping

·    Additional material is also being shipped to finalise metallurgical test work at the Company's pilot plant located at IHC Robbins (subsidiary of Royal IHC) in Queensland, Australia

·    Additional batch of 250 tonne of ROM material prepared for further customer acceptance process

·    Recovery of ilmenite rich sediment has exceeded expectations and stockpiling of the sorted material has now commenced

·    Stockpiling of high grade material has now commenced to fast track commencement of mining during 2018 (see Figure 5, and http://www.titanium.gl/video-gallery/ named "Active beach stockpiling")

·    Stockpiling of ROM will continue until the end of Q3 2017

GEUS Bathymetry survey complete:

·    Covered an area of ±90km² in total in two phases

·    Detailed regional off-shore survey identified and surveyed - according to Danish Maritime Law, bulk carrier capable shipping channels and fixed-point moorage are possible along the Pituffik coastline

·    Detailed nearshore survey results indicate potential for bulk carrier access to near shore as well as the ability to emplace ship loading facilities. These results will feed into the feasibility assessment and trade off studies in preparation for lodging the exploitation application

Orbicon baseline sampling programme complete:

·    Results of sampling programme will be included in final parts of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) scheduled for completion during Q4 2017

·    Submission of Exploitation Licence continues on schedule

SRK Exploration Services Limited and SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd site visit complete:

·    Geotechnical work programme to determine optimal infrastructure design parameters underway

·    Includes mapping, test pitting, bulking factor tests and hydrogeological measurements

·    QA/QC process for future resource work completed

Disko Electromagnetic Survey ('EM'):

·    Southern Geoscience will commence the EM survey sequenced to optimise costs on Disko in early Q4 2017, using equipment that has been demobilised from Pituffik.  The survey is expected to be completed by the end of Q4 2017.

Bluejay CEO Roderick McIllree said, 

"H1 2017 was focussed on planning our 2017 work programme at Pituffik and I am pleased to report that H2 2017 is focussed on delivering the results.  We have made critical progress in proving the significant and unique commercial potential of our quality ilmenite product and process design. We will update shareholders on these metallurgical breakthroughs in the coming weeks, however the results received to date give us confidence we can commercially produce an in-demand, high quality ilmenite product.

"The current work programme has exceeded our expectations on all levels, both in terms of timing and results, so we are now undertaking additional work programmes to further advance our assets towards production. We will also shortly advise on development plans for Disko Exploration, which whilst not our priority focus, offers significant upside value as the asset has shown potential to host mineralisation similar to the world's largest nickel/copper sulphide mine - Norilsk-Talnakh. With multiple work programmes currently underway I look forward to updating shareholders accordingly."

Figure 1. Completed sonic drilling outside of the existing resource (yellow hatched area is the maiden resource) - see PDF

Figure 2. Auger drill hole locations at ltelak and Itelak East - see PDF

Figure 3. Large volumes of high grade material discovered at Itelak east - see PDF

Figure 4. Typical sonic drill core. A high grade "ilmenite blanket" that drapes the bedrock unit identified over licence area - see PDF

Figure 5. Stockpiling commences of sorted high grade ilmenite concentrate - see PDF

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit http://www.titanium.gl or contact:

Roderick McIllree	Bluejay Mining plc	[phone]
Ewan Leggat	SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP	[phone]
Soltan Tagiev	SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP	[phone]
Charlotte Page	St Brides Partners Ltd	[phone]
Megan Dennison	St Brides Partners Ltd	[phone]

Notes

Bluejay is dual listed on the London AIM market and Frankfurt Stock Exchange and primarily focussed on advancing the Pituffik Titanium Project in Greenland into production in 2018.  Pituffik has been proven to be the highest-grade mineral sand ilmenite project globally, with an initial Inferred JORC resource of 23.6Mt at 8.8% ilmenite (in situ), including a high-grade zone equal to 7.9Mt at 14.2% ilmenite.  Crucially significant further upside remains, as the resource forms part of a larger exploration target for the tested area of between 90Mt to 130Mt at an in-situ grade of between 6.3% and 8.4% ilmenite.  Furthermore, the resource area covers just ~17% of the raised beach area - one of three main target areas situated along an >40km coastline:

·    Raised beaches; containing ilmenite accumulations over widths of more than 1km, of unknown depths, along more than 30km of coastline;

·    Active beaches; which refer to the area seaward of the frontal dunes, including the beach, tidal zones and surf zone; and

·    Drowned beaches; refers to the areas seaward of active beaches.

The Company's strategy is focused on the production of a bulk sample "proof of concept" from the Pituffik Project in 2017 with the aim of securing an offtake partner and commencing commercial production in 2018 in order to create a company capable of self-funding exploration on current projects and future acquisitions.

Bluejay holds two additional projects in Greenland - the 194sq km Disko-Nuussuaq ('Disko') Magmatic Massive Sulphide ('MMS') nickel-copper-platinum project ('Ni-Cu-PGM'), which  has shown its potential to host mineralisation similar to the world's largest nickel/copper sulphide mine Norilsk-Talnakh, and the 107sq km Kangerluarsuk Sed-Ex lead-zinc-silver project ('Kangerluarsuk'), where historical work has recovered grades of 41% zinc, 9.3% lead and 596 g/t silver and identified four large-scale drill ready targets.  Bluejay intends to conduct a high-powered, ground based, electromagnetic survey at Disko in Q4 2017 for the purposes of identifying optimum drill site locations for the possibility of drilling during 2018. 

The Company also has a 100% interest in a portfolio of copper, zinc and nickel projects in Finland.  This multi-commodity portfolio has been restructured to be cost-sustainable whilst determining the best plan for future development.

Qualified Persons

The information in this press release that relates to Mineral Resources is based on information compiled under the direction of Dr Mike Armitage C Geol., C Eng., who is a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining which is a Recognised Overseas Professional Organisation ('ROPO') included in a list promulgated by JORC from time to time.

Dr Armitage is a full-time employee of SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he has undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' (the JORC Code) and for the purposes of the AIM Rules. Dr Armitage has reviewed this press release and consents to the inclusion in the press release of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which this appears.

 

END

 

 

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