VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkWire -- QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (TSX.V: QMC) (FSE: 3LQ) (OTC PINK: QMCQF) (“QMC” or "the Company") today provides an update on the company’s 100%-owned Irgon Lithium Mine Project located within the prolific Cat Lake-Winnipeg River rare-element pegmatite field of S.E. Manitoba, which also hosts Cabot Corporation’s nearby Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada (“TANCO”) rare-element pegmatite.
QMC is pleased to report the successful completion of its 2019 Phase One drilling program on the Irgon Lithium Mine Property. In total, 18 NQ diamond drill holes were collared and completed for a total of just over 2,300 metres of drilling, with most holes intersecting significant visible spodumene mineralization.
The drill program developed and overseen by QMC’s consultant, SGS Canada, was designed to confirm historic spodumene grades and intersections encountered in the 1956 drill intersections and in channel samples taken across the dike on the -61 metre (-200 foot) crosscuts during that period. The deepest hole in the current drill campaign, IR-19-18 (-65o) cut 14 metres (not true width) of spodumene-bearing pegmatite approximately 130 metres vertically below the surface of the dike. This intersection is well below the 61-metre level of the historic underground workings and confirms that significant spodumene mineralization continues to depth. The widest drill intersections cutting through the Irgon Pegmatite Dike were in holes IR-19-03 and 10 which cut 21 and 23.5 metres, respectively (not true width). Both these intersections reported significant visual spodumene mineralization.
The results obtained from the current drill program plus all previous historical data will be utilized by SGS Canada to prepare a resource estimate of the Irgon Dike.
The core is currently being logged in detail with all pegmatite intersections being sawn and sampled. An initial drill-site evaluation of the core by QMC geologists confirmed significant visual white (suggesting a low iron content) spodumene mineralization. Definitive assays results are pending.
QMC and SGS Canada have implemented a quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program to ensure the reliability of all sampling and analyses of both surface and drill core samples. QMC inserted certified control standards, duplicates and blanks into the sample stream which provides the ability to monitor data quality. The results of all data quality controls will be carefully reviewed by QMC and SGS Canada prior to the public release of any data.
All samples will be shipped directly to SGS Labs in Lakefield Ontario, a certified sample preparation facility and laboratory. Upon receipt, the SGS Lakefield laboratory will analyze the samples for 56 elements including Li, Ta, Nb, Rb and Cs using a sodium peroxide fusion followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES / ICP-MS). Analytical results remain pending and will be released upon receipt of the final lab reports, subsequent to the data having been compiled and evaluated.
HISTORICAL ESTIMATES
Between 1953-1954, the Lithium Corporation of Canada Limited drilled 25 holes into the Irgon Dike and subsequently reported a historical mineral estimate of 1.2 million tons grading 1.51% Li20 over a strike length of 365 metres and to a depth of 213 metres (Northern Miner, Vol. 41, no.19, Aug. 4, 1955, p.3). This historical estimate is documented in a 1956 Assessment Report by B. B. Bannatyne for the Lithium Corporation of Canada Ltd. (Manitoba Assessment Report No. 94932). This historical estimate is believed to be based on reasonable assumptions, and neither the company nor the QP has any reason to contest the document’s relevance and reliability. The detailed channel sampling and a subsequent drill program will be required to update this historical estimate to current NI 43-101 standards. Historic metallurgical tests reported an 87% recovery from which a concentrate averaging 5.9% Li2O was obtained.
During this historical 1950s era work program, a complete mining plant was installed onsite, designed to process 500 tons of ore per day, and a three-compartment shaft was sunk to a depth of 74 metres. On the 61-metre level, lateral development was extended off the shaft for a total of 366 metres of drifting, from which seven crosscuts transected the dike. The work was suspended in 1957 awaiting a more favourable market for lithium oxides. During this time, the mine buildings were removed.
The mineral estimate cited above is presented as a historical estimate and uses historical terminology which does not conform to current NI43-101 standards. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Although the historical estimates are believed to be based on reasonable assumptions, they were calculated prior to the implementation of National Instrument 43-101. These historical estimates do not meet current standards as defined under sections 1.2 and 1.3 of NI 43-101; consequently, the issuer is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves.
Qualified Person and NI 43-101 Disclosure
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Bruce E. Goad, P. Geo., who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About the Company
QMC is a British Columbia based company engaged in the business of acquisition, exploration and development of resource properties. Its objective is to locate and develop economic precious, base, rare metal and resource properties of merit. The Company’s properties include the Irgon Lithium Mine project and two VMS properties, the Rocky Lake and Rocky-Namew, known collectively as the Namew Lake District Project. Currently, all of the company’s properties are located in Manitoba.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of
QMC QUANTUM MINERALS CORP.
“Balraj Mann”
Balraj Mann
President and Chief Executive Officer
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
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