Mont Sorcier Iron
The Mont Sorcier Iron ore property hosts a large high quality Iron resource with significant and extractable Vanadium in a top tier mining jurisdiction. The Mont Sorcier Iron-Vanadium deposit consists of a North and South deposit that boast exceptionally low Titanium content, allowing for simple extraction of the Vanadium metal by a blast furnace, making the deposit and possible product unique in the world markets.
Excellent Mining Jurisdiction
Located just 18 km outside of Chibougamau, Quebec by road Mont Sorcier boasts impressive existing infrastructure in one of the world’s top tier mining jurisdictions.
The Mont Sorcier property is less than 10 km from low-cost provincial Hydro along maintained roads. Roads lead directly from Mont Sorcier to the rail head less than 20 km away. The railway is underutilized by approximately 45% and provides direct access to several deep water ports in Quebec.
Located north of the 49th parallel, Mont Sorcier is eligible for support by the Quebec government through Plan Nord, a program focused on supporting mining and development in northern Quebec.
Large Resource Tonnage
Mont Sorcier boasts an impressive 113.5 Mt Indicated and 953.7 Mt Inferred with the potential for expansion along strike, where the deposit’s magnetic anomaly continues, and at depth. Over 10,414 m of drilling at 42 holes by Vanadium One Iron in both the North and South Zone have revealed wide downhole iron ore intersections as long as 214 m (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Mont Sorcier 2017-2018 Drilling intersections of Iron formation.
High Quality Iron Ore
Low titanium (< 2%) and deleterious elements such as phosphorus, aluminum, and silica speak to the high quality of Iron Ore and Vanadium present at Mont Sorcier as observed in the NI 43-101 resource estimate for Mont Sorcier in Table 2.
Table 2: NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for Mont Sorcier (May 2021)*
• The MRE has been classified CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (CIM Council, 10 May 2014).
• Differences may occur due to rounding errors.
• Numbers have been rounded to reflect the precision of Inferred and Indicated Mineral Resource
• The Company is not aware of any environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing or political factors that might materially affect these Mineral Resource estimates.
• Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability.
• The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Resources in this Mineral Resource Estimate are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Resources as Indicated or Measured Resources, however, it is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.
A Unique Opportunity
Exceptionally low titanium content at Mont Sorcier makes the deposits unique to other Fe-Ti-V deposits in Quebec and around the world. Low Titanium (TiO2) in the deposit allows the Iron ore and Vanadium (V2O5) processing directly through a blast furnace.
The layered mafic-ultramafic rocks that form the Mont Sorcier North and South zones are the same stratigraphic unit that have undergone km-scale folding. The North zone represents the north-dipping limb of the anticlinal fold structure and the South zone represents the hinge zone of a syncline (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Structural relationship between the North and South zone (after Dorr, 1969).
Historical Data
Drilling completed by Campbell Mines at Mont Sorcier in the 1960s was used to assess the Iron and later the Iron-Vanadium potential of the property. In addition to drilling and assaying Campbell Mines performed detailed metallurgical work, produced mineral reserve estimates (non-compliant), and a detailed feasibility study.
Voyager Metals continues to use results from Campbell Mines to efficiently and ethically advance National Instrument-compliant mineral resource estimation and economic feasibility of Mont Sorcier.
Work by Voyager Metals Inc.
Voyager Metals (previously Vanadium One Iron) has been engaged in exploration activities to recognize the mineral resource and economic potential of the Mont Sorcier property. These activities include drilling, field geology, verification of historic data, metallurgy work, and commencing an economic assessment of the property.
Vanadium One Iron drilled over 10,414 m of drilling at 42 holes in the North and South zone. Results from the drill campaigns at Mont Sorcier demonstrate large intercepts of high quality iron ore with good Vanadium content (Table 3; Figure 5).
Additional work performed by the Company can be found in our Press Releases.
Table 3: Results from 2018 Drill campaign
Head Grades | DTT (Concentrate) | ||||||||
Area | Hole | From | To | Length | Fe2O3 | V2O5 | Fe | V2O5 | TiO2 |
m | m | m | % | % | % | % | % | ||
North Zone | MSN-18-01 | 270 | 552 | 282 | 32.6 | 0.17 | 55 | 0.43 | 2.37 |
MSN-18-02 | 270 | 524 | 254 | 39 | 0.33 | 61 | 0.63 | 2.16 | |
MSN-18-03 | 167 | 283 | 116 | 39.9 | 0.26 | 60 | 0.57 | 1.37 | |
MSN-18-04 | 215 | 380 | 165 | 39.4 | 0.22 | 59 | 0.48 | 1.66 | |
South Zone | MSS-18-16 | 21 | 148 | 127.4 | 39.6 | 0.3 | 66 | 0.6 | 1.07 |
(Centre) | MSS-18-17 | 12 | 105 | 92.6 | 38.4 | 0.31 | 65 | 0.62 | 2.04 |
MSS-18-18 | 27 | 270 | 243 | 34.8 | 0.5 | 65 | 0.5 | 1.29 | |
MSS-18-19 | 35 | 221 | 186.2 | 38.9 | 0.28 | 64 | 0.55 | 1.1 | |
MSS-18-20 | 58 | 192 | 134 | 45.9 | 0.4 | 65 | 0.71 | 1.02 | |
MSS-18-21 | 56 | 201 | 145 | 34.7 | 0.24 | 61 | 0.53 | 1.39 | |
MSS-18-22 | 113 | 210 | 97.4 | 38 | 0.29 | 65 | 0.63 | 1.21 | |
MSS-18-23 | 3 | 52.4 | 49.4 | 40.8 | 0.28 | 62 | 0.53 | 0.94 | |
MSS-18-24 | 84.6 | 198 | 113.5 | 34.2 | 0.21 | 66 | 0.46 | 1.55 | |
South Zone | MSS-18-25 | 122 | 151 | 28.6 | 39 | 0.2 | 66 | 0.41 | 1.48 |
(East) | MSS-18-26 | 68.8 | 132 | 63.2 | 23.6 | 0.14 | 44 | 0.36 | 2.07 |
MSS-18-27 | 66.5 | 92 | 25.5 | 32.6 | 0.22 | 58 | 0.4 | 1.98 | |
MSS-18-28 | 123 | 155 | 32.2 | 28.8 | 0.19 | 62 | 0.43 | 1.74 |
Sources
Dorr, A. (1969). Magnetite Deposits in the Northern Part of the Doré Lake Complex, Chibougamau District, Québec. Master’s thesis, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Mathieu, L. (2019). Origin of the Vanadiferous Serpentine–Magnetite Rocks of the Mt. Sorcerer Area, Lac Doré Layered Intrusion, Chibougamau, Québec. Geosciences, 9(3), 110.
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