Table 1 New Assay Results– Escape Lake Zone, Thunder Bay North
Figure 1 Escape Lake Drill Plan, Thunder Bay North Project
Table 2: Thunder Bay North – Current Lake Deposit – Historic Estimate (2010, 2012)
Including 96.0m of 1.22g/t Platinum, 1.63g/t Palladium, 0.61% Copper, and 0.34% Nickel
Clean Air Metals Inc. (TSX:AIR.V)
— Abraham Drost, CEO
New results from Drill Holes ELR20-008, -009, -010, and -014 in the Escape Lake Intrusion portion of the Project (“Escape Lake”) complement those previously announced on June 17, June 29, and July 15, 2020, and are part of a 20,000m drill programs (Table 1).
The new tranche of assays includes Drill Hole ELR20-008 which intersected 96.0m of 1.22g/t Platinum, 1.63g/t Palladium, 0.61% Copper and 0.34% Nickel from 326.8m-423.0mm downhole, including 18m of 2.29g/t Platinum, 3.2g/t Palladium, 1.17% Copper and 0.76% Nickel from 391.8m-410.0m downhole.
ELR20-008 is a 50m step-out north from previously reported Drill Hole ELR20-003 (reported June 17, 2020) that returned an assay interval of 78.9m of 1.66g/t Platinum, 2.17g/t Palladium, 0.80% Copper and 0.41% Nickel from 359.5m-438.4m downhole, including 20.0m of 3.30g/t Platinum, 4.49g/t Palladium, 1.54% Copper and 0.84% Nickel from 395.5m-415.5m downhole (Figure 1).
Abraham Drost, CEO of Clean Air Metals stated that “the assay results from Drill Hole ELR20-008 extends the strike length of the deposit to the north at a greater thickness than the original Rio Tinto discovery holes. Holes 009 and 010 intersected mineralization over intervals of up to 14m likely defining the lateral edges of the mineralized conduit.
It is encouraging that drill targeting, based on previous drill results and recent geophysics, has allowed us to accurately identify a high-grade core as seen in previous Drill Hole ELR20-004 (reported July 15, 2020) and thicker keel of the deposit as seen previously in Drill Hole ELR20-003.
Drilling will now extend 650m north towards a previously drilled 2010 intersection in Rio Hole 10CL0003 which returned an assay interval of 27.3m of 1.15ppm (g/t) Platinum, 1.3 g/t Palladium, 0.43% Copper and 0.22% Nickel.”
The Escape Lake Zone mineralization identified thus far is located at a depth of approximately 325m-425m vertical depth within the Escape Lake Intrusion. The objective of the ongoing program is to define the magnitude of the Escape Lake Mineralized Zone to support the calculation of a mineral resource estimate and mine plan by Nordmin Engineering Ltd., (“Nordmin”) (announced August 11, 2020) for the Escape Lake horizon in addition to the Current Lake deposit, the subject of an Historic Estimate referenced below.
Historic Estimate – Current Lake deposit
The Escape Lake Intrusion and magma conduit which is the Company’s present focus in Phase 1 drilling (Table 1), appears to be a standalone, separate twin structure to the Current Lake Intrusion (‘Current Lake’) and magma conduit on the Thunder Bay North Project on which there exists a historic estimate of 9.8 million Tonnes (Indicated). The Historic Estimate is from pit constrained and underground sources (Table 2).
The estimate of the Current Lake Deposit at the Thunder Bay North Project is considered by Clean Air Metals to be historic in nature. No Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 has completed sufficient work for the Company to classify the historic estimate of the Current Lake Deposit as current and the Company is not treating the historic estimate as current. The Company's QP has verified the data but no resampling of core or any other tests on the analytical procedures has been performed by the Company to-date. Confirming the historic estimate at Current Lake and tradeoff studies on possible underground mining methods will be a concurrent priority for Clean Air Metals.
Thunder Bay North Pit-Constrained Historic Estimate
The pit-constrained Historic Estimate is reported at a cut-off grade of 0.59 g/t Pt-Eq within a Lerchs-Grossman pit shell optimized on Pt-Eq. The strip ratio (waste: ore) of this pit is 9.5:1. The platinum-equivalency formula is based on assumed metal prices and overall recoveries. The Pt-Eq formula is: Pt-Eq g/t = Pt g/t + Pd g/t x 0.3204 + Au g/t x 0.6379 + Ag g/t x 0.0062 + Cu g/t x 0.00011 + Total Ni g/t x 0.000195 + Total Co g/t x 0.000124 + Rh g/t x 2.1816. The conversion factor shown in the formula for each metal represents the conversion from each metal to platinum on a recovered value basis. The assumed metal prices used in the Pt-Eq formula are: Pt US$1,595/oz, Pd US$512/oz, Au US$1,015/oz, Ag US$15.74/oz, Cu US$2.20/lb, Ni US$7.71/lb, Co US$7.71/lb and Rh US$3,479/oz. The assumed combined flotation and PlatsolTM process recoveries used in the Pt-Eq formula are: Pt 76%, Pd 75%, Au 76%, Ag 55%, Cu 86%, Ni 44%, Co 28% and Rh 76%. The assumed refinery payables are: Pt 98%, Pd 98%, Au 97%, Ag 85%, Cu 100%, Ni 100%, Co 100% and Rh 98%.
Thunder Bay North Underground Historic Estimate
The underground Historic Estimate is reported at a cut-off grade of 1.94g/t Pt-Eq. The Pt-Eq formula is: Pt-Eq g/t = Pt g/t + Pd g/t x 0.2721 + Au g/t x 0.3968 + Ag g/t x 0.0084 + Cu g/t x 0.000118 + Sulphide Ni g/t x 0.000433 + Sulphide Co g/t x 0.000428 + Rh g/t x 2.7211. The assumed metal prices used in the Pt-Eq formula are: Pt US$1,470/oz, Pd US$400/oz, Rh US$4,000/oz, Au US$875/oz, Ag US$14.30/oz, Cu US$2.10/lb, Ni US$7.30/lb and Co US$13.00/lb. The assumed process recoveries used in the Pt-Eq formula are: Pt 75%, Pd 75%, Rh 75%, Au 50%, Ag 50%, Cu 90%, and Ni and Co in sulphide 90%. The assumed smelter recoveries used in the Pt-Eq formula are Pt 85%, Pd 85%, Rh 85%, Au 85%, Ag 85%, Cu 85%, Ni 90% and Co 50%. Ni and Co in sulphide were estimated by linear regression of MgO to total Ni and total Co respectively. The regression formula for Nickel in sulphide (NiSx) is: NiSx = Ni - (MgO% x 60.35 - 551.43). The regression formula for Cobalt in sulphide (CoSx) is: CoSx = Co - (MgO% x 4.45 - 9.25).
To view the full press release, please visit the Company's website at www.cleanairmetals.ca.
Abraham Drost
Clean Air Metals Inc.
+1 807-252-7800
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