THUNDER BAY – Mining – Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:ZEN)(OTCQX:ZENYF) have announced that the company has retained RPA Inc. (‘RPA’) to complete a National Instrument (‘NI’) 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate on its 100% owned Albany graphite deposit in northern Ontario, Canada.
Zenyatta is developing a very rare hydrothermal or ‘vein-type’ graphite deposit it discovered in 2011 in northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the largest and only known graphite deposit of this type under development in the world. Globally, the only graphite mines of this type are located in Sri Lanka, which have been in production since 1847. The current high grade, underground mining operations produce only 5,500 tonnes annually from narrow (5-10cm) veins. Despite the lack of volume, Sri Lankan ‘vein-type’ graphite has enjoyed great demand due to its unusually high purity and unique physical properties. Graphite veins are quite rare and in many industrial applications offer superior performance due to higher thermal and electrical conductivity.
Zenyatta Vein Graphite Deposit
The technical report on the graphite deposit will fully conform to the CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves – Definitions and Guidelines as referred to in NI 43-101 and from 43-101F1 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects in effect.
Aubrey Eveleigh, President and CEO states, “We are delighted to be working with an established and internationally recognized consulting firm with extensive experience in the estimation of NI 43-101 compliant resources. RPA will evaluate the data from the drill program until the end of August and then independently estimate a resource thereafter.” Eveleigh further commented, “The drill campaign is presently on schedule to be completed by the end of August. Drill hole 25 is currently in progress and all holes continue to intersect wide zones of graphite mineralization where expected on the East Pipe. The drill will be moving to the West Pipe soon. To date, a total of 3900 samples have been sent to ALS Minerals for graphitic carbon by LECO analyses with results expected soon. The lab is experiencing delays in delivering assay results to Zenyatta related to shipping the large number of samples to Brisbane, Australia for analyses while the Vancouver lab was upgraded. All future samples will now be processed in Vancouver with results released once received. An update on the drilling program will be released next week.”
RPA (formerly Roscoe Postle and Associates Inc.) is a group of technical professionals who have provided advice to the mining industry for 30 years. During this time, RPA has grown into a highly respected organization regarded as the specialty firm of choice for resource and reserve work. RPA provides services to the mining industry at all stages of project development from exploration and resource evaluation through economic assessment. Their portfolio of clients includes exploration/mining companies, banks, governments, law firms, institutional investors, individual investors, and private equity ventures.
RPA is based in Toronto with offices located in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides objective and independent advice on mining projects globally. Clients return to RPA repeatedly because of the accurate, credible technical reports that are accepted and relied on time and again, among financial institutions and major regulatory bodies worldwide.
Zenyatta’s Albany graphite deposit is located 30km north of the Trans Canada Highway, power line and natural gas pipeline near the communities of Constance Lake First Nation and Hearst. A rail line is located 70km away and an all-weather road approximately 4-5km from the graphite deposit. The deposit is near surface, underneath glacial till overburden and a thin veneer of Paleozoic sedimentary cover rocks.
Graphite is a natural form of carbon with the chemical formula C, which it shares with diamond and coal. The outlook for the global graphite market is very promising with demand growing rapidly from new applications. It is now considered one of the more strategic elements by many leading industrial nations, particularly for its growing importance in high technology manufacturing and in the emerging “green” industries such as electric vehicle components. The application for graphitic material is constantly evolving due to its unique chemical, electrical and thermal properties. It maintains its stability and strength under temperatures in excess of 3,500 degrees C and is very resistant to chemical corrosion. It is also one of the lightest of all reinforcing elements and has high natural lubricating abilities. Some of these key physical and chemical properties make it critical to modern industry.
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