Sparton Resources Inc. (TSC VENTURES:SRI) (the "Company") recently announced the initial acquisition phase of a 65% interest in the Guojiaping Exploration Licence in Jiangxi Province, China (see Sparton news release dated August 3, 2009). A shale hosted vanadium deposit is located within the Guojiaping Licence.
As reported earlier, Sparton retained the consulting services of Quest Geological Consultants of Reno Nevada, to review and assess the project and provide an independent technical report in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 and Form 43-101F1. (National Instrument 43-101 is a mineral resource classification scheme used in Canada for the public disclosure of information relating to mineral properties, and Form 43-101F1 sets out the rules and policies for the preparation of a National Instrument 43-101 compliant report.)
The Quest Report concludes that The Guojiaping Vanadium Project provides Sparton and Yunnan Sparton New Environ-Tech Co. Ltd. ("SNET") with an excellent opportunity to acquire and expand a medium-scale vanadium deposit that may be amenable to open pit extraction. Good potential exists for increasing the size of the current vanadium deposit with additional drilling between and adjacent to the three blocks identified by Team 267.
Most of the exploration work carried out since 2007 and completed to date has been performed by Chinese geologists from Team 267 and the results have been reported as a Chinese "drill inferred intrinsically- economic resource" in accordance with Chinese 333 and 334 standards. The words "inferred resource," have specific meaning under Chinese standards and, as reported, there is no current resource estimate compliant with NI 43-101. Under Canadian rules, the deposit would be said to host a "Potential Target" rather than a "resource". Under NI 43-101, the following precautionary language is then mandated and should be read in connection with the August 3, 2009 Sparton news release: "the potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature"; "there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource"; "it is uncertain if further exploration will result in discovery of a mineral resource"; and "that a feasibility study has not been completed and there is no certainty the project will be economically viable."
As a "Potential Target" under NI 43 -101 nomenclature the Quest report documents by recalculation of the Team 267 drilling data, a range of values from 10.99 million tonnes of rock grading 0.91% V2O5 and containing 100,000 tonnes of V2O5, to 18.17 million tonnes of rock at a grade of 0.82% V2O5 containing 149,000 tonnes of V2O5, with both calculations using a 0.50% V2O5 cut off grade. Quest further reported that its recommended Phase 1 and Phase 2 drilling programs have good potential to double the size of this "Potential Target".
Company President, Lee Barker remarked: "As a publicly listed company, we understand and recognize the benefits of a uniform system of reporting and disclosure. And while we appreciate that the ultimate goal is to provide better discernable information to the public, the technical complexities of reconciling alternative standards, is challenging. It may be a "Potential Target" under acceptable NI 43 -101 current nomenclature, however, the Guojiaping mineralized area has been identified and drilled and its existence independently confirmed. We are satisfied that this Vanadium project has significant merit and can play a pivotal role in the future of Sparton Resources."
"We invite and encourage those interested in this project to read the Quest Independent Technical Report which can be found in its entirety on the Company's web site www.spartonres.ca and on SEDAR." |