TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 31, 2011) - Thundermin Resources Inc. ("Thundermin") (News - Market indicators) and 50% joint venture partner Cornerstone Resources Inc. ("Cornerstone") (TSX VENTURE:CGP) announce that they have exercised their option to acquire a 100% interest in the Little Deer Copper Deposit (the "Deposit") and certain adjoining property from Weyburn Investments Limited ("Weyburn"). The Deposit is located approximately 10 km north of Springdale in north-central Newfoundland.
In order to fully exercise the option and acquire a 100% interest in the Deposit and certain adjoining property, Thundermin will issue 5,075,188 shares and Cornerstone will issue 2,351,916 shares to Weyburn. Further details on the terms of the agreement with Weyburn can be found in a news release dated May 1, 2007 and on Thundermin's and Cornerstone's respective websites and on SEDAR.
John B. Heslop, President and CEO of Thundermin said "We are extremely pleased to have acquired, along with Cornerstone, a 100% interest in a significant, potentially economic grade, copper resource in the Springdale area of Newfoundland. An internal scoping review for the project, which is being undertaken by P&E Mining Consultants Inc., will be completed shortly. This study will provide management with initial information on the economic viability of developing a new copper mine at Little Deer".
Mineral Resources
On June 22, 2011, Thundermin and Cornerstone reported a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant mineral resource estimate for the Deposit comprising Indicated Resources of 1,911,000 tonnes at an average grade of 2.37% Cu (99.8 million pounds of copper) and Inferred Resources of 3,748,000 tonnes at an average grade of 2.13% Cu (175.9 million pounds of copper). The mineral resource estimate was prepared under the supervision of Mr. Eugene J. Puritch, P. Eng., President of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. of Brampton, Ontario. Mr. Puritch is an independent Qualified Person in accordance with NI 43-101.
Metallurgy
On October 19, 2010, Thundermin and Cornerstone announced excellent metallurgical results from scoping level test work on core samples from the Deposit. This work, which was undertaken at SGS Lakefield Research Limited of Lakefield, Ontario, indicates that a clean, high grade copper concentrate grading over 28% copper with over 97% recovery can be produced from the Deposit.
Little Deer Joint Venture
Under the terms of its joint venture agreement with Cornerstone, Thundermin has the right to increase its interest in the Little Deer property to 75% by completing a feasibility study and by arranging 100% of the necessary bank financing required to place the property into commercial production. Details on the Deposit and the terms of the agreement with Cornerstone can be found in numerous news releases between May 1, 2007 and June 22, 2011 and on Thundermin's and Cornerstone's respective websites and on SEDAR.
Project Infrastructure
The Little Deer Copper Deposit is located on a brownfield site and is well situated to take advantage of Newfoundland's developed infrastructure. The Deposit lies approximately 16 km from the Tran-Canada Highway and is easily accessed by a 10 km network of paved and gravel roads north of Springdale, where there is an available skilled mining workforce. The site is approximately 8 km from a major power substation and there is a plentiful supply of fresh water in the area. The former tailings impoundment facility for the Whalesback Mine, which may be able to be upgraded and used to store additional tailings, is located only 1.2 km north of the Deposit. There is also good access to several deep water ports for any future shipment of copper concentrates. The Duck Pond base metal concentrator, which is owned by Teck Resources Inc., is located approximately 165 km by paved and gravel roads from the Little Deer site, 70 km of which is along the Trans- Canada Highway and 65 km of which is on a secondary paved road.
The recovery of a substantial quantity of archived data has also given Thundermin and Cornerstone a better understanding of the underground infrastructure that exists on the property. This infrastructure dates from 1966 to 1972 and 1972 to 1974 when a portion of the upper part of the Deposit was developed and mined by British Newfoundland Exploration Limited ("BRINEX") and Green Bay Mining Company ("Green Bay"), respectively. BRINEX accessed the Deposit from the adjoining Whalesback Mine, which is also controlled by Thundermin and Cornerstone, and Green Bay accessed the Deposit via a ramp. Three ventilation raises and substantial lateral development in unmined copper mineralization are known to exist on the property. This existing infrastructure may potentially afford substantial cost savings for access underground for future definition drilling and mining.
About Thundermin
Thundermin is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company focused on the exploration for and the discovery of economically viable base metal and gold deposits in Canada. Thundermin has an interest in, or the right to earn an interest in 12 base metal and gold properties in Canada. Thundermin owns a 100% interest in the Lebel Township gold property, which is located on the Kirkland Lake Main Break in the prolific Kirkland Lake gold camp. Thundermin recently acquired the right to earn a 100% interest in eight exploration licenses covering a large portion of the Stirling volcanogenic massive zinc-lead-copper-silver-gold sulphide belt located on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Thundermin has royalty interests in 28 base metal and gold properties located in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Quebec, the most significant being a 2.5% net smelter return royalty in the Pelletier Lake gold deposit which is under option to Alexis Minerals Corporation. Thundermin also has various shareholdings in thirteen other junior resource companies that are actively exploring for base metal, gold, chrome, vanadium-titanium and diamond deposits in Canada.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain "Forward-Looking Statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of Thundermin's plans, objectives, strategies, intentions and expectations. The words "potential," "anticipate," "forecast," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "may," "project," "plan," and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify "Forward-Looking Statements". Although Thundermin believes that its expectations reflected in these "Forward-Looking Statements" are reasonable, such statements may involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed in our regulatory filings that can be viewed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. For us, uncertainties arise from the behavior of financial and metals markets and from numerous other matters of national, regional, and global scale, including those of an environmental, climatic, natural, political, economic, business, competitive, or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our "Forward-Looking Statements". Although Thundermin believes the facts and information contained in this news release to be as correct and current as possible, Thundermin does not warrant or make any representation as to the accuracy, validity or completeness of any facts or information contained herein and these statements should not be relied upon as representing its views subsequent to the date of this news release.
For further information on Thundermin Resources Inc. visit Thundermin's website at www.thundermin.com or the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.
