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Franconia Minerals Provides Project Updates
Second Drill Turning at Birch Lake; Revised NI 43-101 Resource Estimate Expected in June; Red Knoll Update
June 2, 2008 Spokane, Washington: Franconia Minerals Corporation (TSX:FRA) is pleased to provide an update on the Company's operations, particularly with regard to the ongoing development of its Birch Lake copper-nickel-PGM (platinum group metals) project located in the Duluth Complex of Minnesota.
Franconia has recently resumed offshore diamond drilling on Birch Lake following the spring thaw to test for possible extensions to the resource base already recognized on the property. This next round of drilling will specifically target areas to the north and west of drill hole BL07-13 and its wedge offsets (see Franconia release dated March 4, 2008), located near the northwestern extremity of previous drilling on the lake. Each of those drill tests intercepted mineralization that was much longer and stronger than the average of 75 feet at 0.59% copper (Cu), 0.19% nickel (Ni) and 1.11 grams per tonne (g/t) Total Precious Metals * (0.65g/t Pd, 0.32g/t Pt, and 0.14 g/t Au), calculated for the deposit in 2006 by Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates (Scott Wilson RPA) to NI 43-101 standards. The Company's technical team believes that the drill results from BL07-13 and its wedge offsets provide a strong indication that the resource may extend to the west and/or north beyond the boundaries of the already substantial Birch Lake property resource.
Diamond drilling around BL07-13, completed in February 2008, also represented the conclusion of a 20-month, 18-hole, 65,000 foot core-drilling program, the results of which are being used for a new resource estimate for Franconia's Birch Lake deposit. It is now expected that this NI 43-101 preliminary assessment, or scoping study, will be completed this month. Given the nominal 200m by 200m drill hole spacing, it is also anticipated that the incorporation of additional drill data will be sufficient to move the 100 million tonne resource from the inferred to the indicated category**.
A second diamond drill rig on land has been continuously drilling additional wedges on previously drilled holes within the Birch Lake resource since February. Core from this land based program, combined with core gathered during the previous drilling, will be used to provide samples for pilot plant-scale metallurgical testing of the deposit, planned for later this year.
In addition to the resource at Birch Lake, Franconia holds the 83 million tonne copper-nickel-PGM inferred resource at Maturi and its nearby underground inferred resource at Spruce Road of 124 million tonnes, bringing the total underground resource at Franconia's Birch Lake Project to 307 million tonnes. Results to date from Birch Lake, Maturi and Spruce Road are included in independent reports prepared by Scott Wilson RPA to NI 43-101 standards (available at www.SEDAR.com and www.franconiaminerals.com).
The preliminary economic assessment prepared by Scott Wilson RPA -- which does not include the Spruce Road resource -- contemplates that a combined Birch Lake-Maturi operation would have, over a 26-year mine life, an average annual production of 74 million pounds (lbs) of copper, 19 million lbs of nickel, 2.9 million lbs of cobalt, 68,000 ounces (oz) of palladium, 33,000 oz of platinum and 7,400 oz of gold. All technical data have been reviewed by Brian Gavin, Franconia's president and CEO, Mr. Gavin is an appropriately qualified person as defined by NI 43-101.
The Duluth Complex, a geologic formation located in northeastern Minnesota, extends for 240 kilometers trending from northeast to southwest and hosts a number of copper-nickel-PGM deposits. Collectively these deposits are believed to be one of the largest unexploited resources of these scarce minerals in the world.
Red Knoll, Arizona
Franconia also reports the termination of its exploration work at the Red Knoll property in Graham County, Arizona (See Franconia's news release of March 26, 2008). Following the drilling of two out of three planned holes it was determined that there was insufficient encouragement to support further drilling. The Red Knoll property is subject to a Property Acquisition Agreement with Teck Cominco American Incorporated (Teck Cominco.) Under the terms of this ongoing agreement, Franconia has issued 100,000 units to Teck Cominco. Each unit consists of one common share of Franconia's stock and one-half common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one additional common share at an exercise price of Cdn$1.75 at any time for twelve months from the date of issue.
Franconia Minerals Corporation trades on the TSX under the symbol FRA. (For additional information see www.franconiaminerals.com.) Franconia currently has 58,286,566 shares issued and outstanding.
(*Total Precious Metals [TPM] = Palladium [Pd] + Platinum [Pt] + Gold [Au])
(**An indicated mineral resource is a portion of a mineral resource for which quantity, grade, and other characteristics can be estimated with a level of confidence sufficient to support mine planning and additional economic evaluation of the project. The Birch Lake deposit is currently classified as an inferred resource, which is that part of a mineral resource for which certain characteristics can be estimated based on geological evidence and limited sampling and which can be reasonably assumed to have a consistent grade of mineralization.)
Brian Gavin,
President and CEO
For more information:
In the US: Matthew Selinger: 415 896 6817
dsherk@evcgroup.com
In Toronto: Greg Taylor: 905 337 7673
gtaylor@franconiaminerals.com
In Vancouver: Farah Alibhai: 604 731 7340
info@franconiaminerals.com
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT: Although Franconia Minerals Corporation believes many of its properties have promising potential. These properties are in the early stages of exploration. None have yet been shown to contain proven or probable mineral reserves. There can be no assurance that such reserves will be identified on any property, or that, if identified, any mineralization may be economically extracted. |