By Dipo Olowookere
BacTech Environmental Corporation on Tuesday announced the results of the first 47 samples (35 routines and 12 control samples) from 3 holes drilled on a 60-hole drill program (approximately 600 m in total) at the company’s joint venture Silver-Copper-Tin tailings remediation project at Telamayu, Bolivia.
The purpose of the program is to verify earlier work carried out by BacTech’s partner, Mining Corporation of Bolivia, the Bolivian state mining company, and to provide material for upcoming metallurgical work. Additional results will be released in batches over the next few weeks.
Telamayu is an historic mill town situated next to Atocha, Bolivia. Over the past 80 years, the mill has treated material from 2 local mines (Tasna and Animas).
The tailings from the mill make up the Antigua tailings, the subject of these assays, and the much larger Nuevo tailings.
Previously, COMIBOL engaged individuals to dig test holes on the tailings (five wells of 1.5mx 1.5mx10m) with bulk samples taken every meter as well as channel samples. The test holes showed a tin grade of 0.97% and a silver content of 408 g/t.
Upon completion of the execution of the contract with COMIBOL for the remediation and exploitation of the old tailings of Telamayu, which was subsequently approved by the Bolivian Congress and endorsed by an express law, BacTech had access to documents that COMIBOL’s Environment Department had prepared in 2004-2005. These documents present a proposal for the exploitation of the “old tailings dam of Telamayu”.
Specifically, the documents deal with work to be carried out for the evaluation of the dam’s potential, the technical options for metal extraction, the proposed type of plant to be employed and an estimate of the project’s profitability.
The historical data and grades presented above are relevant to the further exploration of the project, which the Company is currently undertaking with a drill program.
BacTech is conducting a tailing evaluation program with approximately 60 holes to be drilled with the Vibracore system with systematic core sampling meter by meter. At present, 65% of the drilling program has been completed and approximately 600 core samples were sent in for chemical analysis.
The results from the 3 first holes are as follows (weighted average, uncut):
Hole ID X Y Z From To Width, m Gold, g/t Silver, g/t Tin, % Copper Soluble, % Copper Total, %
G5X 788 769 7 681 660 3 671 0,00 12,20 12,20 0,12 396,10 1,55 0,97 1,69
H5 788 774 7 681 687 3 671 0,50 12,10 11,60 0,26 504,87 1,56 0,87 1,75
F6 788 775 7 681 642 3 671 0,50 11,90 11,40 0,28 260,11 2,55 0,16 0,29
Admittedly, only 8% of the material has been assayed to date, but these values have exceeded our expectations.
Samples consist of half NQ-size diamond core that are split on site, prepared at the Spectrolab laboratory, an ISO accredited laboratory at the Technical University of Oruro, Bolivia and assayed for gold, silver, tin and copper by fire assay for silver and by Atomic absorption or total fusion for the base metals.
The QA-QC program of the Company includes insertion of certified standards every 20 samples, blanks at least every 20 samples and core duplicates every 20 samples. The remaining half core is retained onsite for verification and reference purposes.
The sampling results from this drill program will be the underpinning of a resource estimation following the guidelines established by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 reporting. Once the drilling program has been completed, the Company will immediately begin metallurgical test work to determine the appropriate method for metal recovery. A complete NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) will then be completed.
“It was a bit tricky in the beginning of the drill program as we discovered a cement-like layer up to 1 meter thick that the Vibracore had a hard time getting through. Alterations were made to the program and, at the time of writing, we are in the final stages of the program,” said Ross Orr, President and CEO of BacTech.
Kamil Khobzi, an engineer and Qualified Person under NI 43-101, who has visited the property, has read and approved this release.
Finally, the Company also announced that it has closed a CAD$30,000 tranche of the current financing. The financing is a 5-cent unit consisting of 1 common share of the Company and 1/2 (one half) of a common share purchase warrant. One full warrant plus 10 cents buys an additional common share for 2 years from the closing of this tranche.
Adedapo Adesanya