Erin Ventures Inc. (TSX.V: EV) is pleased to announce an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its 100% owned Piskanja boron deposit, located in Serbia. The updated mineral resource statement was authored by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd. independent of Erin, is based on 32,880 metres of drilling (a total of 98 drill-holes), and has been prepared in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Instrument 43-101 “Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects” (“NI"43-101”).
Highlights
- The most recent infill drill program was successful in increasing the contained boron (i.e. 100% B2O3) in the Indicated Mineral Resource category by 41.2% or 700,000 tons (from 1.7M tons to 2.4M tons)
- The Indicated Mineral Resource tonnage increased by 39.3% or 2.2M tons (from 5.6M tons to 7.8M tons) in the updated MRE vs the Maiden MRE
- There is a global 2% increase in grade in B2O3 in the updated MRE when compared to the previous resource estimate
- There is no material decrease in global tonnage nor contained B2O3 content in spite of SRK’s decision to increase the minimum mining thickness from 1.0 metre to 1.2 metre in the updated MRE
SRK Mineral Resource Statement as at 19 July 2016 for the Piskanja
Deposit prepared in accordance with CIM Standards
| Mineral Resource Category1 | Cut-off | Tonnage, Mt | B2O3Grade, % | ContainedB2O3, Mt3 |
| Indicated | 12% B2O3 | 7.8 | 31.0 | 2.4 |
| Inferred2 | 12% B2O3 | 3.4 | 28.6 | 1.0 |
1Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, marketing, or other relevant issues. The Mineral Resources in this news release were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council.
2The quantity and grade of reported Inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Resources as an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource category.
3Contained metal figures and totals may differ due to rounding of figures.
Comparison to Previous Estimates:
In comparison to the previous SRK 2013 MRE for the Project, which was also reported at a cut-off grade of 12% B2O3 but above a minimum mining thickness of 1.0 m, this updated MRE (which is reported above a minimum mining thickness of 1.2 m) has more borate in the Indicated category (2.4Mt compared to 1.7 Mt) and less borate in the Inferred category (1.0Mt compared to 1.8 Mt). These changes are primarily due to some previously reported Inferred material being upgraded in to the Indicated category though there is also a slight reduction in B2O3 content for the Project as a whole from 3.5 Mt to 3.4 Mt (-4%) mainly as a result of a 6% reduction in tonnage. This change is primarily due to the infill drilling which has shown some of the thicker zones to be less continuous than previously assumed but also enabled the higher grade zones to be better delineated, which has reduced the tonnage slightly but at the same time slightly improved the grade (namely a global 2% increase in grade compared to the previous estimate).
Conclusions
The infill drilling and database verification work completed since the last MRE was produced has added further confidence to the geological model, enabled the borate distribution to be interpolated with more confidence grade distributions and allowed the reporting of an updated MRE which is similar in quantum, but is now more robust, than that previously produced.
There are, however, still areas of lower geological confidence which require more drilling and which may be subject to further revision in the future and there is also some associated work which could be done alongside or prior to more drilling to improve confidence in the estimate generally.
In comparison to the MRE reported in November 2013, the database for the updated MRE (dated October 2016) includes an additional 12 drill-holes (for 3,458 m of diamond drilling) of infill drilling on a 50 metre by 50 metre grid. As this drill program was designed to increase the confidence level of the contained B2O3 over a known section of the deposit only and not designed to aid the expansion of the known footprint of the deposit, it was not surprising that the resulting updated MRE reflects no material change to the overall contained quantity of B2O3 (in all categories) in the deposit. However, as the deposit remains unbounded to the west and south, there remains the potential to increase the current mineral resources by targeting exploration programmes designed to delineate extensions to the existing mineralisation model at the peripheries of the deposit.
The Mineral Resource Estimate Update describing the details of the resource estimate will be immediately available under Erin's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and on the Company's website www.erinventures.com.
The updated Mineral Resource Statement reported herein was prepared in conformity with the Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM) "Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves Best Practices Guidelines". The technical report, will be filed on SEDAR, and will contain more information with respect to the key assumptions, parameters, methods and risks of determination associated with the Mineral Resource Estimate.
About Erin Ventures Inc.
Erin Ventures Inc. is an international mineral exploration and development company with boron assets in Serbia and gold assets in North America. Headquartered in Victoria, B.C., Canada, Erin's shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "EV". For detailed information please see Erin's website at www.erinventures.com or the Company's filed documents at www.sedar.com.
Source: Erin Ventures
