Century Iron Mines Corp (TSE:FER) reported Wednesday final 2012 drilling results from its Joyce Lake direct shipping ore (DSO) prospect at its Attikamagan project in Canada, with an NI 43-101 compliant estimate expected by the end of the year.
Following the discovery of DSO type mineralization during Century's drill campaign at Joyce Lake last year, an exploration and definition drilling program was started in February to expand the zone of high grade iron mineralization.
Direct shipping ore refers to iron ore that can be shipped directly to a steel furnace.
DSO mines are typically rarer than the magnetite-bearing banded iron formations, but are considerably cheaper to mine and process as they require less beneficiation due to the higher iron content. Export-grade DSO ores are generally in the 62 to 64 percent iron range.
The company completed 74 reverse circulation drill holes, or just over 7,800 metres on its Joyce Lake prospect by the end of September, and collected 30 tonnes of bulk samples for metallurigcal testing.
The iron ore miner said it confirmed the continuity and extension down plunge, along strike of the high grade mineralization at Joyce Lake, with a thickness up to 66 metres.
Notable results from the program included 66 metres of "enriched iron mineralization", with an average of 62.75% total iron in hole Joy 12-104, and 57 metres at an average grade of 66.72% total iron in hole Joy 12-111.
An NI 43-101 resource estimate is in progress, Century Iron said, and should be wrapped up in early December. Meanwhile, bench-scale metallurgical testing at SGS Canada continues with the bulk sample to be tested for grinding, recovery tests and mineralogy.
"I am very pleased with the positive results of our Joyce Lake exploration program," said president and CEO, Sandy Chim.
"The drilling results continue to demonstrate high grade zones representing the characteristics for a potential DSO deposit. We look forward to the completion of the resource calculation which is expected by the end of the year."
Century Iron expects preparation for a preliminary economic assessment to begin immediately after the resource estimate in early 2013. The company has already hired consultants to undertake the environmental and social impact assessment as well as the environmental baseline study.
The Attikamagen iron project includes one group of claims straddling the boundary between the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The property includes 405 designated cells located in Quebec, known as Hayot Lake, where the company is targeting taconite potential, and 617 claims located in Labrador and Newfoundland, known as Joyce Lake.
Joyce Lake covers a total area of around 34,348 hectares. The property is located around 20 kilometres northeast of Schefferville, Quebec.
Century Iron Mines is Canada's largest holder of iron ore land claims and it is backed by two Chinese strategic partners through financing and off-take agreements: MinMetals and WISCO International Resources, a unit of Wuhan Iron & Steel, also known as China's third-largest steel producer.
Support from these two massive Chinese conglomerates, which are ranked among the Forbes Global 500 and are two of China’s largest mining companies, must mean Century Iron has the goods to back itself up. In 2010, the WISCO group produced 36 million tonnes of crude steel, ranking as the fourth-largest steel mill in China and the fifth-largest in the world.
Last month, the company crossed another milestone as it announced a first mineral resource statement for its Rainy Lake iron deposit, also known as the Full Moon prospect that is part of the Sunny Lake project in Quebec.
The Full Moon deposit is now estimated to contain an indicated mineral resource of 7.26 billion tonnes grading an average of 30.18% total iron. This is on top of an inferred resource of 8.69 billion tonnes grading an average of 29.86% total iron, both at a cut-off grade of 20% total iron.
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