Yellowhead Mining Inc. – Focused on Harper Creek Copper-Gold-Silver Advanced Exploration Project
Overview
Yellowhead Mining Inc. (TSXV:YMI) was formed in 2005 as a private British Columbian company specifically to acquire, explore and, if feasible, develop the Harper Creek deposit. The Company’s development strategy post-feasibility completion is to engineer, permit, finance, construct and operate the project.
Between its formation and its listing as a public company on the TSX Venture Exchange in November 2010, Yellowhead Mining Inc. raised $23 million. In April 2011, the Company raised $25 million in a bought deal financing.
Investment Highlights
- Harper Creek offers exceptional potential as one of the largest copper pre-development projects in Canada
- NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment completed March 2011
- Detailed Feasibility Study commenced April 2011, expected March 2012
- Measured and Indicated resource of 532 million tonnes grading 0.31% copper, .032g/t gold and 1.08 g/t silver
- Inferred resource of 117.2 million tonnes grading 0.29% copper, .032 g/t gold and 1.32 g/t silver, containing 3.6 billion pounds and 0.7 billion pounds of copper respectively, at a 0.2% copper cut-offEstimated total production: 2.857 billion pounds copper, 256,000 oz. gold and 4.876 million oz. silver in concentrate
- Potential mine life 22 years at a milling rate of 70,000 tonnes/day
Key Property
Harper Creek Project – South-Central British Columbia, Canada
The Harper Creek Project is located approximately 90 km north-north-east of the city of Kamloops in south-central B.C. The Company now holds mineral tenures with an area of 42,636 ha (775 ha subject to a 3% NSR capped at $2.5 million adjusted for inflation and 618 ha, not in the current resource, subject to a 2.5% NSR).
Property History
In 2005 and 2006, five claim groups were acquired or optioned by Yellowhead Mining on the historical drilling area and contiguous parts of the Eagle Bay Assemblage, the mineralogical group which includes the Harper Creek deposit. Noranda Exploration and US Steel discovered the deposit in 1966. The two companies conducted exploration separately until 1971, when they formed an exploration joint venture. This ceased in 1981. Drilling by US Steel and Noranda on the main deposit totalled 25,806 metres in 161 holes. In 1996, American Comstock drilled 2,847 metres in 8 holes. Yellowhead has acquired the data from the prior programs and recovered partial or complete drill core from 128 historical holes on site.
During late 2005 and early 2006, the Company re-logged and re-analysed historical drill core recovered from the site, and produced a NI 43-101 technical report. In 2006, Yellowhead completed a 1,000 line kilometre airborne geophysical survey over approximately 90 square kilometres, identifying several high priority targets for further exploration. From 2006 to 2010 the Company drilled a total of 33,724 metres in 86 holes. The Company continued drilling with 15,148 metres in 56 holes in the 2011 drilling campaign.
In support of the Feasibility Study, the Company has completed a total of 17,800 metres of drilling to December 31, 2011, including:
• Resource confirmation: 37 holes for a total of 10,843 metres
• Condemnation: 8 holes for a total of 1,791 metres
• Resource expansion: 11 holes for a total of 4,725 metres
• Metallurgical sampling: 4 holes for a total of 441 metres
As of December 2011, drilling at Harper Creek has totalled 318 holes for 78,164 metres.
Project Summary
The Harper Creek Project is an extensive volcanogenic sulphide system, with a mineralized envelope greater than 2.5 kilometres along strike, over 2.0 kilometres down dip, in a 1 kilometre thickness of volcano-sedimentary stratigraphy. Copper mineralization is tabular, striking east-west and dipping about 15° to 25° to the north with a number of high copper grade cores that persist with depth within a multiphased stringer zone. The deposit is open along strike to the east, down dip and at depth.
Harper Creek is hosted in the Eagle Bay Assemblage, comprised of the Lower Paleozoic Greenstone Belt. There are intensely altered sequences of black shales, mudstones, mafic and felsic flows and tuffs. A broad lower-grade zone of copper and gold/silver is linked to multi-phased stringer or feeder zones.
Higher grade copper-bearing massive sulphides are adjacent to porphytic rhyolite flows. Vertical zonation ranges from upper lead/zinc/silver/barite/pyrite to deeper copper(some zinc)/silver/gold/pyhrrotite.
During late 2005 and early 2006, the company re-logged and re-analysed historical drill core recovered from the site, and produced a NI 43-101 data compilation report. Between 2006 and 2008 the Company completed several drilling programs on the project site. In 2010, the Company received a new NI 43-101-compliant Indicated resource estimate of 4.0 billion lb contained copper and 0.5 billion lb Cu Inferred (August 2010, Technical Report by Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates Inc.). It is estimated that the project would have a greater than 20-mine life at 70,00 tpd producing up to 182 million lb Cu per year (figures represent Yellowhead estimates and are non-NI 43-101 compliant).
Since the acquisition, Yellowhead has commenced a 4,000 m drilling program aimed at expanding the current open pit.
In March 2011 the company announced the results of a new Preliminary Economic Assessment, preformed by Wardrop, a Tetra Tech Company.Yellowhead completed a total of 17,800 metres of drilling in December 31, 2011. The Company received a new resource update in February, 2012.
Resources at Varying Cutoff Grades
Yellowhead’s management notes that the deposit is also open to the south, east and at depth. In addition, there are specific geophysical anomalies and mineralized outcrops occurring about 1.0 km to the south and 3.0 km to the east of the current pit limit. These are drill targets that will be followed up on in the next phase of drilling.*Inferred gold and silver grades cannot be correlated to the copper resource tonnage and shall not be used to calculate precious metal mineral content
Outlook for 2012
Some of the Company’s plans for 2012 include:
- File the Environmental Assessment Application by fall 2012
- Continue consultation with local First Nations and communities in the North Thompson Valley
- Continue a step-out drilling campaign in late spring in order to expand the Company’s resource base
- Move forward project financing and strategic partnership discussions
- Commence detailed engineering for long-lead pieces of equipment
- Conduct investor relations programs in North America and internationally
- Transition from the TSX Venture to the TSX
Management
Ian Smith, Mining Engineer- President & CEO - Mr. Smith a mining engineering graduate of the University of Queensland, Australia, has over 40 years experience in corporate, operations, and project management and consulting within the international base, precious metals and coal industries. He is a director of several public companies and is President & CEO of Santa Fe Metals Corp. More recently he was President & CEO of bcMetals Corp. that had engineered the Red Chris copper/gold porphyry project for development in northwest BC prior to being acquired by Imperial Metals Corp. His involvement with other large scale copper operations at a senior management level include the Bougainville Copper and La Caridad mines in Papua New Guinea and Mexico respectively and the Zambian Copperbelt. Mr. Smith was President and founding partner of one of North America’s most successful mining industry consulting companies until purchased by Canadian interests in 1995.
Ronald L. Handford, P.Eng., BASc, MBA, Executive Vice President - Mr. Hanford has over 30 years of international experience in development and finance relating to resource and technology sectors. He has been an officer and director of several private and public companies since 1996. Prior to that he was an investment officer with the International Finance Corporation and a resource industry banker with Barclays Bank.
Saurabh Handa, BSc, CA – Chief Financial Officer -Past Corporate Controller for SouthGobi Resources Ltd., Prior to that Senior Staff Accountant at Deloitte and Touche LLP working in its audit and valuation practices primarily on international mining companies
Alastair Tiver, P.Eng – Vice President, Operations - 24+ years international experience in operating roles ranging from exploration stage to large scale operating mines in a variety of commodities – most recently Chief Engineer of Copper Mountain Mining Corp.
Charlene Higgins, MSc, PhD – Vice President –Environmental, Community & First Nations Relations -14+ years as a senior negotiator and policy advisor working with Aboriginal communities and organizations. Expertise in the areas of consultation, sustainable use and management of natural resources, multi-stakeholder engagement.
Board of Directors
T. Gregory Hawkins, P.Geo., MSc., Chairman of the Board. - Mr. Hawkins has been involved in the Mining Exploration and Investment industry since 1969. He has been variously responsible for the identification and/or delineation of 10 mineral deposits in Canada, USA, Chile, Ghana, Mali and Zaire (DRC). In acting as Founding Project Consultant and/or Founding Director of seven public and private Exploration/Development ventures he has participated in or been responsible for the definition of at least one resource/reserve in every case with four cases resulting in production in the USA, Chile, Ghana and Mali. In 1990 he started CME, an international full service consultancy and contracting firm, which grew to include Spectral International Geophysics, Eagle Drilling and ATS Inc.
Ian Smith, President & CEO
R. Stuart (Tookie) Angus, LLB - An independent senior business advisor with 25 years+ of experience in international exploration, development and mining ventures. Former Head of Global Mining, Fasken Martineau
DuMoulin LLP and Managing Director, Endeavour Financial Corporation.
David J.H. Dickens, FCA -40+ years of experience as a Chartered Accountant and trust company office and director. He has worked in London, UK, Channel Islands and Dubai.
Andy Graetz, BSc, Exec. MBA -Mining engineer with 25+ years of international mining experience having worked in the USA, Canada, Philippines, Kazakhstan and South Africa in Senior mine
operational, corporate development, feasibility study and CFO/finance/administration roles.
Morgan Li, PhD- Mining engineer, Chief Operating Officer, Anthill Resources
