Firm recalculating resource in deposit site

Local Journalism Initiative
·3 min read

Thunder Bay, Ont. — Clean Air Metals Inc., which mines the Current and Escape deposits comprising their Thunder Bay North Project, has determined the possibility of a 20 to 50 per cent material reduction in the metal content in the Current deposit from what was previously reported.

Mining companies are required to report on technical disclosure to the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR), which is the Canadian filing system for investment funds and disclosures by public companies. The information is shared with the Ontario Securities Commission, a governing body comprised of the 13 provincial and territorial regulatory securities authorities.

Abraham Drost, a geoscientist and chief executive officer of the company, explained how they found the discrepancy from the original reports.

Clean Air Metals Inc. began in May of 2020.

“We had the first resource reported in January of 2021 on the basis of a resource update, which included all drilling to date up to the point of the publication in January 2021,” Drost said, adding they also calculated an economic model, which is called the preliminary economic assessment (PEA).

According to a release from Clean Air Metals, “previous reporting was based on an independent mineral resource estimate and PEA prepared by Nordmin Engineering Ltd.” The estimates for both the Escape and Current Deposits would be the basis for a new mineral resource technical report.

“We were moving ahead to the next stage (which is) the pre-feasibility study. We also needed to have a model that’s up to the minute — a great tonnage model resource estimate,” he said.

“Because we had the capacity, we elected initially to do that work internally under the supervision of SLR Consulting.”

The study was underway at the Escape deposit site and included an additional 38,000 metres that the company drilled.

“We added that data and the resource model numbers came out very close to what Nordmin had calculated. So far, so good,” noted Drost.

In October, last year, Drost said they had some additional drill results at the Current deposit site and decided to go through a similar exercise which took several months to complete.

“When we had completed that work at the Current deposit, we discovered the discrepancy,” he said. “This could potentially lead to a material change in the economics of the project, so as a result, we’re not relying on the resource statement or the preliminary economic study until the reason for the discrepancy can be fully assessed and a new resource generated.”

Drost pointed out when they noticed the discrepancy, they couldn’t easily and readily resolve it.

“We knew that we had to just advise the market and say, ‘there is a discrepancy and we’re working through it,’” he said. “And everybody’s communicating.”

For now, Drost says their technical and management team along with its independent consultants are solely focused on working on an independent recalculation of the resource at the Current deposit site while fulfilling their obligation to disclose the potential for material change. He said the new outcome of the new, updated mineral resource expected for the Thunder Bay North Project will guide the company’s next steps.

Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal

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