The Magpie Deposit is among the world's largest undeveloped titaniferous magnetite deposits with a historical non-43-101 compliant resource estimate totalling 1.1 B Tons @43% Fe and 11%TiO2 and still open at depth. An updated NI 43-101 is expected to be published shortly by P&E Consulting. The deposit is located on Quebec's North Shore, east of Sept Iles, about 130 kilometres north of tidewater. The titaniferous iron ore of the deposit has been described as massive and homogeneous and carries small, but significant chromium and vanadium values.
The property was acquired by staking by the Company in partnership with The Sheridan Platinum Group Ltd in 2007 and in the same year sold to a newly formed private company, The Magpie Mines Inc. in exchange for 27,460,981 common shares of Magpie (50% interest). A small flowthrough financing in late 2008 left the partners with 48.7% each and enabled the drilling of a part of the deposit and the production of a 43-101 quality report estimate in mid 2009.
A private placement in the Spring of 2011 enabled the Company to complete a major drill programme of 31 holes totalling 8,124 metres over the 11,500 foot strike length of Deposit No. 2 and work has begun on an updated NI 43-101 quality resource, prior to a planned IPO in Spring 2012. The Magpie Mines Inc.,is now owned 46.7% by FNC.
Drill Section Location Map
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The currrent geological interpretation of the Magpie deposit is primarily based on detailed mapping and sampling done in the 1960s by Stratmat Ltd. The deposit consists of four individual segments of masssive to semi-massive titaniferous magnetite ore numbered Deposit 1 through 4 going from North to South. The general trend of the ore body is North-South with a sub-vertical west dipping contact to the west and a shallower west dipping (45°-50°) contact to the east. The ore body is hosted within granitic gneisses with the hanging wall and the footwall contacts being relatively sharp. The massive ore body is strongly homogeneous with only a small presence of locally interlayered anorthosite and cross cutting diabase dykes. We are probably looking at the root zone of a major layered anorthosite/gabbro complex now disappeared through erosion. Possible depth extensions remain to be tested.
Most importantly the drilling done to date has shown that the structural geology interpretations underpinning the historical tonnage estimates are largely correct.
