VANCOUVER, Jan. 3, 2018 /CNW/ - ALTAIR RESOURCES
INC. ("Altair" or the "Company") (TSX‑V: AVX; Germany
FRA: 90A; ISIN: CA02137W1014; WKN: WKN A2ALMP) Mr.
Harold (Roy) Shipes, Chairman and
CEO, is pleased to announce that that the Company has signed a
binding letter of intent dated for reference December 23, 2017, with Rhenium Technology
Corporation ("Rhenium") and its shareholders (the "Rhenium
Shareholders") to acquire (the "Acquisition") the former producing
zinc-lead-silver Grund mine project (the "Grund Mine
Project") located in the Harz region of Germany, through the acquisition of all of the
issued and outstanding shares of Rhenium. Upon completion of
the Acquisition, Rhenium will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of
the Company. The Acquisition is an arm's length transaction
for the Company.
Material Terms of the Acquisition
The material terms of the Acquisition include the following
terms, among others:
- Upon completion of the Acquisition, Altair will issue to the
Rhenium Shareholders an aggregate of 9,640,000 common shares of the
Company, which will represent approximately 16.2% of the then
issued and outstanding common shares of Altair.
- Altair will grant to the Rhenium Shareholders a 2% net smelter
returns royalty (the "Royalty") on the silver and zinc produced
from the Grund Mine Project for a term to be agreed upon. Altair
will have the right at any time to buy 50% of the Royalty (i.e. 1%
Royalty) by the issuance of an aggregate of 3,500,000 common shares
of Altair. In the event that the Rhenium Shareholders wish to
sell the remaining 50% of the Royalty (i.e. 1% Royalty), they will
first offer it to Altair, in which case the consideration to be
paid by Altair will be an aggregate of 3,500,000 common shares of
Altair.
- The Rhenium Shareholders will be entitled to nominate one
person to the board of directors of Altair on closing of the
Acquisition, such person to be acceptable to Altair and the TSX
Venture Exchange (the "Exchange").
The closing of the Acquisition is subject to a number of
conditions precedent which are normal for transactions such as
this, including the completion of satisfactory due diligence;
approval of the Altair shareholders to the Acquisition if required;
the delivery of a title and corporate opinion; the completion of a
technical report on the Grund Mine Project in accordance with
National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Projects ("NI 43-101"); execution of a definitive agreement;
acceptance of the Exchange, etc. There can be no assurance
that the Acquisition will be completed as contemplated or at
all.
Summary of the Grund Mine Project
The Grund Mine Project is located in the Harz Mountain region of
central Germany, comprising 15,655
hectares of mining rights, plus a surface lease covering all mine
sites and industrial facilities located in the city of Grund.
The mine was formerly operated until 1992 by Preussag AG (now
TUI AG) and was closed due to
the depressed price of zinc at that time.
Prior to the Grund mine ceasing operations, the mine was
operating at 450,000 tonnes per year (1,200 tpd) (Source:
Preussag AG Corporate records from 1986 to 1992). Preussag AG
corporate records also indicate that in 1986 approximately 6.6
million tonnes of material was available for potential mining, and
that by 1992 when the mine closed, an aggregate of 1.1 million
tonnes of this material had been mined.
The historical data referred to herein is based on prior data
and records prepared by the previous owner of the Grund mine prior
to the implementation of NI 43-101. The historical data
should not be relied upon. The Company is presenting this
historical data for reference only and is not implying that any
mineralization is present within the existing deposit. The
reader is cautioned that there are no known reserves on the
property under NI 43-101, and it is uncertain if further
exploration will result in a target being delineated as a mineral
resource. There can be no assurance that if discovered that
any mineral resource may be economically recovered. The
historical data as to the potential quantity of material has been
derived from the Preussag AG records as of 1992. No grade is
implied, however Preussag AG records are available for the
historical production of the mine from 1932 to 1992.
Management believes that the Preussag AG historical records
and projections were prepared in a workman like manner by
established mining concern personnel and are believed to be
reliable, and relevant to the current evaluation of the
project.
Historical production for the Harz District totals 37.8 million
tonnes grading 5.1% lead, 3.9% zinc, and about 140 g/t silver
(Preussag AG records) of which about half came from the Grund Mine.
The Company is presenting this historical data for reference
only and is not implying that similar material is still present
within the existing deposit.
A Qualified Person ("QP") for Altair has not done sufficient
work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral
resources or mineral reserves, and the Company is not treating the
historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral
reserves. The historical data must be verified by a QP before
any current resource or reserve can be established.
Additional work will need to be undertaken to verify the
historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral
reserves which will include relogging of relevant drilling data,
resampling of available drill cores, resampling underground stopes
and openings where available, verify the QA/QC procedures utilized
in developing historical estimates, a review of all detailed
production and milling records, verification of all accessible
underground mapping, and verification of historical cost parameters
relative to current cost parameters.
A conceptual exploration target has been formulated for the
Grund Mine Project based on the Preussag AG historical reports that
indicate that the veins were not bottomed, and are open on
strike. It is anticipated that an exploration program will
explore depth projections of previously mined zones, explore strike
projections of previously mined zones, and evaluate all historical
mine data for possible additional vein structures or bedded
structures that may be present for future exploration. No
estimate of the size or grade of any exploration target additional
to the Grund mine itself is presented at this time.
The Grund mine itself is the exploration target for the purpose
of this release. The exploration target is estimated at
between 4.5 and 5 million tonnes of material grading 5-7% zinc,
2-3% lead, and 120-140 g/t silver. These numbers have been
prepared by the company based on all materials available from
historical records and data. The Company is not treating this
estimate as a resource or reserve, and additional work must be
conducted by a Qualified Person before any resource or reserve is
established. Even if established there can be no assurance
that any such resource may be economically recoverable.
The Grund Mine Project property includes all mining rights for
the district, all surface installations, good road access via
4-lane Interstate Highway, water, and high and low voltage
electricity, rail access and complete loading facilities. The
concession includes all underground facilities, including six mine
shafts, approximately 1,000 km of underground workings, and two
main access tunnels. The Tiefen-Georg-Stollen and
Ernst-August-Stollen tunnels also served as drainage tunnels for
the district.
The two main shafts, the Achenbachschact at 719 m, and the Hilfe-Gotteser-Schact shaft at 400
meters provide the most recent access in addition to four other
shafts. Production at the time of the closure of the mine was
mainly from the 21st level at 900m depth. The remaining mineralization is
expected to be mainly below levels 14 and 19. The
mineralization is open at depth and on strike with no limits
defined by mining to date. Mining and production records
indicate that copper levels increased at depth and to the east
leaving the possibility open for increased copper levels as mining
progresses. The mining concession also includes the Harz
Foreland copper productive vein areas to the southeast.
The lower levels of the mine are flooded and will require
dewatering. The processing complex will require re-fitting
with recovery equipment to re-establish the heavy media facility
and flotation facilities for production of separate lead and zinc
concentrates. The possibility of electronic sorting in
addition to heavy media separation will be considered for future
operations.
The abundant open spaces within the mine workings will allow for
underground disposal of any tailings not utilized in the production
of concrete and cement.
The exploration possibilities for the concession are enhanced by
the availability of geophysical data both airborne and ground, plus
the access to all drilling data in the region for which maps,
cores, logs and records are available at the LBEG (State Authority
for Mining Energy and Geochemistry) for the State of
Niedersachsen.
The mineralization of the six main vein structures consists of
near vertical veins varying from 1 meter to several tens of meters
in thickness. These veins extend to depth, and have not been
bottomed, and extend on strike beyond all mine workings. The
veins are emplaced in a thick series of greywackes, shaley
sandstones and conglomerates as well as limestones of Devonian
(Givetian) and younger age, all of which have the strength and
capability of allowing development of large vertical fractures
which were filled by four mineralization events, including
development of major breccia mineralization. The great widths
and extent of the veins depends on the thick competent host rock
sequences.
All resource estimates referred to herein are based on prior
data and reports obtained and prepared by previous operators. The
Company has not completed the work necessary to verify the
classification of the resource estimates. The Company is not
treating the mineral resource estimates as NI 43-101 defined
resource verified by a Qualified Person. The historical
estimates should not be relied upon. The Grund Mine Project will
require considerable further evaluation which the Company's
management and consultants intend to carry out in due course.
Chairman and CEO, Harold (Roy)
Shipes, stated "the Bad Grund Mine represents a very major
acquisition in a prolific mining district in a safe and supportive
jurisdiction. It holds excellent exploration potential and
significant amounts of developed material ready for mining.
It hosts an impressive infrastructure with all support
facilities, including abundant water, adequate electricity,
tailings disposal facilities as well as extensive underground
depleted mine areas suitable for paste backfill of tailings, road,
rail, and air access, all office buildings and shops. It
should allow fast track to production and complements the Company's
Pan American Mine in Lincoln County,
Nevada, USA."
Dr. S. A. Jackson P.Geo., is the
Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 who has prepared, and
supervised the preparation of, and approved the scientific and
technical disclosure in this news release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,
"Harold Shipes"
Harold Shipes,
President & CEO
Forward Looking Statements
Certain information set forth in this news release contains
"forward-looking statement", and "forward- looking information"
under applicable securities laws. Except for statements of
historical fact, certain information contained herein constitutes
forward-looking statements, which include the Company's
expectations about the completion of the proposed acquisition of
the Grund Mine Project, future performance based on current results
and expected cash costs and are based on the Company's current
internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and
beliefs, which may prove to be incorrect. Some of the
forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as
"will", "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "projects", "plans",
and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees
of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on
them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve
known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which, may cause the
Company's actual performance and financial results in future
periods to differ materially from any projects of future
performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statement. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to: liabilities inherent in mine development and
production; geological risks, the financial markets generally, the
results of the due diligence investigations to be conducted by the
Company, the ability of the Company to obtain requisite Exchange
acceptance and if required shareholder approval. There can be
no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be
accurate, and actual results and future events could differ
materially from those anticipate in such statements. The
Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking
statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions
should change except as required by applicable securities laws.
The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Altair Resources