Gnome Project (Zn/Co)

The Gnome Project (Cobalt / Zinc), 100% owned by AsiaBaseMetals Inc., encompassing 5,868 hectares (12 mineral claims) in the heart of an area that is home to both the Cirque and the Cardiac Creek Deposits, is located 35 kilometers SE along trend from Teck Resources Limited ("Teck") & Korea Zinc's joint ventured ("T-KZ-JV" - 50% each) Cirque deposit and 15 kilometers south east from the Cardiac Creek deposit (ZincX Resources Inc.). The Cirque deposit, the Cardiac Creek deposit, Pie, Cirque East and Youen properties, the Cirque Property and the Gnome property are all in the same geological belt, NE of Williston Lake, in north western British Columbia, Canada, within a north-northwest-south-southeast-oriented geological trend in the southernmost part (Kechika Trough) of the regionally extensive Paleozoic Selwyn basin. The Selwyn basin is already recognized as one of the most prolific sedimentary basins in the world for the occurence of sedex zinc-lead-silver and strataform barite deposits discovered in the heyday of northern B.C., Canada, Pb-Zn-Ag exploration (late 1970's and early 1980's).

Highlights of 2019 eight soil and 12 rock samples results from Area G:

Soil Sample Results – Highlights (Table - 1 - below):

  • Cobalt (Co) values are in the range of 7.8 parts per million (ppm) to 858.5 ppm (0.08%) where seven samples are over 700 ppm Co.
  • Zinc (Zn) values are from 268.2 ppm to 30,317 ppm (3.03%) Zn.
  • Manganese (Mn) values are in the range of 531 ppm to 18,874 ppm (1.88%) Mn..
  • Iron (Fe) is in the range of 1.52% to over 40% Fe.
  • Nickel (Ni) values are in the range of 46.4 ppm to 5,144 ppm (0.51%) Ni.
  • Molybdenum (Mo) is in the range of 20.07 ppm to 692.87 ppm (0.069%) Mo.

Rock Sample Results - Highlights (Table - 2 - below):

  • Grab rock samples results indicate cobalt values in the range of 0.8 ppm to 725.5 ppm (0.07%) Co, zinc 56.9 ppm to 17,707 ppm (1.77%) Zn, nickel 1.9 ppm to 1,988.2 ppm (0.19%) Ni, Manganese 22 ppm to over 12,653 ppm (1.26%) Mn and iron 0.28% to over 40% Fe.

The 2019 exploration program also included the drilling of one 140m hole (true depth of 80m) (Azimuth 270, dip -50, location: 6345164N, 406023E on NAD 83 Zone 10) to test for shallow targets in Area C. Although the drill hole intersected favourable lithological unit of Gunsteel Formation comprising of grey to black carbonaceous shales with 1-3% sulphides, the assay results indicated no significant anomalous values of target metals.

With the inclusion of Area G, seven potential target areas to date have been identified on the property where topsoil has shown limonitic and hematitic alteration with high nickel, cobalt, manganese and zinc mineralization (see Figure 1). The Company has drill tested only Area C and believes exploration on the other six areas is warranted.

Figure -1: Exploration Areas – A, B, C, D, E, F & G

2019-10-25-abz-fig1.jpg

Raj Chowdhry, the founding director, Chairman, CEO and President stated, “Although drilling results did not meet our expectations of identifying a shallow mineralization possibly amenable to open pit mining, the discovery of a new target area and the remaining targets in other areas identified to date on the Gnome property continue to present a good chance of a discovery for cobalt and zinc at shallow or deeper depths. The Company intends to advance this project in congruence with market conditions. ”

Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC).

A total of 8 soil samples and 12 grab rock samples were collected from newly discovered target Area G in the 2019 exploration program. This sampling also included 10% duplicates as part of Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) program. All samples and drill hole were recorded as to location (UTM - NAD 83), sample type (grab, composite grab, chip, soil, silt etc.), exposure type (outcrop, subcrop, float, etc.), lithology, colour, texture and grain size. For the Soil Sampling work, conventional soil samples were collected from the B-horizon (being generally below vegetation) wherever possible. All rock samples were grab samples taken from outcrops. For drill hole GN19-01, the core boxes were brought at Akie Camp where all core was logged for lithology, structure, mineralization, percent core recovery and RQD. A total of 87 core samples were collected by splitting one-meter core length at a time using rock saw where one half was put in sample bag, and the other half was retained in the core box. All samples were shipped to ACME Analytical Laboratories (Bureau Veritas) in Vancouver. The samples were assayed using laboratory analytical codes: AQ252-EXT for rock samples, and AQ252 for soil samples. Samples found to be over limit to the laboratory’s method for zinc and manganese were re-assayed using laboratory’s method MA270). The Company cautions that grab samples are selected samples and are not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the property.

With the inclusion of Area G, seven potential target areas to date have been identified on the property where topsoil has shown limonitic and hematitic alteration with high nickel, cobalt, manganese and zinc mineralization (see Figure 1). The Company has drill tested only Area C and believes exploration on the other six areas is warranted.

Discovery of Cobalt (Co) - Gnome Project
First in the region, together with Zinc.

Soil Geochemical Survey Results - 2018
Anomolous Cobalt (0.58% Co) together with Zinc (up to 5.99% Zn) and Manganese (up to 10.6% Mn)
(see Corporate Presentation / Company's News Release Oct 29, 2018)

Cobalt (Co)Zinc (Zn)Manganese (Mn)Nickel (Ni)Iron (Fe)
0.58%5.99%10.62%0.8%58.4%


Highlights of Soil & Rock Samples Analytical Results (2018) –Table 1 & Table 2

Table 1: Highlights of Soil Samples Analytical Results – Gnome Project (AsiaBaseMetals Inc.)

Sample ID Location NAD 83 Zone 10Area MethodAQ252 / MA270
AnalyteMoCuZnAgNiCoMnFeBa
UnitPPMPPMPPMPPBPPMPPMPPM%PPM
MDL0.010.010.120.10.110.010.5
EastingNorthingType,
GN18-001 S4071106337869FSoil3.152.9526260288256581210622333.5475.6
GN18-002 S4071236337844FSoil42.837.31960995632.414781748.31167.6
GN18-050 S4103666339314ESoil39.3445.745601011342948032904832.6320
GN18-051 S4103666339314ESoil32.9644.37599088043718263022332.78317.2
GN18-055 S4103896339298ESoil147.455.022358432633595501666527.53439.2
GN18-056 S4103596339299ESoil53.9940.213232139629794911605122.45395.5
GN18-106 S4074456341612DSoil5.784.02850998241019802841443.16399.5
GN18-108 S4074426341588DSoil11.526.961078996391720334329139.18812.6
GN18-109 S4074596341590DSoil6.473.04931479295221483262443.03638.4
GN18-110 S4074816341597DSoil8.6614.025136220177319593565938.51748.5
GN18-111 S4074916341602DSoil8.3643.575666601187714512938235.82938.8
GN18-112 S4074916341602DSoil8.3446.415649639186215343021335.23948.6
GN18-113 S4075026341575DSoil3.7910.635212164214121134437739.11800.4
GN18-115 S4074556341569DSoil11.313.111099467369221854022041.94725.5
GN18-117 S4075016341536DSoil5.7913.8312339136420432346058238.671315.5
GN18-118 S4060426345118CSoil41.78.6228374171251519263812640.34444.1
GN18-119 S4059736345173CSoil33.4791.4841123109552.312651851937.55488.1
GN18-120 S4060986345036CSoil109.218.62177521914223718173631530.71677.8
GN18-121 S4060976345060CSoil89.2921.51105962326167012762875718.274094.6
GN18-123 Set4060626345097CSoil74.2219.79159541482180113722542336.172314.5

Click here to see all of the soil sample results for 2018.

Table 2: Highlights of Rock Samples Analytical Results– Gnome Project (AsiaBaseMetals Inc.)

Sample IDSample Location
NAD 83 Zone 10 V
AreaMethodAQ252
AnalyteMoCuZnAgNiCoMnFeBa
UnitPPMPPMPPMPPBPPMPPMPPM%PPM
MDL0.010.010.120.10.110.010.5
EastingNorthingType
GN18-002 R4071166337849FRock174.1821.24378.798210.222.8231>40.00136.2
GN18-003 R4071236337844FRock32.0323.734659.3136293.330.312838.68153.8
GN18-015 R4073586341749DRock6.31420.731917.12582.56.773>40.001
GN18-025 R4074396341617DRock6.272.216824.622169.430.7210>40.0011.1
GN18-026 R4074816341597DRock22.493.785821.556819.9808.3>10000>40.00322
GN18-029 R4074376341625DRock9.691.739839.516654.2412.65396>40.0063.8
GN18-030 R4074376341625CRock15.332.086606.721206.843.7342>40.0022.5

Click here to see all of the rock sample results for 2018.

Significant Zinc properties in the Gnome Property area:

  • Cardiac Creek Deposit - Akie Prpoperty - Now held 100% by ZincX Resources Inc. Indicated resource estimate (at 5% Zinc cut-off grade) of 22.7 million tonnes grading 8.32% zinc (4,162M Lbs), 1.61% lead (804 M Lbs) and 14.1 g/t silver (10.3 M Ozs) and an inferred resource (at a 5% zinc cut-off grade) of 7.5 million tonnes grading 7.04% zinc (1,169 M Lbs) , 1.24% lead (205 M Lbs) and 12.0 g/t silver (2,9 M Ozs) . (Pursuant to a NI-43-101 technical report prepared by Canada Zinc Metals Corp. with an effective date of May 16, 2016). The deposit remains open along strike and at depth. (Source: website – ZincX Resources Corp.) Further, pursuant to a PEA (see Note 1; below) announced on July 20, 2018 (filed on Sedar on August 2, 2018), ZincX reported the following:
    • NPV - Pre-Tax (discounted cat 7%) $649 million ($401 million after tax);
    • IRR - Pre-Tax (Internal Rate of Return) - 35% (27% after-tax);
    • Payback Period - Pre-Tax - 2.6 years (3.2 years after-tax);
    • Mine-Life - the PEA contemplates a 4,000 tonne-per-day underground mine & 3,000 tonne-per-day concentrator with an 18 year mine life;
    • Total Mine Production of 25.8 million tonnes, of which 19.7 million tonnes are processed;
    • Initial capex (excluding contingeny) estimated at $256.7 million, total of $302.3 million, including $45.7 million in contingency;
    • Cardiac Deposit remains open at depth with potential to increase mine life;
    • District Potential - Akie & Kechika regional combined offer district-scale potential for new discoveries;
    • There is no certainity that the results concluded in the PEA will be realized.
  • Cirque Deposit - Now held 100% between Teck Resources Limited ("Teck") and Korea Zinc ("KZ") through a joint ventue (T-KZ JV - 50% each); drilling delineated historical resource estimates for the North Cirque zone and the South Cirque zone. (Source: per historical data - The British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines MINFILE - Zinc in British Columbia; British Columbia Geological Survey - Information Circular 2015 - 12, Assessment report 34274, dated November 1, 2013).
  • Pie, Cirque East and Yuen Properties - Now held 51% between Teck Resources Limited ("Teck") and Korea Zinc ("KZ") through a joint ventue (T-KZ JV - 50% each) and 49% by ZincX Resources Inc.

Note 1:There can be no assurance that the Company will obtain similar results on the Gnome Property. The PEA is considered preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves have not yet demonstrated economic viability. Due to the uncertainty that may be attached to mineral resources, it cannot be assumed that all or any part of a mineral resource will be upgraded to mineral reserves. Therefore, there is no certainty that the results concluded in the PEA will be realized. Mineralization hosted on the Cirque and Cardiac Creek Properties is not indicative of the mineralization hosted on the Company’s Gnome Zinc Project at its current stage of exploration.

Exploration History - in the area:
In December 1992, Curragh Resources, which had previously acquired Cirque, was issued a Mine Development Certificate (approval for construction) by the BC Government for a mine/mill complex with a daily milling rate of 3,500 tonnes. The company estimated that the project would produce about 250,000 tonnes of zinc and lead sulphide concentrates yearly.

Historic drilling delineated historical estimates of the North Cirque zone and South Cirque zone. Development of Cirque did not proceed and the property was subsequently acquired by Teck Corporation (25%), Cominco Limited (25%) and Korea Zinc Company (50%) under a joint venture (Sources: Assessment report 34274, dated November 1, 2013; Ministry of Energy and Mines MINFILE Number: 094F 008; website - Canada Zinc Metals Corp.)

Note: "Qualified Person" information is provided, as required by regulatory authorities, in the "Disclaimer" section of this website under the heading "Technical Information".

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