Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 2, 2020) - Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. (TSXV: CEM) (OTCQX: CNSNF) ("Constantine" or the "Company") is pleased to report that on August 28th, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the Bureau of Land Management's approval of the Palmer Project's Plan of Operations for exploration work and road construction.
The Company is also pleased to report that 2020 field work season began in early August at the Palmer Zinc-Copper-Gold-Silver Project in Southeast Alaska ("Palmer" or the "Project"). The work represents the major portion of the 2020 budget of US $2.15 million.
BLM Wins 9th Circuit Court Appeal
In December 2017 groups aligned with the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC) sued the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for granting Constantine's Plan of Operations (PoO) authorizing construction of 2.5 miles of road in support of exploration, contending that the impacts of a future mine should have been part of the exploration approval process. On March 15, 2019 Judge Burgess, presiding Judge of the Federal District Court for the District of Alaska, granted summary judgment to the BLM, Constantine, Alyu Mining Co., Inc. and Haines Mining & Exploration Inc., thereby denying each of SEACC's claims. In an eight-page Decision filed on August 28, 2020 the Ninth Circuit affirmed Judge Burgess's Order.
The Company agrees with the Court's opinion that the potential impacts of a future mine were not required to authorize construction of 2.5 miles of road in support of exploration. Constantine recognizes the importance of ongoing scientific studies and stakeholder discussions during the exploration process and remains committed to quality science and meaningful engagement with stakeholders through every step of our mineral exploration, that will help us create a responsible mine proposal for consideration in the future.
Garfield MacVeigh commented that, "We believe the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided correctly on this matter and are pleased with this opinion that is important for all companies conducting exploration projects in the United States."
2020 Field Program
The program includes summer field work, environmental and project permitting work for future underground exploration development and continued outreach to keep the Haines Borough and State of Alaska informed on project activities.
Surface geological work is focused on upgrading geological and prospect information to assist in advancing drill targets and resolving the offset on the Kudo fault that displaces the thickest part of the downdip South Wall deposit (CMR14-65 -89.0 meters grading 0.79% copper and 5.03% zinc including 7.4 meters grading 2.05% copper and 10.23% zinc). Much of this work is being carried out from the new road that has been completed to an underground exploration portal site.
Additional work is also in progress on the AG deposit (Inferred Resource of 4.3 million tonnes at 4.64% zinc, 0.12% Copper, 119.5 g/t silver, 0.53 g/t gold, 34.8% barite) that is the subject of a Master of Science dissertation.
2020 Environmental Studies and Permitting Update
The Company continues to build and expand the baseline environmental science database, fulfill environmental monitoring requirements and advance project permitting for future underground exploration.
In July 2019, the Company received all the necessary approvals to proceed with an underground exploration plan for the Palmer Zinc-Copper-Silver-Gold Project, Southeast Alaska. Subsequent to approval, the Waste Management Permit ("WMP") to manage wastewater and waste rock issued by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation ("ADEC") was remanded to ADEC staff for further review due to a 9th Circuit Court Decision in the County of Maui vs. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. That review is continuing so that the Company can comply with the new interpretation of the Clean Water Act that arose out of the Supreme Court's April 23, 2020 Opinion in the County of Maui vs. Hawaii Wildlife Fund case. The Company, in consultation with ADEC, has been collecting additional hydrologic information and plans to submit an updated Wastewater Discharge System Design and supporting data to ADEC for final discharge authorization in the future.
About the Palmer Project
Palmer is a high-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide-sulphate (VMS) project located in a very accessible part of coastal Southeast Alaska, with road access to the property and within 60 kilometers of the year-round deep-sea port of Haines. Mineralization at Palmer occurs within the same belt of rocks that is host to the Greens Creek mine, one of the world's richest VMS deposits.
A Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) presents a low capex, low operating cost, high margin underground mining operation with attractive environmental attributes (see news release dated June 3, 2019). Exploration has resulted in the discovery of the new AG deposit and continued to grow the resource base to its current estimated size of 4.68 million tonnes indicated grading 5.23 % zinc,1.49 % copper, 30.0 g/t silver, 0.30 g/t gold and 9.6 million tonnes inferred grading 4.95 % zinc , 0.59 % copper, 69.3 g/t silver, 0.39 g/t gold. VMS deposits are known to occur in clusters, and with at least 25 separate base metal and/or barite occurrences and prospects on the Project, there is abundant potential for discovery of multiple deposits.
The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that PEA results will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Constantine is proud to be contributing to the local Haines economy by creating employment opportunities and working with local businesses to support exploration work at the Palmer Project.
Qualified Person Statement
Michael Vande Guchte, P.Geo, is the Company's Vice President Exploration and a qualified person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Vande Guchte has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.
About the Company
Constantine is a mineral exploration company led by an experienced and proven technical team with a focus on the Palmer Project being advanced as a joint venture between Constantine (51%) and Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. (49%), with Constantine as operator. The plan is to continue to expand and discover new resources while the project is being advanced towards feasibility.
With the successful spinout of the Company's gold assets into HighGold Mining Inc. last year, the Company has made a decision to evaluate new opportunities for gold in addition to its flagship massive sulphide base metal Palmer project. We have identified several key gold prospects on our 100% leased lands that we are currently exploring.
On Behalf of Constantine Metal Resources Ltd.
"Garfield MacVeigh"
President
For further information, please visit the Constantine Metal Resources website at www.constantinemetals.com, or contact:
Garfield MacVeigh, President
Email: info@constantinemetals.com
Phone: +1 604 629 2348
Notes:
The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including, without limitation, the Company's 2020 Palmer Project environmental and exploration plans,and statements regarding the Palmer Project. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. Forward-looking information and statements are based on the then current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the Company's business and the industry and markets in which it operates.
Forward-looking information and statements are made based upon numerous assumptions, including among others, that the results of planned exploration activities are as anticipated, commodity prices, the cost of planned exploration activities, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, that third party contractors, equipment, supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct the Company's planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward looking information or making forward looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate.
Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performances and achievements of Constantine to differ materially from any projections of results, performances and achievements of Constantine expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others, negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of the availability of additional financing, imprecision of mineral resource estimates, aboriginal title and consultation issues, exploration risks, reliance upon key management and other personnel, deficiencies in the Company's title to its properties, uninsurable risks, failure to manage conflicts of interest, failure to obtain or maintain required permits and licenses, changes in laws, regulations and policy, competition for resources and financing and other factors discussed or referred to in the Company's most recent MD&A under "Risk Factors".
Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws.
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