Canarc Resource Corp. (TSX: CCM, OTC-BB: CRCUF, Frankfurt: CAN) announces that it has engaged Hatch Ltd., a global engineering company, to evaluate the feasibility of installing and operating a small concentrate autoclave at Canarc’s New Polaris mine site in northern BC as part of a process plant to produce gold dore bars onsite.
New Polaris, Canarc’s most advanced gold mine project, has no road access so if building and operating an autoclave is economic to produce gold dore bars onsite, the project can be remodeled as a fly in-fly out operation with seasonal barging, a possible major breakthrough for advancing the project towards production.
New Polaris Project:
Over the past 28 years, the Company has invested over $30 million on surface and underground exploration, mine access and development, resource estimation and economic studies of the project. A major hurdle to economic development has been the cost and challenge of shipping refractory gold concentrates to Juneau Alaska 60 kilometers to the southwest and then either south to the USA for sale to existing autoclave facilities or overseas for sale to smelters.
The installation of a small autoclave at New Polaris site for processing the concentrates into gold dore bars would eliminate this obstacle to developing the project. Hatch is a world leader in the design and installation of autoclaves, which are successfully used at various mines around the world for producing gold dore bars from refractory sulfide mineralization such as New Polaris.
Hatch was selected for their extensive experience in the design, engineering, construction and operation of mineral processing facilities utilizing autoclaves and pressure oxidation technology. Their site evaluation and cost analysis are expected to be complete in August 2018.
If results are positive, the Company plans to incorporate a concentrate autoclave in an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) to be completed by the end of 2018. Canarc can then turn its attention to financing or partnering the New Polaris gold mine project to feasibility.
Update on Canarc Exploration Projects
Nevada Properties, USA
The Company has invested over $1 million on exploration drilling and geological work at the Fondaway Canyon Project in Nevada since acquiring the AIM property portfolio one year ago and is very encouraged with the results to date. Geological mapping and sampling at Fondaway Canyon continues to uncover new areas of gold mineralization along the main mineralized trend.
Canarc has engaged SRK Geological Engineers in Reno, Nevada to develop a comprehensive 3D resource model for Fondaway Canyon that will include all the historic data as well as the results of the 2017 exploration program. The new model will help identify the most prospective areas in and around the current resources as well as evaluate the current mining potential.
The new model will also allow the Company to properly plan a second Fall 2018 drilling campaign focused on expanding the current resources and further advancing the project.
The evaluation of Canarc’s nine other Nevada projects has been completed and the Company is now seeking interested parties for possible sales or joint venture opportunities on these projects.
Windfall Hills, Canada:
The Company is planning to complete additional exploration at Windfall Hills in the summer/fall of 2018 with a budget of $400,000, funded from the proceeds of the flow through equity financing the Company closed in March 2017 at a price of $0.13 per share. An exploration permit from the BC Ministry of Mines is expected in May 2018.
Canarc plans to expand the current geological mapping, geochemical sampling and geophysical IP grid onto adjacent prospective areas identified by a recent geological compilation, extend previous trenching to better define areas of known gold mineralization, and identify new drill targets throughout the property.
Qualified Person:
Garry Biles,P.Eng, President & COO is a qualified person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and has approved the technical information in this news release.
“Catalin Kilofliski”