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Overview: Tapuli is an advanced project with a defined NI43-101 magnetite resource 5km from the Stora Sahavaara magnetite deposit in Norrbotten District, northern Sweden. The resource, modeled using a cut off of 15.0% Fe, is:
Fast Track GeoVista, who completed Northland's resource calculation, noted in their summary that the project has the potential for commercial exploitation given:
As part of our push to bring on iron ore production as soon as possible, Northland has decided to fast-track the development of Tapuli. We believe this project can be mined without extensive processing as the magnetite layers are well-separated from the deeper iron-sulfide layers. In addition, a road network already exists that connects Tapuli to a Finnish rail line that can transport product to several ports in either Finland or Sweden. Property History Tapuli was drilled by the Swedish Geological Survey (SGU) between 1965 and 1969. Twenty-six holes were drilled on the Tapuli occurrence, totaling 6,280 meters; of these the majority have density determinations. The SGU determined a rough resource estimate (not NI 43-101 compliant) of 60 Mt of magnetite ore grading 30% Fe. Geophysical work (magnetic and gravity) was completed by the SGU in 1971 and concluded the central core of high grade ore may be continuous to a depth in excess of 2,000 meters. Little further work was done until Northland acquired the project in 2004. Northland has systematically drill tested the magnetite body using large diameter core where possible. Our geologists have also re-logged and re-sampled the historic core stored in the SGU core archive. The large diameter core also provided sufficient material for initial metallurgical test work. Northland's 2007 drilling program added 37 holes for a total of 5,697 meters. All the drill holes were integrated into the current database, which contained a total of 5,603 iron analyses. Two historic drill holes were twinned to verify lithological and assay reliability with good correlation. Because the Tapuli-area deposits had been explored previously, Northland was able to move directly to in-fill and deeper hole drilling and did not undertake any significant mapping or surface sampling, nor additional detailed geochemical surveys. Geology and Mineralization: The Tapuli magnetite body is hosted by structurally deformed rocks within the Pajala Shear Zone (PSZ), a major regional feature striking across the border into Finland, where our Rautuvaara and Hannukainen projects are located.
The deposit occurs as a semi-continuous mineralized zone beneath an average of 11m of till. The mineralization has been separated into 7 mineralized lenses, Tapuli South, Tapuli Central Upper and Lower, Tapuli North Upper and Lower and Palotieva Upper and Lower respectively. The dip of the mineralized bodies range from 45 to 60 degrees towards the WNW and NW. Magnetite occurs as relatively continuous lenses which have been delineated at surface along strike for over 2,000 meters with true widths within the Central lens of over 200 meters. The near-surface magnetite body can be traced for 2.2 km along strike, and is located close to surface below a few meters of glacial till. The magnetite body is fairly well separated from the sulfide bearing zones. Drilling has determined the magnetite skarn to be more than 85m in true thickness and is open down hole to the south. Due to the thickness of the ore body and proximity to the surface, Northland believes this deposit can be mined with a very low stripping ratio (<1:1). Metallurgical Test Work Initial metallurgical test work has produced excellent early results. The work, performed on a composite drill core sample taken from seven drill holes from across the resource, indicates that a high-grade concentrate, up to 69% Total Iron (Fet) and <0.03%S, can be produced using a simple flow sheet that comprises magnetic separation only and does not require a flotation stage. The concentrate should be suitable as pellet feed, is relatively coarse grained, and should be transportable by road, rail or ship year round after filtration. Furthermore, the resultant concentrate should be relatively coarse: the effective liberation size lies somewhere between 106 and 250 microns. This concentrate should be transportable by road, rail or ship year round after filtration and should be saleable as a pellet feed; or even for use as a part-feed to a sinter plant. From the data gathered to date we anticipate good recoveries of 85-90% Fet, with magnetite recovery over 90%. The table below provides a more detailed analysis of the average concentrate generated from the test work at 106 micron grind size and demonstrates that the Tapuli resource can make a high grade, low acid gangue concentrate suitable as feed for pelletizing operations (Note all assays except sulphur were completed using XRF). Table 1: average concentrate composition for Tapuli magnetite concentrate. All elements reported as %.
Ownership: Northland owns the exploration permits 100%, free of any royalties or back-in rights. |
Tapuli
Hannukainen
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