Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or the “Company”) announces the retirement of Brian Hinchcliffe as Executive Chairman and the appointment of Gunnar Nilsson as Non Executive Chairman. Brian Hinchcliffe has stepped aside to focus on other business interests but will continue to act as an advisor to the Company.
Brian Hinchcliffe, outgoing Executive Chairman of the Company said “Northern Finland has emerged in the last five years as the host of a number of important gold and base metal deposits. Rupert’s Pahtavaara Project is well positioned, with it’s 290km2 contiguous land position and permitted 1400 tpd mill, to benefit from the new focus and investment in the region. Gunnar Nilsson with his decades of senior business experience in Europe, will bring the skill set required to compliment existing management and commercially advance all the Company’s Finnish projects.”
Gunnar Nilsson, Non Executive Chairman of Rupert Resources said, “I am delighted to join the Board of Rupert Resources and look forward to working with James Withall and his team. On behalf of the Board I would like to acknowledge the contribution made by Brian Hinchcliffe to Rupert Resources over a number of years, in particular his role in the acquisition and initial development of the Pahtavaara Project and we are grateful that he will continue to lend his expertise to the Company in an advisory capacity.”
Notes to the Editors
Gunnar Nilsson was previously a Director of Northern Aspect Resources Limited, which was acquired by Rupert Resources in May 2018. Prior to this Mr Nilsson held senior roles at Johnson & Johnson and Svenska Cellulosa/Mölnlycke before retiring to act as a private investor. Mr Nilsson has over 30 years experience of developing and operating businesses in Europe and through joint venture companies outside Europe.
For full release please follow URL below:
180625 – Appointment of new chairman
Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or the “Company”) announces that it has published its audited financial results for the twelve months ending February 28, 2018 and accompanying Managements Discussion and Analysis for the same period.
Both of the above have been posted on the Company’s website www.rupertresources.com and on Sedar at www.sedar.com.
During the 12 months ending February 28, 2018, the Company spent $8,902,394 (12 months ended February 28, 2017 – $5,309,207) on the Pahtavaara project, including $7,494,051 on exploration (12 months ended February 28, 2017 – $3,807,452), together with remediation of the underground mine. As of February 28, 2018, Rupert held cash or cash equivalents of $5,487,407, including $ 2,465,951 of $4,900,000 that the Company had raised through a non-brokered private placement which closed on March 2, 2018. The Company recorded a net loss and comprehensive loss for the year of $(5,079,159) (12 months ended February 28, 2017 – $(2,503,081)) and a net loss per share of $(0.06) (12 months ended February 28, 2017 – $(0.03)).
James Withall, Chief Executive Officer of Rupert Resources said, “We made progress on a number of fronts during the year notably the consolidation and reinterpretation of the significant historical data package for Pahtavaara which will provide strong foundations to move the Project forward. The balance sheet has been strengthened through a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds $4,900,000; a baseline NI 43-101 resource was published for Pahtavaara; and the acquisition of the Northern Aspect properties gives us a presence in a second significant gold region of Finland. Looking forward we are making progress with the assaying of unsampled core and sampling of underground tunnelling at Pahtavaara, equivalent to around 10,000m of drilling. At Hirsikangas, we look forward to receiving the initial results from 1,400m of drilling in six holes undertaken prior to completion of the acquisition. Summer fieldwork is underway at both properties.”
All references to currency in this press release are in Canadian dollars.
About Rupert
Rupert is a Canadian based gold exploration and development company that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “RUP”. The Company owns the Pahtavaara gold mine, mill, and exploration permits and concessions located in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in Northern Finland (“Pahtavaara”) (see the Company’s November 9, 2016 press release). Pahtavaara has an Inferred mineral resource at a 1.5 g/t Au cut off grade of 4.6 Mt at a grade of 3.2 g/t Au (474 koz) (see Company’s release from April 16, 2018). The Company also holds a 100% interest in two properties in Central Finland – Hirsikangas and Osikonmaki; the Gold Centre property, which consists of mineral claims located in the Balmer Township, Red Lake, Ontario; and the Surf Inlet Property in British Columbia.
Technical Information
The technical information about the Company’s mineral properties contained in this release, other than information summarized or extracted from the Technical Reports, has been prepared under the supervision of Mike Sutton, PGeo, a non-executive Director of the Company and who is a “qualified person” within the meaning of NI 43-101. Mr. Sutton has reviewed the contents of this release and has consented to the inclusion in this release of all technical statements, other than information summarized or extracted from the Technical Report, in the form and context in which they appear and confirms that such information fairly represents the underlying data and study results.
For further information, please contact:
James Withall
Chief Executive Officer
jwithall@rupertresources.com
Thomas Credland
Head of Corporate Development & Investor Relations
tcredland@rupertresources.com
Rupert Resources Ltd
82 Richmond Street East, Suite 203, Toronto, Ontario M5C 1P1
Tel: +1 416-304-9004
Web: https://rupertresources.com/
Neither the 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.
The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains statements which constitute ”forward-looking statements”, including the completion of the proposed Transaction, deadlines, regulatory approvals, business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the general risks of the mining industry, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company’s annual Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the year ended February 28, 2018 available at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law.
Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or “the Company”) reports that on May 30th 2018 it filed a technical report prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) on the Pahtavaara Gold Project (the “Report”). The Report supports the disclosure made by the Company in its news release on April 16th, 2018 entitled “Rupert Resources reports NI 43-101 Inferred Resource for the Pahtavaara Project in Northern Finland” and there are no material differences in the mineral resources contained in the Report from those disclosed in the news release.
The Report entitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report: Pahtavaara Project, Finland” was prepared by independent “Qualified Person” (as the term is defined in NI 43-101) Brian Wolfe, Principle Resource Geologist of International Resource Solutions Pty Ltd, Perth, Australia.
The Report is available for review on both SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on the Company’s website using the following link:
300518_NI43-101_SEDAR_Technical_Report_RUP_PahtavaaraProjectFinland
Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or “the Company”) announces the initial results from its underground sampling programme including a sample of 3100g/t Au over 0.5m and expands licence by 65km2 at the Pahtavaara Project in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt of Northern Finland (the “Pahtavaara Project”). The Pahtavaara Project comprises a permitted 1,400tpd mill, 35km of underground infrastructure and a land package of 290km2.
James Withall, Chief Executive of Rupert Resources said “The initial results of the underground sampling programme are extremely encouraging and show the potential for near mine resource additions at Pahtavaara. The ongoing underground sampling combined with assaying of unsampled core is equivalent to around 10,000m of diamond drilling which Rupert is able to complete on a low cost basis. Beyond the mine limits Rupert has an extensive 2018 fieldwork plan based on our historic data review, results from 2017 and a new regional structural interpretation that utilised our detailed UAV aeromag survey. We have also applied for a further 65km2 contiguous ground located between Pahtavaara and the two major base metals deposits in the region. ”
For full release see
180524 – Pahtavaara licence expansion and UG sampling resultsvfinal2
Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that it has received final approval from the TSX-V, which was the final condition precedent to proceed with the acquisition of all the issued and and outstanding securities of Northern Aspect Resources Ltd. (“NARL”). The transaction (“Transaction”) was initially announced in a Company press release dated January 15, 2018, indicating that the Company and NARL had entered into a binding letter of intent in respect of the Transaction. The Company has instructed the transfer agent to issue share certificates to the former shareholders of NARL, and that further to this, the Transaction is now closed.
James Withall, Chief Executive of Rupert Resources said “The closure of the Transaction today provides Rupert with a foothold in three highly prospective geological regions of Finland. Each project has either current or historic resources and they have been acquired at an attractive cost. Hirsikangas and Osikonmaki both demonstrate potential to expand beyond previous exploration limits and we will be applying the same approach we are using at Pahtavaara to improve the geological understanding of these projects. A fieldwork campaign in 2017 at Hirsikangas provided positive indications for follow-up work and a diamond drilling campaign has been already been completed in 2018 with assay results pending.”
NARL properties
NARL is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert. NARL, through wholly-owned subsidiaries, holds a 100% beneficial interest in the Hirsikangas and Osikonmaki properties in Central Finland. The Hirsikangas property consists of six Exploration Licences, four of which are currently in the process of renewal, a further Exploration Licence application at Hanni, two valid Reservations and a recently applied for Reservation Application to the south and east of the current valid Reservations. The Osikonmaki property consists of seven valid Claims, plus one valid Reservation, and two Exploration Licences that are in application for renewal.
Hirsikangas
The Hirsikangas deposit in Central Finland is a Palaeoproterozoic orogenic gold deposit located on a 30km crustal scale shear zone. Using a 0.5 g/t cut off grade, Hirsikangas has Indicated mineral resources of 3.002 Mt at a grade of 1.23 g/t Au (119koz) and Inferred mineral resources of 2.673 Mt at a grade of 1.27 g/t Au (106koz) (collectively, the “Hirsikangas Resources”). These resources are contained within 1.2km of strike length and drilled at shallow levels. The prospect, that outcrops at surface, is open down dip and along strike in both directions and there is evidence of a potential parallel structure.
Since acquiring the properties in December 2016, the NARL geological team working at Hirsikangas has expanded the licence package from the small exploration permits hosting the current Hirskangas resource to cover the entire 30km strike of the indicated shear zone and potential parallel structures (see Figure 1). In the first season of fieldwork under NARL’s ownership, a sampling and mapping campaign was begun to cover the strike extent of the shear zone and yielded a number of gold bearing outcrops, boulders and soil anomalies. This work will continue in the summer season of 2018. The Hanni target located south east along strike from the Hirsikangas deposit has previously been identified by the Geological Survery of Finland (GTK) and has some limited historic drilling, along with IP geophysics. NARL has applied for an exploration permit covering the extent of the target and undertaken stakeholder meetings with landholders and local authorities to discuss its exploration plans for the area. Figure 1 shows the extent of the historic sampling along with work by NARL’s team in 2017 and the widespread distribution of anomalous boulders throughout the reservation area along the Ruhanperä shear zone. Samples collected from boulders grading 21 g/t Au, 24 g/t Au and 110 g/t Au were found by prospectors prior to NARL’s ownership close to the Hanni target (these samples are selected samples and are not in-place and are not representative of the mineralization hosted on the property).
Osikonmaki
The deposit at Osikonmaki is located in eastern central Finland, 40km south of Outokumpu. The model for Osikonmaki is an epigenetic intrusion related shear zone gold deposit located in the northwest trending crustal scale Ladoga-Bothnian deformation zone. Gold is concentrated in the footwall to the shear zone which dips to the south at about 45°, and plunges towards the east.
In excess of 20km of historic drilling, IP and magnetic geophyscial surveys and base of till geochemical sampling has been undertaken at the project with potential for extensions outlined. The historic NI 43-101 mineral resource was completed by Golder Associates in 2011 (see the Company’s January 15, 2018 press release and the information regarding historical NI 43-101 reports under the heading “NI 43-101 Reports in Respect of NARL Properties”). Using a 0.5 g/t cut off grade, Osikonmaki has an Indicated mineral resource of 1.296 Mt at a grade of 1.70 g/t Au (68koz) and an Inferred mineral resource of 3.542 Mt at a grade of 2.09 g/t Au (244koz) (collectively, the “Osikonmaki Resources”).
Since acquiring the project in December 2016 NARL has expanded the licence area at the project through the approval of a reservation surrounding all existing claims and licences, and conducted a desktop review of the historical data. Pending the renewal of two exploration permits and local stakeholder meeting Rupert plans to resume exploration at the project.
NI 43-101 Reports in Respect of NARL Properties
A NI 43-101 technical report titled “Hirsikangas Gold Deposit, Central Ostrobothnia, Finland” and dated November 30, 2009 (the “Hirsikangas Report”) was prepared for Belvedere Resources Ltd. (“Belvedere”) by Thomas Lindholm, M.Sc, MAusIMM, Senior Mining Engineer of GeoVista AB, and sets forth the Hirsikangas Resources. The Hirsikangas Report was filed by Belvedere under its profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) on November 30, 2009. To the best of the Company’s knowledge, information and belief, there is no new material scientific or technical information that would make the disclosure of the Hirsikangas Resources in the Hirsikangas Report inaccurate or misleading. Since the Hirsikangas Report, Belvedere completed a 16 hole, 1106 metre drill campaign at Hirsikangas. The results of this drilling program were filed on SEDAR by Belvedere on July 3, 2012. This drilling was outside the area of defined mineralisation and whilst promising is not expected to materially change the existing resource. As such, the Company considers the Hirsikangas Report to be current, pending further investigation/work by the Company.
Michael Sutton, P. Geo., a “qualified person” for the purposes of NI 43-101, has reviewed the Hirsikangas Report on behalf of the Company. A NI 43-101 report will be completed within 180 days to support the Hirsikangas Resources estimate.
A NI 43-101 technical report titled “Mineral Resource Estimate of the Rantasalmi Gold Deposit in Finland” and dated October 10, 2011 (the “Osikonmaki Report”) was prepared for Belvedere by Alexandra Akyurek, M.Sc, CSci MIMMM, Project Manager and Reviewer and of Golder Associates (UK) Ltd., and sets forth the Osikonmaki Resources. The Osikonmaki Report was filed by Belvedere under its profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) on October 19, 2011. To the best of the Company’s knowledge, information and belief, there is no new material scientific or technical information that would make the disclosure of the Osikonmaki Resources in the Osikonmaki Report inaccurate or misleading. Since the Osikonmaki Report was written, 22 holes totalling 2,227m were drilled on the periphery of the resource pursuant to an option agreement and Belvedere filed the results thereof in a news release on SEDAR on April 23, 2012. Although encouraging the results are not expected to materially change the 2011 resource. As such, the Company considers the Osikonmaki Report to be current, pending further investigation/work by the Company. Michael Sutton, P. Geo., a “qualified person” for the purposes of NI 43-101, has reviewed the Osikonmaki Report on behalf of the Company. A NI 43-101 report will be completed within 180 days to support the Osikonmaki Resources estimate.
Both the Hirsikangas Report and the Osikonmaki Report were prepared by authors that are independant of the Company. For the parameters/methods used in estimating the mineral resource estimates set forth in those reports, please refer to each of the reports themselves (as referenced above, the Hirsikangas Report and the Osikonmaki Report were filed by Belvedere under its profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
The Transaction
The Company has acquired all of the issued and outstanding securities of NARL, in exchange for 4,913,466 common shares of the Company. The Transaction has received all requisite regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and all shareholders of NARL.
Mr. James Withall, a director and CEO of the Company, is the CEO of NARL, and therefore the Transaction constitutes a “related party transaction under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (“MI 61-101”). The Company has relied on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority approval requirements of MI61-101 based on a determination that the securities of the Company are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and that neither the fair market value of the subject matter of, nor the fair market value of the consideration for, the Transaction, in so far as it involves interested parties, exceeds 25% of the market capitalization of the Company.
Qualified Persons
In compliance with NI 43-101, Mr. Mike Sutton, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person for Rupert who supervised the preparation the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release.
About Rupert
Rupert is a Canadian based gold exploration and development company that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “RUP”. The Company owns the Pahtavaara gold mine, mill, and exploration permits and concessions located in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in Northern Finland (“Pahtavaara”) (see the Company’s November 9, 2016 press release). Pahtavaara has an Inferred mineral resource at a 1.5 g/t Au cut off grade of 4.6 Mt at a grade of 3.2 g/t Au (474 koz). The Company also holds a 100% interest in the Gold Centre property, which consists of mineral claims located in the Balmer Township, Red Lake Mining Division of Ontario, as well as the Surf Inlet Property in British Columbia.
For further information, please contact:
James Withall
Chief Executive Officer
jwithall@rupertresources.com
Thomas Credland
Head of Corporate Development & Investor Relations
tcredland@rupertresources.com
Rupert Resources Ltd
82 Richmond Street East, Suite 203, Toronto, Ontario M5C 1P1
Tel: +1 416-304-9004
Website: https://rupertresources.com/
Neither the 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.
The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains statements which constitute ”forward-looking statements”, including the completion of the proposed Transaction, deadlines, regulatory approvals, business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the general risks of the mining industry, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company’s annual Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the year ended February 28, 2017 available at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law.
Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources
Information concerning the properties and operations discussed in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian standards under applicable Canadian securities laws, and may not be comparable to similar information for United States companies. The terms “mineral resource”, “Indicated mineral resource” and “Inferred mineral resource” used in this news release are Canadian mining terms as defined in accordance with NI 43-101 under guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (“CIM”) Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves adopted by the CIM Council on May 10, 2014. While the terms “mineral resource”, “Indicated mineral resource” and “Inferred mineral resource” are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, they are not defined terms under standards of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Under United States standards, mineralization may not be classified as a “reserve” unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve calculation is made. As such, certain information contained in this news release concerning descriptions of mineralization and resources under Canadian standards is not comparable to similar information made public by United States companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. An “Inferred mineral resource” has a great amount of uncertainty as to its existence and as to its economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an “Inferred mineral resource” will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of Inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. Readers are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of Measured or Indicated resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves. Readers are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an “Inferred mineral resource” exists, or is economically or legally mineable. In addition, the definitions of “Proven Mineral Reserves” and “Probable Mineral Reserves” under CIM standards differ in certain respects from the standards of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
180503 – NARL completionvFINAL
Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or “the Company”) announces a baseline resource for its Pahtavaara Project in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt of Northern Finland (the “Pahtavaara Project”). The Pahtavaara Project comprises a permitted 1,400tpd mill, 35km of underground infrastructure and a land package of 225km2.
The new Inferred Resource of 4.6Mt grading 3.2g/t Au (474koz) is reported using a 1.5g/t cutoff and is based on an updated geological interpretation of the deposit following a review all available data that has been collected over the past 30 years. The new estimate represents a significant uplift in grade and tonnage from the historically disclosed Measured and Indicated Resource of 1.3Mt grading 2.1g/t in Measured and Indicated categories (85koz) and 1.5Mt grading 1.8g/t in Inferred category (84koz) calculated using a 0.5g/t cutoff prepared in 2014 (see Rupert’s September 8, 2016 press release). The new resource includes over 50,000m of drilling completed by Rupert up to the end December 2017 along with drilling by the previous owners since the last resource estimate. The drilling has confirmed that the Pahtavaara deposit is demonstrably open at depth and along strike. The modelling work also estimated that 441koz has been mined from Pahtavaara historically (consistent with production data from 1996 to 2014) indicating a yield of over 2,000oz/vertical meter for the Pahtavaara Project.
James Withall, Chief Executive of Rupert Resources said “The resource reported today represents a significant increase from the historical resource and confirms that Pahtavaara is indeed a larger deposit than previously considered with a mineralisation style consistent with other Greenstone belts. Gold mineralisation is believed to continue both along strike and at depth in close proximity to the existing resource.”
Work in 2018 is focussed on increasing the confidence level of the new resource. A 5,000m underground channel sampling program is underway within the current underground infrastructure to delineate new additional mineralisation with potential to add further to the new resource. Further to this, 42% of almost 320km of diamond drilling remains unsampled at Pahtavaara and a significant amount of this drill core remains at the site. All sampling gaps in diamond drilling have been assumed to have no mineralisation for the purpose of the new resource model so an infill assay program is planned to sample these intersections within the model and additional prospective areas based on the updated geological interpretation.
For full announcement including diagrams and technical appendices see 160416 – Pahtavaara baseline resource_FINAL
Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding definitive share exchange agreement dated effective March 16, 2018 (the “Definitive Agreement”) with Northern Aspect Resources Ltd. (“NARL”) and all the shareholders of NARL, to provide for the completion of a business combination, whereby the Company has agreed, subject to certain conditions, to acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of NARL (the “Transaction”).
The Transaction was initially announced in a Company press release dated January 15, 2018, indicating that the Company and NARL had entered into a binding letter of intent in respect of the Transaction.
The Company has also received conditional approval from the TSX-V for the Transaction and is working to fullfill the exchange’s requirements to for final approval and closing of the Transaction.
NARL is a privately owned, British Columbia incorporated company with a 100% beneficial interest in the Hirsikangas and Osikonmaki properties in Central Finland. The Hirsikangas property consists of six (6) claims, plus two (2) reservations, all of which are valid. The Osikonmaki property consists of seven (7) claims, plus one (1) reservation, that are valid, and two (2) claims that are in application for renewal. See the Company’s January 15, 2018 press release for further information about NARL and its interests.
The Transaction
Pursuant to the Definitive Agreement, the Company proposes to acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of NARL, in exchange for 4,913,466 common shares of the Company. The Transaction is conditional upon, among other things, the parties receiving all requisite regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, and any third party approvals and authorizations.
Mr. James Withall, a director and CEO of the Company, is the CEO of NARL, and therefore the Transaction constitutes a “related party transaction under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (“MI 61-101”). The Company is relying on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority approval requirements of MI61-101 based on a determination that the securities of the Company are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and that neither the fair market value of the subject matter of, nor the fair market value of the consideration for, the Transaction, in so far as it involves interested parties, exceeds 25% of the market capitalization of the Company.
About Rupert
Rupert is a Canadian based gold exploration and development company that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “RUP”. The Company owns the Pahtavaara gold mine, mill, and exploration permits and concessions located in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in Northern Finland (see the Company’s November 9, 2016 press release). The Company also holds a 100% interest in the Gold Centre property, which consists of mineral claims located in the Balmer Township, Red Lake Mining Division of Ontario.
For further information, please contact:
| James Withall Chief Executive Officer jwithall@rupertresources.com |
Thomas Credland
Head of Corporate Development & Investor Relations |
Rupert Resources Ltd
82 Richmond Street East, Suite 203, Toronto, Ontario M5C 1P1
Tel: +1 416-304-9004
Web: https://rupertresources.com/
Neither the 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.
The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains statements which constitute ”forward-looking statements”, including the completion of the proposed Transaction, deadlines, regulatory approvals, business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the general risks of the mining industry, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company’s annual Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the year ended February 28, 2017 available at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law.
Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or the “Company”) provides an update on its activities at the Pahtavaara Project in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in northern Finland. The Pahtavaara Project comprises 225km2 of contiguous licences, a permitted 1400tpd mill and 35km of underground infrastructure.
The development of a new geological model of the Pahtavaara gold deposit has made significant advances and the understanding of the structural controls, chronology of alteration, veining and gold mineralisation events will be used to inform resource modelling that is currently underway. Since the last drilling update to the end of 2017 the company has completed a total of 13,927m, including 8,357m from surface (54 holes) and 5,570m from underground (30 holes). Near mine exploration drilling has continued in 2018 along with an extensive underground mapping and sampling program within existing mine infrastructure. Good ground conditions and extensive underground infrastructure provide the geology team excellent exposure from which to study the potential to extend mineralisation, beyond that which will be considered in the current resource modelling.
James Withall, Chief Executive Officer of Rupert said, “The recent drill program was designed to begin to test our new geological model and has identified high grade structures and extensions at Pahtavaara. The results confirm the potential of the NFE zone to extend into the main Samurai and DB zones, the presence of near surface extensions at Karoliina, and evidence that the main Samurai zone mineralisation extends at depth beyond the mine development level below 450m. We continue to believe that the scale of the mineralising system at Pahtavaara is far larger than previous owners had considered.”
The Pahtavaara deposit is hosted in a thick sequence of komatiite and high magnesium basalts that have been subjected to prolonged deformation, metamorphism and at least two gold mineralising events. The deposit was previously considered to be constrained to relatively narrow plunging zones, however drilling by prior owners and more recently by Rupert continues to intersect mineralisation beyond the constraints of previous mining throughout what is now considered to be a larger shear zone controlled system (see Figures 1 & 2).
A number of encouraging intersections were drilled from surface in the North Flank East (“NFE”) zone including 8.7 grams per ton of gold (“g/t Au”) over 6.1m (hole 117068) and 5.2g/t Au over 2.4m (hole 117102) both at approximately 100m depth. From underground an intersection of 8.0g/t Au over 5.8m (hole 117379) from recent drilling and 12g/t Au over 4m (hole 117305) from previously released drilling extend this zone a further 50m deeper respectively. These holes are important because they show that mineralisation occurs in 400m gap between the Samurai and DB zones, which was ignored by previous operators and where previously released drilling by Rupert intersected 432g/t Au over 1m (dh116011) and 245g/t Au over 1m (dh116051) (see Rupert’s September 8, 2016 and January 18, 2017 press releases). Drilling at lower levels remains limited but historic underground drilling intersections of 5.6g/t Au over 3m (hole 112689) and 7.9g/t Au over 2m (hole 112563) indicate potential depth extension of this zone. Furthermore, as part of our current mapping and underground sampling program a structure at the -150 level (400m below surface) in the existing decline yielded assays of 3.5g/t Au, 26.2g/t Au and 4.9g/t Au. Our current analysis indicates that this structure may be the NFE zone at depth in an area with no previous drilling between the historically mined Samuari and DB plunge zones (see Figure 3). See Table 1 for full drill results.
Seven holes were drilled at steep angles from underground infrastructure to test continuity of the main Samurai shoot at depth. Despite the poor angle, 4 holes intersected the outer limits of the alteration zone that hosts the zone with grades between 1.1g/t Au and 2.3g/t Au. Hole 117394 ended in mineralisation and will be extended in a later program. A followup drill program from a newly dewatered area in the decline to the Samurai Deeps target will allow drilling below previously intersected unmined mineralisation indicated by drill holes 112598 (2.3g/t Au over 8m, including 5.4g/t Au over over 1m), 111664 (6.55g/t Au over 10m), 112626 (4.2g/t Au over 9m) and 112008 (4.0 g/t Au over 10m, including 10.7g/t Au over 1m) (See Figure 3). See Table 1 for full drill results.
This part of the deposit extends over 600m in strike and has now been divided into two zones each containing one or more plunge zones. The drilling results released include two holes in each zone that may represent extensions of these zones coming to surface.
In Karoliina West, hole 117117 intersected 6.8g/t Au over 17m from 55m and hole 117095 intersected 16.7g/t Au over 2m from 81m, 43m along strike to the west. Also released today, hole 117113 intersected 4.8g/t Au over 7.9m at 230m down the inferred dip direction from hole 117117. At Karoliina East, hole 117115 intersected 7.7g/t Au over 4.4m from 66m and hole 117091 intersected 1.7g/t Au over 19m from 89m. These holes also intersected above the previously interpreted mineralised zones with both zones potentially open to surface. See Table 1 for full drill results. The Karoliina zones remain open in all directions. Further drilling will be planned based on our updated structural interpretation.
The company has completed 3,468m of drilling in 25 holes generating 3,423 samples over a number of near mine exploration targets. To date, results have only been received for 13 holes totalling 2,096 assays of this program.
Four holes were drilled over a combined IP and Ionic Leach (IL) target following up a potentially large IP resistivity anomaly and copper ionic leach results from the 2017 fieldwork programme. Hole 117130 revealed a thick zone of disseminated and vein hosted sulphides with a best intersection of 0.2% Cu over 29m. Hole 117129 on the same line has now been extended and logging data suggest the same zone has now been intersected. Hole 117125, 105m to the southwest of 117130, intersected a 0.65m sulphide vein with chalcopyrite and pyrite and a grade of 2.1% Cu. Further work here is planned in the 2018 field season as the broad zone in holes 117129 and 117130 may project to surface. See Table 2 for full drill results.
Three holes were drilled in the Lansi prospect where drilling by previous operators in hole 112806 produced 7.7g/t Au, 218 g/t Ag, 6.7% Cu and 0.7% Ni over 6m. All three holes intersected gold and nickel mineralisation with hole 117120 intersecting narrow gold mineralisation of 1g/t Au over 0.8m from 13m and 1.7% Ni over 3.9m from 111.2m; 117121 intersecting 1.1g/t Au over 1.4m from 52m, 1.5g/t Au over 1.1m from 73m, 1.2% Ni over 2.3m from 76.5m and 1.5% Ni over 2m from 80m; and hole 117122 intersecting 1.6% Ni over 0.9m from 105m, 1.1% Ni over 1m from 153 and 1.3g/t Au over 0.8m from 130m. The nickel sulphide intercepts occurred at similar down hole depths and the 75m spaced holes may represent a continuous zone. Further interpretation work of this and other sulphide zones at Lansi is ongoing. See Table 3 for full drill results.
Resource work continues at Pahtavaara and Rupert plans to release an updated 43-101 resource statement for Pahtavaara by the end of the June 2018 quarter. The resource work will incorporate all drilling completed at the Pahtavaara project over the past 20 years along with resource drilling completed by Rupert since assuming ownership of the property in 2016 to end December 2017.
Unless specified in this press release, true widths (TW) cannot be determined from the information available Intersections are down hole length. Holes are orientated to cross cut the alteration zone that contains mineralisation, however structures within the alterations zones have multiple orientations and true width of these structures may not be represented by the width disclosed. No upper cut-off grade was applied.
Intercepts reported above are hosted by amphibolitised komatiites. The principal geologic control in the area is a linear structural corridor that trends between east-west and northeast-southwest with gold mineralisation identified in both the larger structures parallel to this trend. oblique fractures and steeply plunging zones that represent the intersection of these structures or fold hinges. The mineralised zone identified on Rupert’s Pahtavaara property is characterised by hydrothermal alteration and mineralisation within various phases of pervasively altered komatiites. The hydrothermal alteration and the Au-bearing structures and veins associated are a result of a prolonged period of ductile deformation and later brittle-ductile deformation related to a belt scale thusting event. Mineralisation remains open at depth along the entire zone. Gold occurs mostly as free gold, a smaller part is associated with magnetite.
In compliance with National Instrument 43-101, Mr. Mike Sutton, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person who supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release. Samples are assayed by CRS/Actlabs Finland at Takatie 6, 90440 Kempele Finland, who have ISO9001 sample prep and ALS Minerals at Sodankyla, Finland and Pitea, Sweden. All core is under watch from the drill site to the core processing facility. Samples are assayed using cyanide leach methods with AAS detection of Au. The Company’s QA/QC program includes the regular insertion of blanks and standards into the sample shipments, as well as instructions for duplication. Standards, blanks and duplicates are inserted at appropriate intervals. Approximately five percent (5%) of the pulps and rejects are sent for check assaying at a second lab with the results averaged and intersections updated when received. Core recovery in the mineralised zones has averaged 99%.
Rupert is a Canadian based gold exploration and development company that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “RUP”. The Company owns the Pahtavaara gold mine, mill, and exploration permits and concessions located in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in Northern Finland (see the Company’s November 9, 2016 press release). The Company also holds a 100% interest in the Gold Centre property, which consists of mineral claims located in the Balmer Township, Red Lake Mining Division of Ontario.
For further information, please contact:
| James Withall Chief Executive Officer jwithall@rupertresources.com |
Thomas Credland Vice President Corporate Development tcredland@rupertresources.com |
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| Rupert Resources Ltd 82 Richmond Street East, Suite 203, Toronto, Ontario M5C 1P1 Tel: +1 (416) 848 6865 Web: https://rupertresources.com/ |
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Neither the 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.
This press release contains statements which constitute ”forward-looking statements”, including the statements with respect to those that address potential quantity and/or grade of minerals, potential for minerals and statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to the future drilling and geological activities, business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the general risks of the mining industry, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company’s annual Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the year ended February 28, 2017 available at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law.
