|
Summary New Jersey Mining
Company acquired the Niagara copper-silver deposit in December of 2006 by signing
an exploration agreement with a private party. The deposit is located near the
forks of Eagle Creek about 7 kilometers north of the Company's Golden Chest operation.
Nine unpatented claims cover the deposit. Access to the site is maintained through
the use of a US Forest Service road. The deposit occurs in the upper Revett formation
and management considers the potential to increase the copper-silver resource
by exploring the lower Revett formation excellent.
Niagara
Copper-Silver Inferred Resourcee * |
Tonnes |
Copper Grade | Silver
Grade
(grams per tonne) | Silver
Grade
(ounces per ton) | Cutoff
Grade
(% Copper) | |
14,200,000
|
0.46%
|
20.0 gpt
|
0.58
| 0.3% |
Geology The Niagara deposit occurs in a section of mineralized
upper Revett formation near the axis of a north-south striking syncline. The western
limb of the syncline has been truncated by the north-south striking Murray Peak
fault, a steep, west dipping reverse fault. Other faults offset the mineralized
zone slightly. In the Niagara deposit, the mineralization occurs in the upper
Revett Formation, which here is a light gray, massive quartzite with thin siltite
interbeds. The ore horizon crops out along the East Fork Eagle Creek and is approximately
30m below the contact with the overlying St. Regis Formation. See photograph below.
Outcrop of Niagara Cu-Ag deposit
(Note
green copper stain near right side of photo) |
The Niagara deposit is of the stratabound variety typified by the Rock Creek project
(resource: 124 million tonnes at 0.72% copper and 49.7 gpt silver) and Troy Mine
(pre-mining resource: 48.9 million tonnes at 0.74% copper and 48.2 gpt silver).
It is common to find Troy-type mineralization stacked in several horizons of the
Revett; therefore, the Niagara deposit has potential for additional mineralization
in the unexposed lower Revett horizon. Site History An exploration
program completed by Earth Resources Company on the Niagara property in the 1970's
identified a large, potentially open pitable, resource of 16.4 million tonnes
grading 0.49% copper and 24.3 gpt silver. The program included 8 drill holes and
6 trenches on the outcrop of the mineralized strata. Within this resource, exploration
revealed a higher grade core of 2.7 million tonnes, amenable to underground mining,
which grades 0.93% copper and 37.8 grams per tonne silver (1.10 ounces per ton).
Earth Resources also completed metallurgical testwork that indicated conventional
flotation will achieve recoveries of 94% for copper and 90% for silver. Preliminary
economic studies by Earth Resources contemplated an underground mine that mined
the higher grade core (2.7 million tonnes) of the deposit at a rate of 800 tonnes
per day. Exploration/Development Plans NJMC plans to conduct
a diamond drilling program on the Niagara deposit with the primary goal to perform
in-fill drilling to upgrade the quality of the resource estimate to the level
sufficient for a feasibility study. The feasibility study would evaluate the economics
of an open pit and/or underground mining operation with a mill processing in the
range of 2,500 tonnes per day. A secondary goal of the drilling program
will be to drill deeper holes that will probe into the lower Revett formation
to explore for a deeper copper-silver deposit. A Plan of Operations for the drilling
program was submitted to the USFS in September of 2006 by the previous operators
and was assumed by NJMC. Approval of the drilling plan is expected in the summer
of 2007. Agreement Terms The Exploration Agreement has a term
of five years, beginning on December 2, 2006, and is for nine unpatented claims
that cover the deposit. In addition, the Exploration Agreement covers an Area
of Mutual Interest within ½ mile of the property excluding property valued
primarily for its gold mineralization. Upon signing the Agreement, the
Company issued 30,000 shares of restricted common stock to Revett Metals Associates
(RMA) and paid $4,500. At each anniversary of the signing, the Company has agreed
to pay $3,000 and issue 30,000 shares of restricted common stock to RMA. Any time
prior to the expiration of the Exploration Agreement, the Company can exercise
an option to convert the Exploration Agreement to a Mining Agreement. If exercised,
the Mining Agreement would have a term of 25 years, and the Company would pay
a Net Smelter Royalty (NSR) to RMA of 3.0% on ores or concentrates mined on the
property. Also, the Company is granted the option to purchase 90% of the NSR from
RMA for $2,500,000. Inferred Resources
*
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission permits mining companies,
in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits that a
company can economically and legally extract or produce. We use certain terms,
such as "measured," "indicated," and "inferred resources,"
that the SEC guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in our filing with
the SEC. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any or all of measured,
indicated or inferred resources are economically or legally mineable or that these
resources will ever be converted into reserves. U.S. investors are urged to consider
closely the disclosure in our Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. | 
