Montem Resources Limited has completed a preliminary geological field mapping program at its Isola Project in the Crowsnest Pass of southwest Alberta, Canada.
Montem’s Isola Project totals 4,832 hectares (ha) and is bordered to the south by Atrum Coal Ltd.’s Isolation South Project and to the west by the Cabin Ridge Project.
In July 2020, Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd. estimated a coal Exploration Target for the project based on historical drilling, trenching and mapped surface outcrops ranging from 275Mt to 900 Million tonne (Mt) [1] [2]. The program also located historical coal seam trenches and multiple access routes into the project (Figure 1).
Montem detailed that overall, the program was successful, locating five coal seam exposures along Isolation Creek and confirming the previously interpreted shallow dipping (10-20°) stratigraphy of the project.
Montem’s Managing Director and CEO, Peter Doyle, said with an open-cut Exploration Target of up to 275Mt, and an underground Exploration Target of up to 900Mt, the Isola Project may have the potential to host large-scale mining operations.
“We are planning an extensive drilling program to begin in the summer of 2021 and look forward to keeping investors updated on our progress,” he said.
Meanwhile, Montem’s drilling program at the Chinook Vicary area of its Chinook Project in southwest Alberta is due for completion next week.
The company aims to confirm the Chinook Vicary product coal quality as hard coking coal, validating historical coal quality results from the project, which supplied hard coking coal to the Japanese steel industry from the Vicary Mine before closure in the 1970s.
The program also aims to further investigate the open-cut mining potential of the project by focusing on areas of structurally thickened coal seams, which were identified by historical drilling. Montem expects to announce a summary of results from the drilling later this month.
The company also continues to progress the permitting process to restart its Tent Mountain Mine. Using funds from the recently completed $8 million Initial Public Offer, Montem’s regulatory team are finalising the mining licence application and associated permit amendments which are the final approvals required to recommence mining at Tent Mountain. They expect to lodge applications to restart the mine with the Alberta regulators this quarter.
Montem has completed a Definitive Feasibility Study for the Tent Mountain Mine and aims to restart hard coking coal sales of approximately 1.1Mtpa from the mine in H1 2022.
[1] The potential quantity and quality of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of Mineral Resources.
[2] A depth cut-off of 250 m and a 20:1 stripping ratio was used to constrain the lower range for the Exploration Target (275Mt); a depth cut-off of 600 m was used to constrain the upper range for the Exploration Target (900Mt).