Stonegate Agricom Ltd., Toronto, announced Dec. 7 that it confirmed intersecting high-grade phosphate on the upper and lower zones of its Paris Hills project in Southeast Idaho after getting assay results on core samples obtained from its initial definition drilling activity on the property.
Stonegate is a private Canadian company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of agricultural nutrient projects, primarily focusing on the development of phosphate ore projects in North and South America.
“We are excited to see such high grades from our own work at the property. If confirmed by additional drilling, the Paris Hills Phosphate Project would rank as one of the highest-grade phosphate deposits in the Americas,” Stonegate President and CEO Mark Ashcroft said.
The company plans to continue drilling activity on the Bear Lake County property in coming months. A pre-feasibility study’s expected completion date is the end of 2011. Assay results and planned beneficiation testing of core samples in the first half of 2011 will be important components of the study.
Stonegate plans to bulk up its diamond drilling capabilities with a second rig in a few weeks, and a third rig is expected in January. A reverse circulation drilling rig also is anticipated to return in January to begin pre-collar drilling for an additional 60 to 75 holes for the second stage of the definition drilling project.
The company plans to collect assay data in larger batches before releasing results in the future. All samples were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence at ALS Laboratory Group in Vancouver, B.C. Trace element data is pending. Internal standards and blanks were submitted with the samples as part of Stonegate’s quality control program.
Major Drilling America Inc., the drilling contractor, has completed pre-collaring 24 drill holes and followed up with diamond drilling to obtain core samples from both zones at 10 of the holes since September.
In the Lower Zone, a hole returned 30.5 percent phosphorus pentoxide over seven feet. The Upper Zone intersected 24.9 percent P2O5 over 16 feet in a hole, including 12 feet of 27 percent P2O5. Also in the Upper Zone, another hole returned a grade of 23.5 percent P2O5 over 16 feet. The company said the two holes are about 1,500 feet apart.
In addition to Paris Hills, Stonegate is also developing the Mantaro phosphate project in Peru.
Stonegate completed the purchase of Rocky Mountain Resources Corp.’s phosphate/vanadium property at Paris Hills in November 2009. Rocky Mountain is an industrial minerals and metals exploration and development company based in Vancouver, B.C.
Rocky Mountain received $1 million in cash and six million common shares of Stonegate, valued at 50 cents per common share.
In January 2009, Rocky Mountain announced its phosphate holdings in Paris Hills could sustain mining operations for up to 75 years. It said the estimated 4.6 million tons of ore at 29 percent of phosphorus pentoxide could potentially be mined and directly shipped as feed to a phosphoric acid plant.