Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 2, 2020) - Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. (TSXV: CEM) (OTCQX: CNSNF) ("Constantine" or the "Company") is pleased to report that on August 28th, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the Bureau of Land Management's approval of the Palmer Project's Plan of Operations for exploration work and road construction.
The Company is also pleased to report that 2020 field work season began in early August at the Palmer Zinc-Copper-Gold-Silver Project in Southeast Alaska ("Palmer" or the "Project"). The work represents the major portion of the 2020 budget of US $2.15 million.
BLM Wins 9th Circuit Court Appeal
In December 2017 groups aligned with the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC) sued the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for granting Constantine's Plan of Operations (PoO) authorizing construction of 2.5 miles of road in support of exploration, contending that the impacts of a future mine should have been part of the exploration approval process. On March 15, 2019 Judge Burgess, presiding Judge of the Federal District Court for the District of Alaska, granted summary judgment to the BLM, Constantine, Alyu Mining Co., Inc. and Haines Mining & Exploration Inc., thereby denying each of SEACC's claims. In an eight-page Decision filed on August 28, 2020 the Ninth Circuit affirmed Judge Burgess's Order.
The Company agrees with the Court's opinion that the potential impacts of a future mine were not required to authorize construction of 2.5 miles of road in support of exploration. Constantine recognizes the importance of ongoing scientific studies and stakeholder discussions during the exploration process and remains committed to quality science and meaningful engagement with stakeholders through every step of our mineral exploration, that will help us create a responsible mine proposal for consideration in the future.
Garfield MacVeigh commented that, "We believe the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided correctly on this matter and are pleased with this opinion that is important for all companies conducting exploration projects in the United States."
2020 Field Program
The program includes summer field work, environmental and project permitting work for future underground exploration development and continued outreach to keep the Haines Borough and State of Alaska informed on project activities.
Surface geological work is focused on upgrading geological and prospect information to assist in advancing drill targets and resolving the offset on the Kudo fault that displaces the thickest part of the downdip South Wall deposit (CMR14-65 - 89.0 meters grading 0.79% copper and 5.03% zinc including 7.4 meters grading 2.05% copper and 10.23% zinc). Much of this work is being carried out from the new road that has been completed to an underground exploration portal site.
Additional work is also in progress on the AG deposit (Inferred Resource of 4.3 million tonnes at 4.64% zinc, 0.12% Copper, 119.5 g/t silver, 0.53 g/t gold, 34.8% barite) that is the subject of a Master of Science dissertation.
2020 Environmental Studies and Permitting Update
The Company continues to build and expand the baseline environmental science database, fulfill environmental monitoring requirements and advance project permitting for future underground exploration.
In July 2019, the Company received all the necessary approvals to proceed with an underground exploration plan for the Palmer Zinc-Copper-Silver-Gold Project, Southeast Alaska. Subsequent to approval, the Waste Management Permit ("WMP") to manage wastewater and waste rock issued by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation ("ADEC") was remanded to ADEC staff for further review due to a 9th Circuit Court Decision in the County of Maui vs. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. That review is continuing so that the Company can comply with the new interpretation of the Clean Water Act that arose out of the Supreme Court's April 23, 2020 Opinion in the County of Maui vs. Hawaii Wildlife Fund case. The Company, in consultation with ADEC, has been collecting additional hydrologic information and plans to submit an updated Wastewater Discharge System Design and supporting data to ADEC for final discharge authorization in the future.
About the Palmer Project
Palmer is a high-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide-sulphate (VMS) project located in a very accessible part of coastal Southeast Alaska, with road access to the property and within 60 kilometers of the year-round deep-sea port of Haines. Mineralization at Palmer occurs within the same belt of rocks that is host to the Greens Creek mine, one of the world's richest VMS deposits.
A Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) presents a low capex, low operating cost, high margin underground mining operation with attractive environmental attributes (see news release dated June 3, 2019). Exploration has resulted in the discovery of the new AG deposit and continued to grow the resource base to its current estimated size of 4.68 million tonnes indicated grading 5.23 % zinc,1.49 % copper, 30.0 g/t silver, 0.30 g/t gold and 9.6 million tonnes inferred grading 4.95 % zinc , 0.59 % copper, 69.3 g/t silver, 0.39 g/t gold. VMS deposits are known to occur in clusters, and with at least 25 separate base metal and/or barite occurrences and prospects on the Project, there is abundant potential for discovery of multiple deposits.
The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that PEA results will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.