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Canada

Martison Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StagePreliminary Economic Assessment
Commodities
  • Phosphate rock
  • Niobium
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe proposed Martison Phosphate Project is a vertically integrated mining and fertilizer complex utilizing an igneous phosphate deposit.

The Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Martison Phosphate Project was completed In April 2022.

The Project design entails an open pit mine, a phosphate beneficiation plant (located at the mine site), and a Fertilizer Conversion Complex (FCC) located 86 km south of the mine site.

The Martison deposit is also a potential source of niobium. The PEA for the Martison Phosphate Project assumes no economic contribution from Niobium or Rare Earth Elements.

Currently, Fox River Resources Corp. is investigating pyrometallurgical processes to extract the Nb & REE’s from the laterite. Depending on the niobium R&D results, incorporation of niobium recovery into a single phosphate/niobium process flowsheet may be warranted in future studies.
Latest NewsFox River Closes Fully Subscribed Non-Brokered Private Placement     December 11, 2024

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Fox River Resources Corp. 100 % Indirect
The claims are registered in the name of Fox River Resources Corporation and Baltic Resources Inc. (Baltic). Each company owns title to 50% of such lease and claims. Baltic is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fox River, such that Fox River owns directly or indirectly 100% of the Martison Phosphate Project.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Laterite
  • Carbonatite hosted

Summary:

Regional Geology
The Martison phosphate deposit lies in a geological province referred to as Precambrian volcanic and metamorphic rock sequences, which are over one billion years in age. The occurrence of carbonatite deposits is the result of late magmatic injections of carbon dioxide gases, calcium and magnesium carbonate solutions, including associated crystalline apatite, magnetite and mica minerals, through conduits into volcanic vents. The subsequent exposure of the carbonatite rock for long periods of time to erosion and chemical weathering has resulted in the thick accumulation of a paleo-soil residue called a Residuum which has concentrations of relatively insoluble minerals, such as phosphate bearing apatite, lying on top of the competent and largely unweathered surface of the carbonatite.

The Martison carbonatite is one of 50 known locations of the Central Ontario Carbonatite Complex found on the Kapuskasing structural high (located 110 km east of the Martison Project) to the Albany Forks structural high, (located 260 km west of the Martison Project). Almost all of the carbonatite bodies occur along recognisable major tectonic features.

A number of these complexes have been examined for their mineral potential. They all contain apatite in the carbonatite phase between 5% to 25%, and some contain significant enrichments of apatite through leaching out of carbonates. Such enrichment occurs on the Cargill Limited complex, located on a branch structure off the Kapuskasing structural high and at the Martison phosphate deposit.

Property Geology
Differential weathering of the Martison Carbonatite Complex has resulted in an irregular weathered ‘karst’ type surface of the carbonatite, a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble, carbonate rich, rocks, the depth of which varies greatly over short distances. Depressions in this carbonate rich, karstic, surface are filled with the weathered breakdown product of the carbonatite, the Residuum. This apatite rich Residuum represents the bulk of the phosphatic material of economic interest. Above the Residuum lies a less consistent layer of lateritic material containing niobium mineralisation, also at levels of economic interest. More recent glacial deposits, typical of the James Bay Lowlands, form a blanket of glacial till over the Residuum and lateritic material sub-outcrop, reaching up to 80 m in depth.

Mineralization
Apatite is the principal phosphate bearing mineral of economic interest within the Residuum. The lateritic material is enriched in niobium, typically found in the form of pyrochlore, its occurrence is also of economic interest. Both the phosphate bearing apatite and the niobium have been the subject of significant drilling and metallurgical test work to establish if they may be extracted economically.

The Martison Phosphate Project, as currently defined by past drilling campaigns, is composed of three magnetic anomalies of which Anomaly A is by far the most intensely explored and studied of these deposits.

Anomaly A strikes approximately N 30° W and is without a definable dip. The current strike length is approximately 1,700 m with a width varying between 300 m and 600 m. The northwest and southwest edges of this anomaly zone are sharp due to the effects of the possible postulated faults and the resulting intensive weathering of the carbonatite in this fractured zone. However, the residuum resource in Anomaly A remains open to the northwest, northeast and east and at depth in its central and northern areas.

Anomaly B is located approximately five kilometres south of Anomaly A. An initial two holes were drilled in Anomaly B in 1981, no further work was carried out until 2001 when an additional 12 holes were drilled at approximately 200 m spacing. Although not fully explored, Anomaly B is considered to have been developed by the same geological processes as Anomaly A. Several of the drillholes have intersected phosphate mineralization of a similar level as Anomaly A. The aeromagnetic anomaly is as strong as the Anomaly A response but does not appear to have the aerial extent. Geologically Anomaly B is very similar to Anomaly A. Residuum thickness in Anomaly B varies in the holes drilled from 4.5 m to 90 m, with P2O5 grades up to 30%.

An approximate average thickness of 18 m of residuum is identified in the borehole logging, though the phosphate distribution appears to be more irregular.

Anomaly C occurs as a significantly smaller magnetic anomaly approximately two kilometres to the east southeast of Anomaly A. Only one hole appears to have been drilled in Anomaly ‘C’ in 1981 (Drillhole number 81-13), which apparently did not intersect any of the mineralised residuum. Since that time no further drilling has been carried out on this anomaly.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

Super phosphoric acid (SPA) is a high strength purified liquid fertilizer product containing at least 68% P2O5.
CommodityProductUnitsAvg. Annual
SPA Fertilizer kt 221
MAP Fertilizer kt 474
NPS Fertilizer kt 247

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual production capacity  ....  Subscribe
Annual milling rate  ....  Subscribe
Stripping / waste ratio  ....  Subscribe
Waste tonnes, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Total tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Tonnes milled, LOM  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs SPA USD  ....  Subscribe
Cash costs MAP USD  ....  Subscribe
Cash costs NPS USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price SPA USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price MAP USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price NPS USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study / presentation.

Operating Costs

CurrencyAverage
OP mining costs ($/t mined) USD  ....  Subscribe
OP mining costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
OP OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 1, 2022
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EmployeesYear
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Aerial view:

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