The Driftwood Creek and Brisco magnesite occurrences are classified as Sparry Magnesite deposits (E09) by the B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines (Simandl and Hancock, 1998). This deposit type is characterized by stratabound and typically stratiform, lens-shaped zones of coarse-grained magnesite mainly occurring in carbonates but also observed in sandstones or other clastic sediments. Magnesite exhibits characteristic sparry texture.

Reports by Morris (1978), Rodgers (1989), and Simandl and Hancock (1992) provide the best available geologic information on the Driftwood Creek magnesite deposit. Klewchuk (2002) provides additional detail for the Eastern Magnesite area.

According to Simandl and Hancock (1992), magnesite and sparry carbonate form stratabound lenses and pockets within the “white marker beds” subdivision of the “middle dolomite” unit of the upper Mount Nelson Formation at the Driftwood Creek property. This middle unit is called unit Hmn1, with the lower part, Hmn1A, describing the buff to light grey dolomite horizon. The upper part, Hmn1B, is applied to the magnesite.

The magnesite is either white, pale grey, or beige, and weathers buff. The unit is characterized by coarse to sparry crystals, and locally contains light green interbeds less than 1 cm in thickness. The interbeds are either regular or disrupted by growth of sparry magnesite crystals within the coarsest magnesite-rich zones (Simandl and Hancock, 1992). Vestiges of h ........

The Project will be mined by conventional, quarry pit, truck-and- excavator operation. Pit optimization and mine planning were carried out on the basis of supporting a plant capacity of approximately 1,200 tonnes per day (t/d), using Measured, Indicated and Inferred resources provided by Tuun. The Project will have an operating life of 19 years, with one year of mine rock pre-stripping followed by 18-years of production operations.

All mining equipment will be supplied and operations performed by contractors. Total material movement peaks at approximately 2.2 million tonnes per annum (Mt/a), which requires a modest production fleet of up to six conventional 40-tonne haul trucks and two-2.4 m3 excavators. Drilling can be completed with two crawler- mounted Ranger drills capable of drilling up to 127 mm diameter holes, in combination with packaged emulsion for blasting.

All resource material to the plant will be mined and hauled downhill in 40-tonne mine haul trucks to the ready pile located at the bottom of the hillside as discussed in Section 18. The resource material will then be loaded onto 40-tonne highway trucks and transported to the plant facility in Cranbrook, BC.

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