Shymanivske Project, is owned by a Ukraine registered company Shymanivske Steel LLC who, in turn, is owned by Black Iron Cyprus Ltd. and ultimately Black Iron Inc., registered in Ontario, Canada.
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Summary:
The iron formation on the Property is of the Lake Superior-type. This type of iron formation consists of banded sedimentary rocks composed principally of bands of iron oxides, magnetite and hematite within quartz or chert-rich rock with variable amounts of silicate, carbonate and sulphide lithofacies. Such iron formations have been the principal sources of iron throughout the world (Gross, 1996).
Lithofacies that are not highly metamorphosed or altered by weathering and are fine grained are referred to as taconite. Taconite generally ranges in iron content from 15% to 45%. The ferruginous quartzite (meta-chert) horizons characteristic of the Saksagan sequence that comprise the majority of mineralization on the Property and are mined throughout the KrivBass are identified as magnetite taconite. In general, the Property and the KrivBass also hosts a certain amount of supergene: weathered oxidized taconite leading to martite-magnetite, martite and goethite/limonite-martite mineralization. In the historic interpretations, this mineralization on the Property has been mainly attributed to SX5F unit; the fifth ferruginous horizon of the Saksagan Group associated with the regional NE-SW oriented fault zones that form the western margin of the KrivBass. WGM believes that for the Shymanivske Property, it is not clear that the martite mineralization actually belongs to SX5F, but may be lower down in the stratigraphy. WGM believes the main control on the location of the oxidized mineralization is the fault or uniformity interface between the Gdantsev and Saksagan, which may cross cut stratigraphy and the mineralization may represent multiple units.
Supergene weathered taconite becomes enriched in iron through oxidation, the leaching of silica and the concentration of oxide iron. Strongly enriched variations of this type of material are often known as Direct Shipping Ores (DSO). Such mineralization was prevalent through the KrivBass, especially prior to WWII, but is still mined underground in the KrivBass today. The Novaya Mine, a former underground producer located just south of the Property, exploited this type of mineralization and a number of small underground mines were located on the Property, but little is known of them. Any surface evidence is covered now by mine waste but, according to hearsay, Soviet drill holes intersected some of these underground workings. One of Black Iron’s drill holes also intersected one and was terminated when it intersected the underground opening.
For non-supergene-enriched iron formation to be mined economically, oxide iron content must be sufficiently high, but also the iron oxides must be amenable to concentration (beneficiation) and the concentrates produced must be low in deleterious elements such as silica, aluminum, phosphorus, manganese, sulphur and alkalis. For bulk mining, the silicate and carbonate lithofacies and other rock types interbedded in general, within the iron formation must be sufficiently segregated from the iron oxides. Folding can be important for repeating iron formation and concentrating iron formation beds to create economic concentrations of iron.
Mineralization of economic interest on the Property is the oxide facies iron formation (OIF) or oxide facies banded iron formation and it is magnetite-rich taconite that contains minor hematite throughout. The Soviet literature commonly refers to this mineralization as “un-oxidized ferriferous quartzite”. Concentrations of martite and goethite/limonite mineralization also occur on the Property. This latter type of mineralization is an alteration product derived from the taconite. In the Soviet literature, this type of mineralization is called “rich iron ore” or “oxidized quartzite mineralization.” This supergene enriched iron mineralization is commonly associated with the faults and fault zones, perhaps coincident with an unconformity that occurs along the western margin of the Shymanivske deposit adjacent to the Archean basement.
On the Shtmanivske property, only the magnetite-rich taconite is considered of immediate economic interest. WGM understands that under Ukrainian law martite mineralization, if not exploited, must be stockpiled for possible later use.
The iron formation on the Property is mainly confined to the Saksagan sequence and is folded into a NE gently plunging anticline (west part of the deposit) and an adjacent open syncline (central and east parts of the deposit). The taconite extends the entire NE-SW extent of the Property, 2.2 km and beyond, and occurs over a width of 800 m to 1 km in a NW-SE direction. The taconite is folded and its true thickness varies throughout because of tectonic thickening, erosion and possibly the original basin topology. The true thickness of the iron formation package, including the intervening inter-oxide iron formation “slate” members, is in the order of 200 m to 250 m. Because of the folding, there is no consistent relationship between drill hole orientation and the true width of mineralization. Drill testing has been completed, generally to a vertical depth of 300 m to 500 m. Mineralization along the western margin of the deposit, particularly the steeply dipping NW limb of the main anticline, extends to an unknown depth and has been tested by drilling to a maximum vertical depth of 500 m.