TORONTO, Nov. 27, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inventus Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE: IVS) (“Inventus” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce it has signed a letter of intent with the secured creditor and principal shareholder of Flag Resources (1985) Ltd. (“Flag”) for the planned acquisition of the three mineral properties adjoining the 100%-owned Sudbury 2.0 project. Inventus intends to acquire 100% of all the properties currently held by Flag for nominal share consideration and to a new 2% net smelter return royalty interest, in a series of transactions over the coming months. The final terms and consideration for the acquisition are subject to, among other things, Flag shareholder approval and TSX-Venture exchange approval.
Inventus is expanding the Sudbury 2.0 project with the planned acquisition of the Wolf Lake, Cobalt Hill and Rathbun Lake properties (see Figure 1: http://www.inventusmining.com/s/IVS_Nov_27_2019.pdf).
Wolf Lake & Cobalt Hill Properties
The adjoining Wolf Lake and Cobalt Hill properties consist of a 3.5 sq. km block of mineral leases with historic high-grade gold and copper drilling intersections. Flag acquired the property in 1980 and conducted various drill programs until 2001, reporting many high-grade drill intersections up to 16.6 g/t gold over 22.4 m in Hole WL-90-03, and 2.5% copper over 22.7 m in Hole WL-83-28. The Wolf Lake and Cobalt Hill occurrences are 1.2 km apart and occur along the same structure. In October 2019, Flag was granted a permit to drill several confirmatory drill holes in the mineralized areas.
Inventus collected five surface grab samples of mineralization from Cobalt Hill, which returned assays ranging from 0.02 to 0.25% cobalt, 0.02 to 0.34% nickel and 0.04 to 2.8 g/t gold. Grab samples are not representative of the mineralization hosted on the property. Potential for cobalt, nickel, platinum and palladium mineralization exists at Cobalt Hill and Wolf Lake, but was not evaluated by Flag’s exploration.
Table 1 and 2 below show select historical drill core assays from Wolf Lake and Cobalt Hill. The historical Flag drilling data has been compiled from the publicly available assessment records of the Ontario Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines and cannot be independently verified by Inventus. Despite our concerted efforts to locate drill core from Flag’s drilling, no drill core has been found to date. Inventus does not know of any reason to doubt the validity of the results; however, readers should not place undue reliance on historical drill results.
Table 1. Select Historical Drilling Assays from Wolf Lake
| Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m) | Au (g/t) | Cu (%) |
| WL-81-11 | 130.60 | 131.80 | 1.20 | 58.2 | - |
| WL-81-12 | 121.60 | 124.50 | 2.90 | 9.6 | 0.6 |
| WL-81-13 | 70.40 | 73.50 | 3.10 | 7.6 | 0.4 |
| and | 131.20 | 134.40 | 3.20 | 6.2 | - |
| WL-81-14 | 60.40 | 63.70 | 3.30 | 11.7 | 0.5 |
| WL-81-18 | 4.90 | 6.60 | 1.70 | 31.4 | 1.7 |
| WL-83-16 | 54.25 | 55.78 | 1.53 | 10.6 | - |
| WL-83-28 | 39.93 | 62.64 | 22.71 | 1.1 | 2.5 |
| WL-83-33 | 29.26 | 42.98 | 13.72 | 2.9 | 1.4 |
| WL-83-34 | 49.38 | 57.91 | 8.53 | 3.5 | 1.9 |
| WL-84-01 | 66.45 | 67.97 | 1.52 | 5.8 | 5.4 |
| WL-84-02 | 20.42 | 26.52 | 6.10 | 10.5 | - |
| WL-85-03 | 193.85 | 249.33 | 55.48 | 1.8 | - |
| WL-86-01 | 220.52 | 220.98 | 0.46 | 687.3 | - |
| WL-90-01 | 30.78 | 49.99 | 19.21 | 7.5 | - |
| including | 30.78 | 31.24 | 0.46 | 20.3 | - |
| including | 31.70 | 33.07 | 1.37 | 21.3 | - |
| including | 34.59 | 35.05 | 0.46 | 15.7 | - |
| including | 37.18 | 39.32 | 2.14 | 12.3 | - |
| including | 42.60 | 43.89 | 1.29 | 30.8 | - |
| WL-90-03 | 31.70 | 54.10 | 22.40 | 16.6 | - |
| including | 31.70 | 36.57 | 4.87 | 6.9 | 1.7 |
| including | 37.80 | 42.67 | 4.87 | 61.9 | - |
| including | 37.80 | 38.86 | 1.06 | 154.9 | - |
| including | 39.32 | 41.15 | 1.83 | 61.6 | - |
| WL-90-05 | 47.70 | 49.07 | 1.37 | 31.4 | - |
| WL-90-05 | 54.10 | 55.93 | 1.83 | 32.9 | - |
| WL-90-17 | 34.90 | 52.54 | 17.64 | 2.4 | 1.1 |
| including | 34.90 | 40.31 | 5.41 | 5.5 | 1.0 |
| WL-96-01 | 50.29 | 56.39 | 6.10 | 14.9 | - |
| including | 53.34 | 56.39 | 3.05 | 21.7 | - |
| WL-97-07 | 40.48 | 57.09 | 16.61 | 3.1 | 2.1 |
| WL-97-08 | 41.88 | 49.87 | 7.99 | 12.5 | 0.6 |
| WL-97-11 | 43.04 | 52.03 | 8.99 | 7.1 | 0.9 |
| including | 43.04 | 46.09 | 3.05 | 16.8 | 0.5 |
| WL-01-03 | 30.42 | 53.00 | 22.58 | 4.6 | 0.4 |
| including | 38.04 | 42.61 | 4.57 | 9.2 | 0.4 |
| WL-01-04 | 30.24 | 41.15 | 10.91 | 14.2 | - |
| including | 31.33 | 36.88 | 5.55 | 23.4 | 1.0 |
| and | 39.62 | 41.15 | 1.53 | 9.0 | 3.7 |
* Assays intervals are converted from feet to metres, and Au assays are converted from ounce per tonne to gram per tonne. Copper assays were not obtained for intervals marked with (-).
Table 2. Select Historical Drilling Assays from Cobalt Hill
| Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m) | Au (g/t) |
| A81-01 | 2.40 | 43.00 | 40.60 | 2.3 |
| including | 25.30 | 43.00 | 17.70 | 4.6 |
| and | 38.40 | 43.00 | 4.60 | 10.0 |
| A83-01 | 97.38 | 111.40 | 14.02 | 2.5 |
| including | 105.77 | 108.36 | 2.59 | 10.0 |
| A83-07 | 72.09 | 92.35 | 20.26 | 4.5 |
| including | 83.97 | 92.35 | 8.38 | 9.5 |
| A83-11 | 55.32 | 58.06 | 2.74 | 3.8 |
| and | 60.96 | 64.01 | 3.05 | 5.0 |
| A83-12 | 80.31 | 86.26 | 5.95 | 6.4 |
| including | 80.31 | 81.53 | 1.22 | 22.9 |
| A83-13 | 80.01 | 100.26 | 20.25 | 2.1 |
| A83-14 | 62.33 | 79.86 | 17.53 | 3.3 |
| including | 77.11 | 79.86 | 2.75 | 13.0 |
| A83-17 | 1.83 | 67.36 | 65.53 | 1.5 |
| A88-51 | 21.18 | 31.24 | 10.06 | 3.8 |
| A88-55 | 71.91 | 77.16 | 5.25 | 12.3 |
| A88-62 | 215.70 | 233.71 | 18.01 | 3.8 |
| A89-04 | 5.00 | 62.00 | 57.00 | 1.2 |
| including | 32.50 | 46.50 | 14.00 | 3.0 |
* Assays intervals are converted from feet to metres, and Au assays are converted from ounce per tonne to gram per tonne.
Rathbun Lake Property
The Rathbun Lake property is a 7.1 sq. km claim package with a high-grade palladium, platinum, copper, nickel and gold showing. The property was patented in 1889 and mined in the 1890’s with a 45-foot deep shaft and 35 feet of drifting. The property was explored again in 1954 and acquired by Flag Resources in 1982. Historical assays of the mineralization at the shaft taken by Dolmac Mines in 1955 and later published by Rowell and Edgar in 1986 can be seen in Table 3.
Inventus’ research of the high-grade showing has indicated that the mineralization is related to a Sudbury offset dyke that had not previously been recognized (Rathbun Lake Revisited, 2019 http://www.inventusmining.com/s/Kawohletal2019.pdf).
Table 3. Select Historical Assays published by Rowell and Edgar in 1986
| Sample ID | Cu (%) | Ni (%) | Pt (g/t) | Pd (g/t) | Au (g/t) |
| R-1 | 19.9 | 0.22 | 1.8 | 23.0 | 0.3 |
| R-2 | 9.1 | 0.22 | 0.1 | 35.0 | 0.9 |
| R-3 | 8.3 | 0.26 | 18.0 | 37.0 | 1.3 |
| R-4 | 4.7 | 0.16 | 33.0 | 19.0 | 1.0 |
| R-5 | 2.3 | 0.36 | 0.2 | 12.0 | 2.8 |
| 3 | 7.0 | 0.21 | 3.4 | 23.1 | 11.3 |
| 3a | 17.3 | - | 2.8 | 29.7 | 0.1 |
| 5 | 5.5 | 0.50 | 1.2 | 23.1 | 6.3 |
| 5a | 19.9 | 0.11 | 0.7 | 5.3 | - |
| 6 | 7.3 | 0.35 | 2.8 | 16.9 | - |
| 9 | 1.3 | 0.29 | 2.2 | 5.0 | - |
(-) No assays available.
Inventus collected seven surface grab samples from around the shaft on the Rathbun property in 2019, which returned assays ranging from 6.3 to 62.5 g/t palladium, 1.0 to 18.4 g/t platinum, 0.8 to 22.8 % copper, 0.1 to 0.5 % nickel, 0.5 to 7.2 g/t gold, and 1.0 to 13.0 g/t silver. Grab samples are not representative of the mineralization hosted on the property. See Table 4 for 2019 Rathbun sample assays.
Table 4. Inventus Assays of the Rathbun Mineralization
| Sample ID | Cu (%) | Ni (%) | Pt (g/t) | Pd (g/t) | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) |
| B00168221 | 13.4 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 35.8 | 1.2 | 13.0 |
| B00168649 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 14.4 | 1.9 | 1.0 |
| B00168650 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 6.3 | 1.9 | 1.0 |
| B00168651 | 3.3 | 0.3 | 5.7 | 35.7 | 3.8 | 3.0 |
| B00168652 | 22.8 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 62.5 | 0.5 | 10.0 |
| B00168653 | 13.2 | 0.4 | 5.1 | 28.0 | 7.2 | 7.0 |
| B00168654 | 12.8 | 0.4 | 18.4 | 16.8 | 2.8 | 7.0 |
About Inventus Mining Corp.
Inventus is a mineral exploration and development company focused on the world-class mining district of Sudbury, Ontario. Our principal assets are a 100% interest in the Pardo Paleoplacer Gold Project and the Sudbury 2.0 Project located northeast of Sudbury. Pardo is the first important paleoplacer gold discovery found in North America. Inventus has 110,301,069 common shares outstanding (120,316,369 shares on a fully diluted basis).
Qualified Person
The Qualified Person responsible for the geological technical content of this news release is Wesley Whymark, P.Geo., who has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure in this news release on behalf of the Company.
Technical Information
The samples collected by Inventus from Cobalt Hill and Rathbun Lake disclosed in this release were transported in secure sealed bags for preparation and assay by Agat Laboratories in Mississauga, Ontario. The samples reported were crushed in their entirety to 75% passing -10 mesh, with one 250 g subsample split and pulverized to 85% passing -200 mesh. One 50 g aliquot was taken from the subsample for fire assay (FA) with an ICP-MS/ICP-OES finish. Multielement assays were done by Sodium Peroxide Fusion with ICP-OES/ICP-MS finish.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Stefan Spears
Chairman and CEO
Inventus Mining Corp.
Tel: (647) 258-0395 x280
E-mail: info@inventusmining.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, regulation services provider, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in this news release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company’s future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as “believes”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “estimates”, “may”, “could”, “would”, “if”, “yet”, “potential”, “undetermined”, “objective”, or “plan”. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management’s expectations.
Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Company’s objectives, goals or future plans, statements, exploration results, potential mineralization, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to the failure to identify mineral resources at Pardo, the inability to complete a feasibility study which recommends a production decision, the preliminary and limited nature of metallurgical test results (including the result of the bulk sample as described herein), delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political and legal risks, inability to fulfill the duty to accommodate First Nations and other indigenous peoples, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, and those risks set out in the Company’s public documents filed on SEDAR.
Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.