Mining News: News Nuggets: Dowa adds MHT lands to Palmer option

Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. July 28 reported that Dowa Metals & Mining Alaska Ltd. has selected a small subset of the Haines Block mining lease that surrounds the Palmer Property to become part of the Constantine-Dowa option and joint venture agreement. The Haines Block is a roughly 99,000-acre property that Constantine leased from Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, a state corporation within Alaska. Dowa has selected 3,483 acres of this land with both surface and mineral rights that is immediately adjacent to the state and federal lands that host the volcanogenic massive sulfide resource at Palmer to be included as part of the Palmer project. Dowa (49 percent) and Constantine (51 percent) will share the US$25,000 annual rental requirements of the lease for the first three-year lease term. Dowa will meet the minimum exploration requirements of the lease during the option period and until such time as a joint venture is formed. These minimum requirements are US$75,000 by Sept. 1, escalating by US$50,000 annually, thereafter, and these expenditures will be deemed to be earn-in expenditures paid by Dowa. In addition to being prospective for VMS mineralization, the Haines Block covers areas upland of the Porcupine placer district, which is estimated to have produced 82,489 ounces of gold, adding to the intriguing targets on the expansive property. The remaining mineral rights of the Haines Block, representing about 96 percent of the total Haines Block land package, are 100 percent Constantine-owned, subject to a right of first offer by Dowa that expires Sept. 1, 2017. A minimum US$75,000 exploration program has commenced on the Haines Block, with work on lands controlled 100 percent by Constantine focused on drill-target generation. The work includes mapping and geochemical sampling of several known VMS prospects and alteration zones located proximal to the Palmer Property. Work also will include remote sensing, reconnaissance-scale geochemical surveying, soil sampling, and prospecting to identify new prospects within prospective host rocks. Work within the selection area may include surface geophysics and one or more drill holes that will target mineral resources on the adjacent federal claims of the Palmer Property.

- Shane Lasley