AMN - DRC – Acquisition of lithium tailings completed

TANTALEX Resources Corporation has finalised its acquisition of an exploitation permit for the historical Manono-Kitotolo Mine Lithium Tailings Project in the DRC. The licence has a surface area of 53sqkm and is on the site of the former operation and LCT-pegmatite of Manono-Kitotolo (MK) mine.

The transaction involved the assignment to TANTALEX's wholly-owned Congolese subsidiary Buckell SAS, of a 65% participation in a joint venture entity named Société des Tailings de Manono (STM), that itself now owns the PER 13698 permit.

The PER 13698 was duly transferred to the name of STM with the Democratic Republic of Congo Mining Cadastre (CAMI). This transfer with the CAMI was a condition precedent to the payment by Buckell of a total amount of $US3 million to Mines d’Or Resources (Minor) in exchange for the assignment of its participation in STM.

The Manono Kitotolo tailings consist of material taken from the numerous open pit mines which were exploited from 1919 to the mid-80s, producing 140,000-185,000 tonnes of tin and 4500 tonnes of coltan concentrate.

Spodumene was not recovered and went into the dumps with other tailings. A study performed by BRGM of France in 1980 on grab samples taken from two quarries of the mine confirmed spodumene concentrations of 26.7% and 31% respectively (1.7 and 2% lithium oxide). Such grab samples are selected samples and not necessarily representative of the mineralisation hosted in the dumps or the property.

The authors of the study (Bassot, Mario & Levesque, 1980) conclude that considering that the facies from where these samples originate do not appear to be richer in spodumene than all the other facies observed along the entire pegmatite body, they can only be convinced of the enormous stock of spodumene present within the Manono pegmatite.

There are 12 tailings dumps spread throughout the 15km strike along the various quarries that have been exploited. In addition to the tailings dumps, various tailings terraces form part of the licence area that underlie many of the said dumps.

An Exploration Target completed by TANTALEX estimates the total tonnage of the dumps to be between 85 million to 100 million tonnes. Considering a conservative 0.5 to 1% lithium oxide grade, this could potentially provide a total spodumene concentrate tonnage of between 10 and 15 Million tonnes.

This exploration target is conceptual in nature and there has insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource.

TANTALEX CEO Dave Gagnon said, “This is a turning point for the company. We have spent months negotiating this transaction, which could position the company in rapidly becoming a lithium producer.

"We look forward in commencing our resource definition and engineering works on these tailings as this will greatly complement our existing exploration activity in the area.”

In order to finance the contemplated acquisition, TANTALEX has completed a private placement of an amount of US$2.45 million by issuing unsecured convertible subordinated debentures due 2019 bearing interest of 12% and convertible into common shares of the company at the maturity date, being one year from the date of issuance.

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