Stratmat

Location

The Stratmat Property is located in Northumberland County in northeast New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated approximately 45 km southwest of Bathurst and 55 km northwest of Miramichi. The property consists of 54 claims in the Stratmat 1613 claim group and covers an area of 828.6 hectares.

Property Agreement

In 2008, Kria Resources (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trevali) entered into an agreement with Xstrata Canada Corporation -- Xstrata Zinc Canada Division whereby Kria has the right to gain 100% ownership of the Stratmat and Halfmile projects by paying US$18,000,000 and issuing units worth a total of $US$7,000,000. Each unit consists of one common share and one half warrant. Payments are spread over the time of the agreement. Xstrata has the first right and option to purchase all or any portion of the off take as well as a 2% NSR royalty. A portion of the property has a 2.5% NSR royalty to Teck Cominco Limited.

History and Resources

The property was heavily explored by Xstrata and its predecessor companies since the 1960s. In particular, extensive exploration activity occurred during the 1980s and 1990s when the Heath Steele and Stratmat Mines were in production.

The Stratmat property hosts three mineral deposits and numerous showings. Of the three deposits, only the Boundary Deposit has been mined to date where reserves were depleted on Jun 30, 1993. The remaining two areas are the focus of Kria's work, and contain a NI 43-101 compliant resource that estimates:
  • an Inferred Mineral Resource of 5.52 million tonnes grading 6.11% zinc, 2.59% lead, 0.40% copper and 54.21 g/t silver using a 5.0% zinc equivalent cut-off grade. (Please review Disclaimer)

Geology

The Stratmat area is underlain by rocks of Ordovician age known as the Tetagouche Group. They form part of the Miramichi zone of northern New Brunswick and are composed of primarily dacitic to rhyolitic volcanic rocks of the Flat Landing Brook Formation and quartz-feldspar porphyries of the Nepisiquit Falls Formation. These units are disconformably underlain by sediments of the Miramichi Group. Thin-bedded feldspathic wacke/shale and alkali basalts of the Boucher Brook Formation conformably overlie the felsic package. The Ordovician rocks of the Bathurst Mining Camp have undergone a complex history of polyphase folding and faulting. At least five deformational events are recognized.

The Stratmat deposits are volcaniogenic massive sulphide type (VMS) hosted in felsic volcanic and epiclastic rocks of the Nepisiquit Falls and Flat Landing Brook Formations. This Tetagouche Group of rocks hosts over 30 base metal-rich deposits including the giant Brunswick 12 deposit.

Property Potential

In addition to the areas of the resource estimate, the Stratmat property contains many interesting diamond drill hits that command attention.


Development Plan

Mine development is underway at the near-by Halfmile deposit with a proposed production rate of 2,000-tonnes-per-day anticipated to commence in late 2011. Trevali is examining the potential of bringing Stratmat into production following ramp-up of operations at Halfmile.

The 2010 PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) is based only on Inferred Mineral Resources and not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Inferred Mineral Resources are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves, and there is therefore no certainty that the conclusions of the PEA will be realized. Additionally where Trevali discusses exploration/expansion potential, any potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource.