Management’s Discussion and Analysis - Highlights
posted on
Dec 29, 2008 01:36PM
Exploration & Development of zinc, copper & gold assets in Canada.
As at October 31, 2008, the Company had a cash position of $457,158 and a working capital of $708,134. The Company has no long-term debt. Management is of the opinion that the current cash position is sufficient to meet current commitments. Full development of some mineral properties would require substantially more financial resources. Traditionally, the Company has been able to rely on its ability to raise financing in public and private negotiated equity offerings. The Company may also advance the development of mineral properties through joint-venture participation.
In December 2008, the Company has completed a private financing of $403,800. A total of 2,838,000 flow-through shares, 1,200,000 common shares and 1,419,000 warrants were issued. Also, in connexion with the private placement, the Company paid a finder's fee of 113,520 common shares and 56,760 warrants and paid a compensation option entitling its holder to purchase up to 227,040 units each unit including one common share at a price of $0.10 per share and one-half warrant.
In addition, the Company has announced that it has engaged Northern Securities Inc. to act as its agent for a best-efforts private placement of up to $1 million. The private placement will consists of up to 3,750,000 units at a price of $0.08 per unit, for proceeds of $300,000, and up to 7,000,000 “flow-through” units at a price of $0.10 per unit, for proceeds of $700,000.
As of October 31, 2008, the Company had 29,342,780 shares issued and outstanding with a paid value $27,627,568. A number of 6,345,881 warrants and 909,988 options were outstanding.
The authorized share capital of the Company consists of an unlimited number of shares and of which 33,798,560 were outstanding as of the date hereof.
During Q2 of Murgor’s fiscal year 2009, exploration activities were focussed on properties of the Flin Flon belt in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan with emphasis on the Hudvam and Wim properties in Manitoba. Work at the gold-rich Hudvam polymetallic deposit and the Wim copper-gold deposit focussed on two new 43-101 resource estimates and metallurgical testing of the ore at both deposits.
Results of the 43-101 resource estimates were released for the Hudvam and Wim deposits, respectively in late August and early September 2008. These results were the culmination of nearly 30,000 metres of drilling that were completed at the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal year 2009.
Results of metallurgical tests at both deposits were released on September 18, 2008. At the Hudvam deposit, copper recoveries averaged 89% while gold recoveries averaged 56% by flotation alone. Both copper and gold are recovered in a high-grade copper concentrate averaging 30% copper and 51 g/tonne gold. At the Wim deposit, copper recovery was on average 92% with a final high-grade copper concentrate averaging 32.6% copper. Test work is incomplete to report gold recoveries at Wim.
The Hudvam property is located in Manitoba, approximately 47 kilometres NE of the town of Flin Flon.
Murgor is earning a 100% interest in the Hudvam Property from HudBay Minerals Inc. by making aggregate expenditures of $2.25 million and making escalating cash/share payments for an aggregate amount of $270,000 over a period of 3 years.
The property covers an area of approximately 17 square kilometres. The favourable geological stratigraphy consists of a 500-1000 metres wide package of volcanic rocks dipping sub-vertically, wedged within granitoid rocks. A strike length of more than four kilometres of a prospective contact between felsic and mafic volcanic rocks needs to be explored in detail on the property. In 1988, Mingold Resources Inc. completed a 247 metres ramp during an underground exploration program but the development was abandoned when the price of metals dropped and when flow-through financing came to an end. This development would allow Murgor to quickly bring the deposit into production.
The deposit consists of four lenses of massive to semi massive sulphide of volcanogenic origin with Zones #1 and #3 being the most economically significant. The mineralization consists of variable quantities of pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite with banded or brecciated textures. The ore lenses are up to 15 metres wide, trend NE at 060° az. and dip steeply towards the SE at 80°. The lenses plunge at 70° towards the NE.
Zone #3 remains untested below a depth of 250 metres whereas Zone #1 is open below a depth of 520 metres.
Murgor continued its aggressive exploration and development program of the Hudvam property in 2008.
Murgor completed a new NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate at Hudvam that was highlighted by a 40% increase of the gold resource, over the 2007 resource estimate, and the conversion of 70% of this resource to the Indicated category (see tables above in the Resource section).
This NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate at Hudvam takes into account the 13,553 metres in 51 drill holes drilled on the property by Murgor in 2007 and 2008, in addition to the 115 historical drill holes on the deposit that were validated by Murgor. The estimate does not, however, include Murgor’s new discovery of Hole 44 where 2.17 g/t Au, 1.11% Cu, 0.76% Zn and 13.30 g/t Ag over 5.82 metres were intersected between Zones 1 and 3, and previously disclosed on March 20th, 2008.
The new discovery is located between Zones 1 and 3, some 275 metres away from any known mineralization, at a vertical depth of 300 metres. The new discovery remains open in all directions and points to a large area with a high potential for exploration between lenses 1 and 3 at depth. Furthermore Borehole Pulse EM surveys in drill hole 44 show a larger conductive body below and to the west of the drill hole intercept.
A second exploration drill hole (drill hole HVS-050) tested Zone 1 of the deposit at 550 meters vertical depth. The drill hole intersected an extensive alteration zone (83 metres) in the stratigraphic footwall of Zone 1, showing that alteration processes related to the mineralization appear to be intensifying at depth.
Metallurgical work at the Hudvam deposit, showed copper recoveries averaged 89% in locked cycle test work. The copper is captured into a high-grade concentrate averaging 30% copper. Gold in the feed was recovered in the copper concentrate with recoveries averaging 56% by flotation alone. Gold grades in the copper concentrate are extremely high, averaging 51 g/tonne gold. The addition of a gravity concentrator prior to flotation increases the gold recoveries to 67.1% and additional optimization test work has been recommended to further increase gold recoveries.
Murgor’s near-term exploration work at Hudvam will include a drill program to better define the potential new lens intersected by hole 44, between Zones 1 and 3 and to further test a new mineralized horizon in the stratigraphic hangingwall of the current mineralization.
The Wim property is located in Manitoba, approximately 16 kilometres north of the Town of Snow Lake.
Murgor is earning a 100% interest in the Wim Property (two claim groups covering approximately 12 square kilometres) from HudBay Minerals Inc. by making aggregate expenditures of $2.0M and making escalating cash/share payments for an aggregate amount of $320,000 over a period of 3 years.
Murgor also holds a 100% interest in nine claims staked by the Company to cover the strike extensions of the Wim deposit. This portion of the property covers an additional 16 square kilometres.
The property covers approximately 28 square kilometres in two claim groups. A very broad halo of intensely altered rocks and over eight kilometres of prospective stratigraphy are observed on both the joint venture property with HudBay and the wholly owned Murgor property.
The Wim deposit occurs within a volcanic sequence, at the contact between dominantly mafic and felsic rocks. The stratigraphic units trend to NW at approximately 310° az. and are dipping at 50°-60° towards the NE. Younging directions are towards the SW. A large diorite sill (up to 125 metres wide) occurs in the footwall of the deposit. This diorite sill is believed to be syn-volcanic, and thought to have generated the necessary heat for the formation of the deposit. The Wim deposit occurs approximately 450 metres to the southwest of a large granitoid intrusion that now forms a gneissic dome.
The Wim deposit consists of one large ore lens of volcanogenic origin. Mineralization consists of massive to semi-massive sulphide consisting of pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and sub-ordinate sphalerite. To date, the mineralized zone, extends from surface to 720 metres below surface, and over a strike length of nearly 725 metres, with an average thickness of 5.0 metres. The lens remains largely open in all directions. The ore lens is conformable to stratigraphy, trends to the NW at approximately 310° az. and is dipping 45°-50° towards the NE. The general plunge of the ore lens is 40° to the north.
Murgor continued its aggressive exploration and development program of the Wim property in 2008.
On September 09, 2008, Murgor released the results of a NI 43-101 compliant resource at the Wim deposit. The new resource estimate was highlighted by a 130% increase in the total tonnage of the deposit over the historical resource, with over 85% of the new resource in the Indicated category.
Murgor successfully extended the deposit for over 300 metres up-dip to the surface, and 150 metres on strike. Furthermore, drilling has shown the mineralized body to be very tabular and with consistent grades.
Exploration drill holes successfully intersected the Wim horizon for a strike length of 1.5 kilometres to the northwest of the deposit. Borehole Pulse Electro-Magnetic surveys were carried-out in the exploration drill holes and follow up drilling will follow depending on these results. Best results so far were obtained in drill hole WZS08044, located 1.5 kilometres away from the deposit, with an intersection of 3.51 metres grading 3.11 g/t Au and 0.29% Cu.
Preliminary metallurgical work at the Wim deposit showed copper recoveries averaging 92% producing a final high-grade copper concentrate averaging 32.6% copper. Test work is incomplete to report gold recoveries at Wim.
Murgor has outlined eight (8) high priority helicopter borne VTEM targets on the Wim property adjacent to the Wim deposit. Seven (7) of these targets are located on the Wim “extension” property which is owned 100% by Murgor. Drilling is planned to test these targets for the winter of 2009, to follow-up on these high priority VTEM targets
The Snow-H project is located in Manitoba, twenty-two kilometres northeast of the Town of Snow Lake and extends for 40 kilometres to the east.
Murgor is earning a 50% interest in the project from HudBay Minerals Inc. by making aggregate exploration expenditures of $2,500,000 over 3 years.
Murgor also holds a 100% interest in three claims covering the Bee Zone west of the Snow-H project and another five claims covering the strike extensions of the Watts River deposit south of Snow-H.
The Snow-H Project consists of current mining properties and any future mining properties acquired by Murgor or HudBay within the 105,586 hectare area of the project (current mining properties cover an area of close to 30,000 hectares). Murgor also gains access to HudBay’s extensive exploration database in the area (including the data from over 5,670 line kilometre SPECTREM airborne electromagnetic survey carried-out by HBED in the mid ’90’s). Only 255 holes have been drilled at the Snow-H project, in an area that spans 40 kilometres in length by approximately 26 kilometres in width.
The Snow-H project covers 1,055 square kilometres of the very prospective eastern extension of the Snow Lake mining camp but also, the northern part of the Eastern Trans-Hudson transect (ETHT). So far the significant discoveries of the ETHT include:
Evidence of Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) mineralization has already been discovered adjacent to the Snow-H project boundaries (see section on resource below). At the heart of the project, the Ros-10 intersection of
0.57 metre @ 0.24% Cu, 2.69% Zn and 5.1 g/t Ag, showed the potential of the Snow-H project by proving that the mineralizing processes operating at the Watts River Deposit are also present in the central part of the project.
In the western part of the project area, in the extension of the Snow Lake mining camp, the geology consists of the same volcanic and sedimentary rocks that host the many VMS deposits of Snow Lake. The rocks show multiple phases of deformation as suggested by exposed fold interference patterns. In the eastern part of the project area, the geology is largely unknown due to fluvio-glacial cover, but geophysical signatures and drilling so far suggest a continuation of the same geological units.
Several Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) deposits are located in the immediate area and their prospective stratigraphic horizons project onto the Snow-H. These deposits include:
• The Bur Deposit: Indicated Resource: 1.05M tonnes @ 1.90% Cu and 8.60% Zn
The Bur deposit is located approximately 1.4 kilometres west of the Snow-H project boundary.
• The Osborne Lake Deposit: Historical Production: 2.81M tonnes @ 3.14% Cu, 1.50% Zn, 4.11 g/t Ag
The Osborne Lake past producer is located approximately 5.3 kilometres west of the Snow-H project boundary.
• The Watts River Deposit: Inferred Resource: 6.62M tonnes @ 1.90% Cu and 2.60% Zn
The Watts River deposit is located approximately 8.0 kilometres south of the Snow-H project boundary.
Murgor’s exploration program at the Snow-H Project in 2008, focused on the northern strike extension of the Watts River Deposit and included:
Due to falling commodity prices, deteriorating market conditions, Murgor’s low share price and work commitments on the Snow-H project for 2009, and to avoid excessive dilution to its share structure, Murgor advised HudBay on November 21st, 2008 that it would abandon the Snow-H option.
The Fon property is located in Saskatchewan, approximately 40 kilometres west of the town of Flin Flon.
Murgor is earning a 100% interest in the Fon property (24 claims covering 24 square kilometres) from HudBay Minerals Inc, by making aggregate expenditures of $3.5M and escalating cash/share payments for an aggregate amount of $520,000 over four years.
Murgor also holds a 100% interest in four claims staked in January of 2007 and covering the strike extensions of both the Fon and Abbott Lake deposits. This portion of the property covers an additional 14.4 square kilometres.
The property covers nearly 40 square kilometres including both the HudBay option and the new claims wholly owned by Murgor. The property includes two deposits (both located on the HudBay option): the Fon zinc deposit (see resource estimate below) and the smaller Abbott Lake deposit where historical resources stand at 177,000 tonnes @ 2.53% Cu, 0.77% Zn, 49.04 g/t Ag.
Both deposits are hosted in a sequence of felsic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks characterized by multiple phases of deformation and amphibolite grade metamorphism. The rocks trend generally east-west but a fold closure located approximately four kilometres west of the Fon deposit repeats the favourable horizon in the southern part of the property where the Abbott Lake deposit occurs. The favourable mineralized horizon which hosts both deposits is present over a strike length of more than sixteen kilometres on the properties. Although the favourable horizon has been drilled at shallow depths, it remains to be explored in detail.
The mineralization at the Fon deposit consists of heavily disseminated to massive sulphide with pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, trace chalcopyrite and locally galena.
The Fon deposit consists of at least five lenses that extend from surface to a vertical depth of 760 metres and over a strike length of 1.3 kilometres. One of these lenses, the “Brown Lens”, contains in excess of 2.5 million short tons of mineralization grading 2.41% zinc. By removing the sub-economic Brown Lens and other small, low grade satellite lenses from the resource, the four remaining lenses account for a NI 43-101 compliant Inferred resource of 1.68 million tonnes at a grade of 6.79% Zn, 0.27% Cu, 16.79 g/t Ag with a 3% Zn cut-off grade.
The deposit trends approximately at 290° az. and dips 50° towards the north. The plunge of the orebody is variable and probably due to the multiple phases of folding in the area.
The down plunge extensions of the Blue Lens towards the east and the down plunge extension of the Lower Red Lens to the west remain largely open for exploration.
At the Abbott Lake deposit, the mineralization consists dominantly of heavy stringer sulphide with pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and sphalerite. The Abbott Lake deposit extends from surface to a vertical depth of 250 meters and for a strike length of up to 400 metres. The lens remains only poorly tested at depth and on strike.
The current resource at the Fon deposit (NI 43-101, Inferred) is estimated as follows:
DEPOSIT TONNAGE GRADE CONTAINED METAL (Metric Tonnes) Cu Zn Au Ag Cu (lbs) Zn (lbs) Au (oz) Ag (oz)
FON 4,543,126 0.25% 3.73% -10.88 g/t 25,039,440 373,588,445 -1,752,761Based on 1% Zinc cut-off grade.
In early 2008, a detailed analysis and a new structural interpretation of the Fon deposit, outlined a new, thick, mineralized zone sitting between surface and 150 metres vertical depth. The grade of this new zone ranges from 1.4% Zn to 3.6% Zn, and could add a potential 51.3M to 162.2M pounds of zinc to the inferred resource at Fon.
For strategic reasons, Murgor’s exploration program in the Flin Flon belt prioritized the Hudvam and Wim deposits in Manitoba. Nevertheless, exploration at the Fon property in 2008, included:
A detailed analysis and a new structural interpretation of the Fon deposit, outlined a new, thick, mineralized zone sitting between surface and 150 metres vertical depth, with a grade ranging from 1.4% Zn to 3.6% Zn. The area where this newly defined mineralized zone is located was previously deemed sub-economic because of its lower zinc grade. The near surface material could, however, provide a potential 51.3M to 162.2M pounds of zinc with a potential for open-pit mining. The new surface mineralized zone and the Fon deposit as a whole are currently being evaluated for their economic potential.
One of the drill holes at the Fon property was testing an InfiniTEM geophysical anomaly defined in 2007, adjacent and at depth from the Abbott Lake deposit. The Abbott Lake deposit is believed to be a feeder zone to a still undiscovered massive sulphide lens. The anomaly has a strike length of over 600 metres, at a minimum depth of 300 metres. The drill hole appears to have missed the target since the conductor remains unexplained. However, the drill hole intersected a thick unit of favourable fragmental rhyolites with disseminated mineralization. Furthermore, a Borehole Pulse EM geophysical survey shows an offhole conductor below the drill hole. This high priority target will be drill tested in the winter of 2008-09.
Murgor is presently evaluating the high grade ore plunges of the Fon deposit at depth and the lower grade, near surface open pit potential of the deposit. In order to do so, a re-interpretation of the 3D model of the Fon orebody along with an economic evaluation of the deposit will be completed in 2009. Murgor also plans some follow-up drilling on the geophysical anomaly along the edge of the Abbott lake deposit.
The Windfall property is located approximately 100 km east of the town of Lebel-Sur-Quevillon and 180 km southwest of the town of Chibougamau in the Province of Quebec. The property which consists of 213 claims and covers 8,995 ha, is held jointly by Murgor and Freewest Resources Canada Inc.
On February 5th, 2007, Murgor and Freewest optioned 29 claims of the property to Noront Resources Inc. to explore and develop the Windfall property. Murgor and Freewest retain a 100% interest in 184 claims of the Windfall property including the NE extension of the gold bearing structures.
Under the terms of the agreement, Noront issued a total of 375,000 common shares of Noront to Murgor and will incur exploration expenditures estimated at $4 million, in order to earn a participating interest of 50% in the claims. Noront may earn an additional 10% participating interest by providing a positive feasibility study. If Noront fulfills its obligations, Murgor will retain a 20%-25% interest in the Windfall property.
The objective of Noront’s exploration work at the Windfall option is to test and sample gold zones F-11 and F-17, previously discovered by Murgor, with an underground exploration ramp that would start on the newly optioned ground. The ramp will also provide access to a number of deeper mineralized zones on the Noront property.
On September 24, 2008, Noront advised Murgor that it had completed Phase 1 of its underground exploration program at Windfall and that it had earned its 50% interest in the 29 claim option.
On October 21, 2008, Noront reported the following results:
The underground program on the Murgor-Freewest option consisted of a ramp portal and 1,119 meters of the ramp, access and exploration drifts.
The underground program at the Windfall Lake property to date has included 55 meters of exploration drifts in mineralization and waste on the F-11 zone, and 102 meters of exploration drifts in the F-17 zone. Sampling of the gold zones has consisted of muck, dump and chip sampling of each nominal 4.0m x 4.0m x 3.5m blasted round. Visible gold was observed in all 3 zones on joints and fractures running in many different directions.
Considerable dilution in the muck sampling is experienced as the 4.0 meter-wide round exceeds likely minimum mining widths experienced during actual mining for production. Hence the average gold grades being stated below for the muck samples may well be lower than those possible in a mining environment employing strict grade controls.
In the F-11 zone, at a vertical depth of 50 meters, the gold zone was exposed for a total horizontal length of 32.5 meters before it wandered into the drift walls. Average grades from the muck samples was 3.95 g/t gold over the exposed zone's length. The F-11 zone follows a lithologic contact zone causing a more consistent distribution of the gold values.
In the F-17 zone, at a vertical depth of 55 meters, the zone was exposed along the total 102 meter length of the horizontal drift. A 20 meter length along this zone averaged 2.34 g/t from the muck sampling. At F-17 the zone is fault bounded resulting in a more erratic distribution of the gold values with significant waste inclusions in the zone.
Murgor has not carried out any exploration work at the Windfall Property since December 2006. The Company is not planning any work on the remaining parts of the Windfall property in the immediate future, and will evaluate the data from Noront Resources’ work before committing to exploration expenditures on the Windfall-Noront option.