Tenajon pulls strong moly grades from open-pit target

Vancouver — Tenajon Resources’ (TJS-V, TJRUF-O) bet on molybdenum is starting to pay off.

The company picked up the Ajax moly project in east-central B.C. in 1996 — after failing molybdenum prices prompted Newmont Mining (NMC-T, NEM-N) to drop it — and held it for 10 years, waiting for the price of the specialty metal to rebound.

In 2005, Tenajon bet the rising price of moly would continue to climb and started work at Ajax. Now, not quite three years later, molybdenum is hovering at around US$35 per lb. and results from Ajax are showing that the little project has a lot of potential.

A 12-hole program targeting near-surface, higher-grade zones within a potential starter-pit area wrapped up in October. Drilling cut extensive sections hosting near-surface molybdenum mineralization along a 580-metre strike length, with the deposit exhibiting excellent downdip continuity.

Hole 8 was the most westerly hole drilled along strike. It intersected 55.5 metres grading 0.065% molybdenum from 15 metres depth, followed by 12 metres grading 0.071% molybdenum from 58 metres down-hole. Hole 3, 80 metres east, returned a lengthy 257.5 metres grading 0.09% molybdenum from 3 metres below surface.

Other drill results show that the high-grade molybdenite encountered in hole 3 extends both north and south. Hole 9 was collared 50 metres north of hole 3 and returned 191 metres of 0.077% molybdenum from surface, including 27.5 metres grading 0.194% molybdenum. And hole 10 was collared 50 metres south and returned 121.5 metres grading 0.075% molybdenum from 5.5 metres below surface, including 42 metres of 0.126% molybdenum.

Moving 300 metres northeast along strike, hole 1 intersected 177.5 metres grading 0.056% molybdenum from 109 metres depth; 150 metres past that, hole 6 returned 245 metres from surface grading 0.05% moly.

All of the aforementioned holes are within the boundaries of the potential open pit. One hole probed outside of that: collared 120 metres along strike to the southwest of hole 8, hole 11 returned 38 metres grading 0.019% molybdenum, among other weakly anomalous molybdenum intercepts. Due to topography, the hole was collared 140 metres higher in elevation than hole 8, which may explain the low grades.

In 2006, a 3,800-metre drill program extended the mineralized zone from surface to over 1 km depth.

In addition, metallurgical testing has shown that, in bench-scale tests, rougher molybdenum recoveries of 86.5% are possible. The company contracted for metallurgical testing says it believes rougher stage molybdenum recoveries of more than 90% are possible at a coarse grind.

Tenajon holds a 100% interest in the Ajax project, which sits 13 km north of Alice Arm. According to a March estimate, the project hosts indicated resources of 38.8 million tonnes grading 0.064% molybdenum and inferred resources of 448.8 million tonnnes grading 0.063% molybdenum.

Newmont discovered molybdenite at Ajax in 1965. Over the next two years, the major completed sampling, trenching and 26 diamond-drill holes. Due to low molybdenum prices, Newmont let the claims lapse in 1996; Tenajon immediately staked the property and held it in inventory until 2005.

Despite being situated in a remote area of B.C., the project is well served in terms of infrastructure. The nearby ghost town of Kitsault is undergoing a revival after being purchased for $7 million by U.S. developer Krishnan Suthanthiran. The town was built between 1978 and 1980 by Phelps Dodge (now part of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold [FCX-N]) to house workers of its nearby molybdenum mine — only to be deserted 18 months later when the price of molybdenum crashed.

Hydropower generated for the new resort town would be available for use at Ajax, only 16 km to the south. The location also offers a deep, tidewater port.

Tenajon holds two other molybdenum projects and two gold ventures.

The company’s Moly Brook property is located a few kilometres from the Hamlet of Grey River on the southern coast of Newfoundland and close to a deepwater, ice-free navigable fjord. Molybdenum was discovered at Moly Brook in 1995 by now-defunct Royal Oak Mines, which was exploring for gold. In October, Tenajon completed a 13-hole drill program designed to follow up on the results of geochemical and geophysical surveys from 2006 that expanded the area of potential molybdenum-copper mineralization. Results are pending.

Back in B.C., Tenajon holds the Burn molybdenum property near Hazelton. Results are pending from a recent 5-hole drill program that tested a molybdenum-in-soil anomaly measuring 650 metres wide by 1 km long. The property saw 6 drill holes in the 1980s by a previous operator; the only hole for which results are available returned an 84-metre section averaging 0.061% molybdenum.

The Kansas Claim is a joint-venture agreement between Tenajon (40%), Pinnacle Mines (PNL-V, PNMLF-O), and Mountain Boy Minerals (MTB-V, MBYMF-O). Kansas is part of the Silver Coin property, a Pinnacle-Mountain Boy joint venture located in the Stewart mining camps of northwestern B.C. The property hosts 423,002 measured and indicated oz. gold, of which roughly 84% is within the Kansas claim. Inferred resources add 947,988 oz. gold, of which some 74% of the total is on the Kansas claim.

Finally, the Summit Lake Gold Property is 100%-owned by Tenajon and is located 30 km north of Stewart. The property hosts several zones of gold mineralization similar to those at the nearby, past-producing Snip mine. From 1981 through 1985, Summit Lake produced 95,426 oz. gold from 201,462 tons milled at an average grade of 16.2 grams gold per tonne (0.474 oz. per ton). Thirteen zones of high-grade gold veining have been located both underground and on surface with past production coming from just three of the zones. Drill programs from 2004 to 2006 returned significant results from six target zones. A resource estimate is currently being calculated.