Trevali hits thick mineralization at Halfmile (May 16, 2011)

Trevali Mining (TV-T) hit the thickest mineralized intercept yet at its new Halfmile polymetallic project in New Brunswick.

The initial test results from a 2,500-metre drill program on the Upper zone of the project show thicker zones of massive sulphide, plus new zones of high-grade copper in the hangingwall.

Hole 10-04 intersected 29.3 metres carrying 6.87% zinc, 2.23% lead, 0.46% copper, 52.01 grams silver per tonne and 0.86 gram gold per tonne; hole 11-07 cut 15.1 metres averaging 5.88% zinc, 1.65% lead, 0.61% copper, 40.62 grams silver and 0.41 gram gold; and hole 11-08 returned 23.3 metres of 6.43% zinc, 1.92% lead, 0.34% copper, 42.8 grams silver and 0.47 gram gold.

A February 2009 resource estimate on Halfmile established an indicated resource of 6.26 million tonnes grading 8.13% zinc, 2.58% lead, 0.22% copper and 30.78 grams silver, plus an inferred resource of 6.08 million tonnes averaging 6.69% zinc, 1.83% lead, 0.14% copper and 20.51 grams silver, all using a 5% capped zinc-equivalent cutoff grade.

Trevali Mining secured the Halfmile project in early April after merging with Kria Resources, which owned the project as well as the Stratmat lead-copper-silver-zinc project.

The company, before known as Trevali Resources, issued 21 million shares to Kria’s  shareholders to give them roughly 24% of what is now Trevali Mining.

 Trevali CEO Mark Cruise stated that his company now “possesses an enhanced production pipeline with two new polymetallic mines planned to come on stream over the next several months, first in New Brunswick at the Halfmile deposit, followed by the Santander mine project in west-central Peru.”

To advance its Santander mine, the company recently signed a US$30-million debt facility with the New York branch of WestLB AG, though the deal is still subject to the bank’s due diligence and approval from Trevali’s board.

Santander hosts 5.9 million indicated tonnes grading 3.86% zinc, 1.35% lead, 44 grams silver and 0.08% copper for a contained inventory of 498 million lbs. zinc, 174 million lbs. lead, 8.25 million oz. silver and 9.7 million lbs. copper. The inferred resource at Santander stands at 4.8 million tonnes of 5.08% zinc, 0.44%
lead, 21 grams silver and 0.07% copper.

Trevali’s share price closed up 13¢ or 7.6% at $1.85 on the latest news. The company has a 52-week trading range between $1.25 and $2.51, with 89.8 million shares outstanding.