Quinto examines iron tailings project (February 13, 2007)

Quinto Mining (QU-V) is hoping for some quick cash from iron tailings at the Lac Jeannine iron mine in northeastern Quebec.

The company is currently investigating the quality, volume and potential of the iron ore tailings as well as the environmental implications of the project. Quinto acquired an option for the tailings from the privately owned Exploration Esbec of Sept Iles, Que. It expects to have the results by May and will then decide whether to pursue or abandon the idea.

Grab samples of the tailings returned a head grade of 13.3% iron, from which 63% iron concentrate was produced with an 80.2% recovery rate. The process involved a slight regrinding of the sample followed by one pass gravity separation.

The tailings tonnage is from 266 million tons treated in the Lac Jeannine concentrator between 1959 and 1975 by Quebec Cartier Mining. Another 200 million tons of iron ore treated at Lac Jeannine came from the nearby Fire Lake mine between 1976 and 1985 by Sidbec-Normines.

No data is available to estimate the recoverable iron content.

Historical head grades, recoveries and concentrate grades indicate that the average grade of these tailings is between 7% and 12% iron.

The property includes a total of 23 claims and the major infrastructure required is in place and operational.

Quinto will pay $80,000 when the deal is accepted, which will be followed by cash payments of $250,000 over the next three anniversary dates.

Lac Jeannine is about 70 km from Quintos Peppler Lake iron ore property. That project has a resource of 250 million tonnes grading 28.2% Fe.

Quinto is also exploring properties in Quebec for graphite, titanium dioxide, nickel, copper, gold and uranium.