Adriana Resources says Lac Otelnuk is world-class iron deposit

Adriana Resources (ADI-V) says its Lac Otelnuk iron project in the Labrador Trough of northern Quebec ranks among the top 15 of all known “world-class” iron deposits based on data from Raw Materials Group, a Stockholm-based group that manages a mining industry database.

Today Adriana reported a National Instrument 43-101 compliant indicated resource of 4.29 billion tonnes grading 29.08% iron and an inferred resource of 1.97 billion tonnes grading 29.24% iron, based on its 2007-2008 drill program on the south zone of the Lac Otelnuk iron project in Nunavik.

In Toronto at mid-day, Adriana’s shares were up 27% or 5 apiece to 23.5. (The company has traded in a 52-week range of 15-$1.10 per share.)

The resource estimate will attract global attention to the project and to Nunavik as a major iron ore player, the company said in a statement. The Lac Otelnuk project is 170 km north of the town of Schefferville in Quebec.

Similar mineralization was identified along strike to the northwest for about 15 km in the north zone, through drilling completed in the 1970s.

The north zone has yet to be drilled, but Adriana believes it lies within the same iron formation as the south zone, and is the geological continuation of the Lac Otelnuk deposit.

The Lac Otelnuk iron formation has been identified over a strike length of about 25 km through mapping and exploration drilling in the 1970s. The deposit is a Lake Superior-type taconite iron formation.

Adriana drilled 67 diamond drill holes totaling 7,446 metres on a nine km section of the deposit referred to as the south zone (including 27 holes totaling 2,191 metres drilled in 2007).

The 2008 drill campaign completed grid drilling of the south zone at a drill spacing of 600 metres by 500 metres.

Lac Otelnuk’s iron formation strikes northwest to southeast. It subcrops at surface and dips gently (from 2 to 5 degrees) to the northeast, eventually plunging under sedimentary formations. The western extent is terminated by erosion.

In addition to Lac Otelnuk, Adriana has purchased land in Brazil and is developing an iron ore port facility there, while acquiring iron ore resources in the country.