Matagami Project – General Information
The Matagami Project has an area of mutual interest of 4,737 square kilometres that is governed by the Matagami Joint Venture Agreement signed in 2006 between Donner Metals Ltd and Falconbridge Limited, now Xstrata Canada Corporation ('Xstrata'). The project is located in the Abitibi region of central Québec, and is centered on the town of Matagami. The area of mutual interest is divided into 6 separate joint ventures areas that cover claims in which Donner holds an interest with Xstrata. Under the joint venture agreement, Xstrata Canada Corporation - Xstrata Zinc Canada Division is the project operator for the Matagami Project and its relative joint ventures.
The Matagami Mining Camp is a world-class mining district which hosts 18 known Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (“VMS”) deposits. This includes 10 past producers of varying sizes, including the giant Mattagami Lake deposit (25.64 million tonnes of 8.2% Zn, 0.56% Cu, 20.91 g/t Ag and 0.41g/t Au) discovered in 1957 and mined from 1963 to 1988. The first discovery at Matagami was made in 1957 and continued exploration has yielded timely new discoveries. The Perseverance deposit, wholly owned by Xstrata, is currently producing. Following the signing of the Donner/Xstrata agreement, the Bracemac-McLeod deposit was discovered in 2007. This deposit has been under development since April 2010 and production is anticipated in early 2013.
The project’s key strength is its Development and Exploration teams, in which both Xstrata and Donner participate. This group has a reputation for excellence in the mining business, with extensive experience finding, evaluating, developing and producing deposits in Matagami. To support the long term commitment to this area, the exploration team has developed a pipeline of drill-ready targets which will focus exploration activities well into the future.
The objective for Donner and Xstrata is to explore for, and discover zinc-copper-silver-gold deposits in the Matagami Camp in order to supply the Matagami Mill over the long term. Production from Xstrata’s
Perseverance mine will be replaced by production from the Xstrata/Donner Bracemac-McLeod mine. New discoveries will leverage the general infrastructure and existing processing facilities within a known and well-established cost structure for developing deposits.
