Blue Lake Cu-Ni-PGM to be drilled in July

The Blue Lake, Cu-Ni-PGM historic resource located in the southern Labrador Trough, Quebec will be drilled in early July. Rockland's selected engineering firm, Caracle Creek Consulting, have been making good progress in compiling key data from over 550 holes drilled on the Cu-Ni-PGM showings at Blue Lake property since 1950s. The Blue Lake sulfide deposits are nickeliferous pyrrhotite ores, with a copper content twice that of nickel.  The historical tonnage, established in 1989, was 4.03 Mt at 0.85% Cu, 0.52% Ni and 0.84 g/t platinum and palladium.  Rockland's objective is to bring this mineralization into engineering compliance with National Instrument 43-101 in the shortest time possible.

A little bit of History:

The Blue Lake sulfides were discovered in 1942 by Hollinger North Shore Exploration Ltd, part of Iron Ore Company of Canada, and the first holes were drilled in the 1950's.  Hollinger drilled 39 holes in 1967 and 37 holes in 1968, and established the first resource for the property.  La Fosse Platinum Ltd. purchased Hollinger in 1985, and drilled an additional 400 holes.  This drilling nearly doubled the original Hollinger resource. The 1989 resource quoted above was based on hand generated block models completed before National Instrument 43-101.  The final work completed in 1989 was a 350 meter adit into the Blue Lake #1 lens to extract a 22-ton bulk metallurgical sample.  No work was done at Blue Lake since that time, until Rockland acquired an option on the project in November 2011.

The underground working at Blue Lake #1 gave new insight into the nature of the mineralization.  An internal report from 1989 states: "The average grade from channel sampling in the Blue Lake decline is about 20% higher than the Cu + Ni grade calculated from drill core analysis.  The decline also disclosed a layer of soft chloritic, material 2"-18" thick, at the base of the massive sulphide.  This material averages 0.12 g/t Pt and 6.02 g/t Pd (compared to 0.13 g/t Pt and 1.02 g/t Pd in the massive sulfide).  This layer was not suspected before the decline was driven, as it was not recovered in the core from most of the drill holes."
This report also stated: "Most of the tonnage that has been drill-indicated to date is within 500-feet of the surface.  It is reasonable to suggest that the reserves of massive sulphide in the Blue Lake area above the depth of 1,000-feet could reach 10 million tons.  The base metal content of the deposits discovered in the future will probably be in the grade range of the presently known deposits.  ...The most effective way to explore for massive sulphide is to drill fences of holes in the area where the sulphur-rich peridotite is close to the surface and shallow dipping."

George F. Sanders, P.Geo, states: "We're reading the comments and recommendations of the La Fosse geologists from two decades ago, and we're finding the next phases of drilling, underground sampling, and metallurgical testing to be already laid out for us.  The current metals cycle of high prices will support a robust development program at Blue Lake."

Rockland Gold and Cu-Ni-PGM Exploration Update Labrador Trough Area

News release, July 19, 2011, Rockland Minerals Corp. (RL-TSX Venture) has provided an update with regard to its exploration activities in Labrador Trough area of northeastern Quebec. So far during the current field season Rockland has drilled the Retty Lake Cu-Ni-PGE (platinum group elements) property, and has flown a detailed heli-mag survey over the most promising portion of the Schefferville gold property to guide follow-up field mapping and sampling.

A total of 1,500 metres was drilled in the Northwest Retty Lake area with 10 holes that targeted known copper-nickel-platinum-palladium mineralization along a significant trend that is largely covered by Rockland claims. The target middle sill peridotite unit was intersected in all the holes, and significant disseminated chalcopyrite (copper mineral) was observed in broad zones of the host rock peridotite with highly favourable net texture of disseminated sulphides. The drill core was shipped via rail from Schefferville, Que., and has arrived at the core processing facility in Chicoutimi, Que. It is now being logged, saw cut and sampled, and assay results will be released as soon as possible after each batch of samples passes strict quality assurance/quality control protocols.

Follow-up fieldwork is now well under way on the northern block of Rockland Minerals Corp.'s Schefferville gold property, using recently flown data from a low-altitude draped heli-borne magnetometer survey on a 50-metre-spaced grid. The focus of Rockland's 2011 geological fieldwork is on the Rusty Acres area, which has never been drilled. Here, several clusters of plus-one-gram-per-tonne Au historic surface samples in outcropping rusty, iron-formations are seen on the compilation map. A total of 367 surface samples have been taken so far, and have been shipped for assay.

George Sanders, PGeo, a director of the company, is the qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the technical content of this news release.

Schefferville News - First iron ore train in 30 years leaves Schefferville

The following is a story from Mining.com. Labrador Iron Mines (LIM-TSX) is working near Rockland Minerals (RL-V) in the Labrador Trough. This story exemplifies the tremendous mining infrastructure that has been developed and re-activated near Rockland's 2 exploration properties in NE Quebec.

Labrador Iron Mines has made significant strides towards the start-up of production at its Schefferville Area direct shipping iron ore project in western Labrador, near the town of Schefferville Quebec. On June 29, 2011 the first loaded iron ore train departed Silver Yards for the Port of Sept-Iles travelling over the TSH and QNS&L railways. This historic event is the first commercial iron ore train from the Schefferville area in almost 30 years. Production Commenced at James Mine and Silver Yards Plant...

Railroad
In February 2011, the Company signed a memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) with Tshiuetin Rail Transportation Inc. (“TSH”) for the transportation of iron ore over the Menihek Division with an agreed tariff rate for calendar year 2011...

Port
LIM has signed a MOU with the Sept-Iles Port Authority for the use of the Pointe aux Basques terminal for handling and ship loading of LIM’s iron ore for the 2011 season and potentially beyond. LIM has also signed an agreement with a port terminal operator for the unloading, stacking and ship loading of iron ore at Pointe aux Basques. LIM will have exclusive use of the Pointe aux Basques terminal for iron ore shipments...

For the complete story to go Mining.com.

Schefferville news - Anglesey Mining: First commercial iron ore train leaves Schefferville, says LIM

Anglesey Mining's 33 percent owned Labrador Iron Mines (TSE:LIM) said that the first train carrying direct shipping ore left for port yesterday (June 29).

"This train represents the first commercial iron ore train movement from the Schefferville area in almost 30 years," said LIM today as it updated on operations and revealed full year results for the year to March 31 2011.

It comes after ore mining operations began at the James Mine earlier this month, where full scale mining is now in full swing.

Around 120,000 tonnes of iron ore have been stockpiled so far and mining will continue until November at a rate of around 15,000 tonnes of ore per day, said LIM.

The Silver Yards processing plant, expected to continue to operate through to November, has a planned initial processing rate of 6,000 tonnes per day, which will be incrementally increased to 10,000 tonnes per day.

LIM's Schefferville project envisages the development of 20 direct shipping iron ore deposits in western Labrador and north-eastern Quebec near Schefferville, Quebec.

It is estimated that around 2.5 million tonnes of ore will be mined from the James Mine during the current financial year and, subject to weather, around one million tonnes of saleable product will be railed to the Port of Sept-Iles. Link to full news story here.

Rockland (RL-TSXV) Starts Summer Exploration at Schefferville Gold Property, Quebec

For Immediate Release. Vancouver, British Columbia, June 30, 2011: Rockland Minerals Corp. (TSX Venture: RL) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that follow-up field work is underway on the northern block of the Schefferville Gold Property, using recently flown data from a low altitude (10 meter altitude, 2.5 meter sampling rate) "draped" heli-borne magnetometer survey on a 50-meter spaced grid, flown by Novatem Inc.  New maps can be viewed at the Company’s website at www.rocklandminerals.ca

The Schefferville Gold Project lies within the 2.7 Ga Ashuanipi Metamorphic Province (2.7 Ga) of the Archean-age Superior Craton.  In the mid-1980's Québec government regional lake-bottom geochemical surveys revealed strong arsenic-gold geochemical anomalies northwest of Schefferville.  The old-timers, panning the creeks in the region, had not seen "colour" in their gold pans, due to the atomic-scale dissemination of gold within arsenopyrite.  Weathering of the Ashuanipi gold mineralization simply did not create nuggets at the earth's surface, and this mineralization lay undiscovered.  Only one wave of exploration followed the government discovery, in the late 1980's, and consisted of channel sampling, and a few shallow drill holes by Québec juniors VIOR-Mazarin, and by IOC. VIOR-Mazarin reported +1 g/t Au diamond drill intercepts at the Arséne in the northern block, and at Lac Lilois in the southern block.  The first focus of Rockland's 2011 geological field work is on a new area, the Rusty Acres, which has never been drilled.  Here, several clusters of +1 g/t Au historic surface samples in outcropping rusty, iron-formations are seen on the compilation map.

Rockland controls the best prospects in the district by first optioning 100% of E.D. Black's Ashuanipi Claims (southern block) and by earning a 55% interest in the Schefferville Gold Project claims, in both the northern and southern blocks, with Joint Venture partner Western Troy Capital Resources Inc. (45%) (TSX Venture: WRY).  

Rockland drilled 1,500 meters in September 2010 based on positive drill results obtained by Western Troy in 2009.  Within broad intercepts of anomalous low-grade gold mineralization with visible arsenopyrite, a significant number of "sweet spots" of multi-gram gold values were encountered over 1-2 meter core sampling intervals.  These higher grade intervals can be averaged with all the rest of the anomalous gold values because there are no quartz veins, no "nuggety" free gold, and no sharp assay boundaries.  This gives rise to the expectation of finding significant tonnages of near-surface, low-grade gold mineralization on the Schefferville Gold Project.  The assay results, and a graphical illustration of gold assay intervals, can be seen on the Company website at www.rocklandminerals.ca.  

George F. Sanders, P.Geo, a director of the Company, and the Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the technical content of this news release, states: "The strength of our mapping program this summer lies in the calibre of the geological consultants on the Rockland team -- Dr. Serge Chevé, Independent Consultant, and Réjean Girard, and Gennady Ivanov of IOS Services Geoscientifiques Inc. The first look at the raw airborne magnetic data shows just how useful it will be to the ground mapping."

An additional, more detailed write-up accompanying the first new field map of the 2011 season is posted on the Rockland website www.rocklandminerals.ca. 

Rockland Completes Drilling at Retty Lake Cu-Ni-PGE, Quebec

For Immediate Release. Vancouver, British Columbia, June 22, 2011: Rockland Minerals Corp. (TSX Venture: RL) (the “Company”) has completed its 1,500 meter diamond drilling program on the Retty Lake Cu-Ni-Pt-Pd Property located near Schefferville, Quebec.  A total of 10 holes were drilled to explore for zones of disseminated and massive sulfide within the targeted middle peridotite sill in the NW Retty Lake area.  The core is being shipped off site to a core processing facility to be saw cut and sampled. 

Photographs of Retty Lake drill core textures and a brief geological write-up have been posted on Rockland's website at www.rocklandminerals.ca.

Initial logging of the core has revealed widespread disseminated sulfide mineralization with visible chalcopyrite (copper mineral) within the lower portion of the middle peridotite sill.  In several instances, favourable "net-texture" sulfides were observed to be crystallized within cumulate-texture peridotite.  Two drill holes found an unexpected rock type in place of the middle peridotite horizon.  Instead of the ultramafic peridotite, there was a melanocratic gabbro, which indicates assimilation of the wall rock by the peridotite intrusion.  This typically happens adjacent to feeder dykes, and suggests they may be nearby, although they have never been described at Retty Lake.  Mineralization was also drilled in the upper sill, in addition to the widespread disseminated mineralization found in the middle sill.  This confirms the presence of "stacked" mineralization at Retty Lake. 

George F. Sanders, P.Geo, a director of the Company, and Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the technical content of this news release, states: “We see highly encouraging disseminated sulfide textures in hand samples of the drill core from the Retty Lake Project, and we're only in the beginning stages of unlocking the copper-nickel-platinum-palladium potential of this district.  Because this is the first drill core to come from this area since the 1950's, we plan on doing a careful, thorough job of sawing, splitting and sampling the core."

Photographs of Retty Lake drill core textures and a brief geological write-up have been posted on Rockland's website at www.rocklandminerals.ca.

The Retty Lake property is on-trend with four adjacent copper-nickel-platinum group metal (PGM) lenses known as the “Blue Lake Deposits” -- originally outlined by Hollinger North Shore Exploration (Iron Ore Company of Canada) in the 1950's. Evidently, the Blue Lake Cu-Ni-Pt-Pd deposits were formed at or near the basal zone of the ("Middle") ultramafic peridotite, where the sill intrudes sulfur-rich metasediments.  This favourable stratabound horizon runs for some ten kilometers or more, throughout the Rockland property, in a northwest-southeast trajectory. Rockland is looking forward to discovery of additional base metal - precious deposits within its Retty Lake property.  Rockland is earning a 100% interest in the property from E.D. Black, Geologist.

Rockland Completes Earn-In on Schefferville Gold Property

On June 15th, Rockland Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:RL) announced that it has vested its 55% interest in the Schefferville Gold Property, under the September 29^th, 2010 Option and Joint Venture Agreement with Western Troy Capital Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:WRY). Under the option agreement, Rockland acquired its 55% interest in the Property by completing $800,000 in exploration work, including a 1,525 meter drilling program last Sept-Oct and a detailed Heli-Mag survey in May. Rockland has also made cash payments totaling $60,000 and has issued 600,000 common shares to complete the earn-in.

The option agreement covers 199 claims staked over known gold showings originally discovered in the mid-1980's by Québec government geologists. They cover the highly prospective Arséne-Baleine Rouge and Rusty Acres areas and many claims contiguous and intermingled with Rockland's Ashuanipi gold claims, optioned from E.D. Black, where Rockland is earning a 100% interest.

During the fall of 2010, Rockland completed a 1,525 meter diamond drilling program on the Schefferville Gold Property. Highlights from the drill program included 8.25 metres of 1.24 grams per tonne gold (including 1.20 m of 6.63 g/t au) and 12.55 metres of 1.04 grams per tonne gold (including 1.10 m of 9.02 g/t au). These results, along with Western Troy's 2009 drilling, (in particular hole WT09-04 which encountered 5.56 grams per tonne gold over a core length of 7.11 metres in the Baleine Rouge Central zone), confirm the presence of broad zones of near-surface disseminated gold mineralization. All Schefferville Gold Project information can be reviewed at www.rocklandminerals.ca.

In early 2011, Rockland began the work of compiling past exploration data on the property to help project and follow the broad zones of anomalous gold values defined in the fall 2010 drilling, and find more of the high grade gold occurrences known to occur within these disseminated gold zones. In May, Rockland launched a detailed, low-altitude, helicopter-borne magnetic survey over the Arséne and Rusty Acres zones flown by Novatem Inc of Mont-Saint-Hilaire QC. Results of the heli-mag survey will be released as soon as the data has been interpreted, and the Company will announce its next phase of exploration soon.

George F. Sanders, P.Geo, a director of the Company, and the Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the technical content of this news release, states: "Drilling by Rockland has demonstrated the presence of multiple, broad gold zones extending from the Arséne to the Baleine Rouge drilling areas - a N-S distance of more than 1.2 kilometers - containing a number of higher-grade 'sweet spots'. The focus will be on the gold zones in the Arséne-Baleine Rouge area, and on the numerous plus-1-gram surface gold anomalies the Rusty Acres area which have never been drilled." 

Rav Mlait, President of Rockland states, "Completing our earn-in has helped us consolidate the numerous gold occurrences in Schefferville gold area. Rockland will continue building on the very encouraging gold drill results to date."