Rockland gets drill permits for July Drilling at Blue Lake

RL got its drill permits for the Blue Lake Cu-Ni-Pt-Pd property, Labrador Trough, Quebec. The Company has mobilized fuel and supplies to its base camp in preparation for drilling commencing in early July.

The Blue Lake sulfide deposits are nickeliferous pyrrhotite ores, with a copper content twice that of nickel, containing significant platinum and palladium. 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. The Blue Lake historical deposits are located within a Québec Special Mining lease BEP-93, one of five Special Mining leases optioned to Rockland from La Fosse Platinum Group. In addition to the Blue Lake property, Rockland controls, the Retty Lake, Jimmick, Chance Lake, Glance Lake, Fredrickson and Lac Aulneau properties, all in the southern Labrador Trough. The Blue Lake area is ideally located as a positive mining destination, approximately 60 km from the town of Schefferville, Quebec which has its own airport and railhead. Rockland is systematically exploring this region and its goal is to discover mineralization, confirm and expand tonnage on its property holdings.

Rockland samples 12.75 g/t Au at Schefferville Gold Property, Quebec

Rockland (RL-TSX V) announced today some impressive, widespread gold values in surface grab samples from iron-stained outcrops at the Rusty Acres zone on the Schefferville Gold Project, Quebec. The results had several higher grade samples including 12.75 g/t Au, 4.94 g/t Au, 4.42 g/t Au, 3.64 g/t Au. A lone grab sample from one of the mineralized areas at Rusty Acres returned a gold assay value higher than anything previously reported in the literature and confirms the attractiveness of this target area.

Map link
  
These grab samples were taken by Rockland geologists, and represent rock chips collected over an area sufficient to provide the best "representative" gold value for the rusty rock outcroppings. Out of a total of 324 grab samples from Rusty Acres, there were fourteen samples above one gram-per-tonne gold, mostly in the 3-4 g/t Au range. A total of 30 grab samples had in excess of one-half gram, and an impressive 116 grab samples had over one-tenth gram gold, highlighting the bulk tonnage potential throughout the Schefferville Gold Project. These new assay results and map can be seen on the Company website at www.rocklandminerals.ca.

Sample number #81790376 had 171.5 g/t Au confirmed by re-assay with gravimetric finish. This is significantly higher than the historical maximum gold values in the 15-20 g/t range previously reported from this property. Pathfinder multi-element geochemical data from this high-grade sample shows iron, sulfur and arsenic contents typical of the gold-bearing Precambrian iron formations sampled so far in the district, plus highly anomalous pathfinders antimony and bismuth.

George F. Sanders, P.Geo., a director of the Company, and qualified Person under NI 43-101 responsible for the technical content of this news release states: "Receipt of such a high fire-assay gold value is very exciting, and it shows where there's geochemical "smoke" there's fire. However, it doesn't change Rockland's focus on discovering more near-surface disseminated gold on the project. Drilling results on this property have proven that we can commonly expect meter-plus widths of 1-4 g/t Au, within wide envelopes of highly anomalous gold in excess of one tenth of a gram. This single high-grade sample, with its distinctive pathfinder geochemistry and probable free gold, is a game-changer for this district, and will shed light on the origin and distribution of the gold."

Rockland geologists will visit the Schefferville Gold Project with these results in-hand before the end of September to do follow-up sampling and to define drill targets.

IOC : Huge Expansion in Mining Activity in the Labrador Trough Expected

Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) says that a new wave of expansion is taking shape in the Quebec-Labrador Trough iron-ore mining region based on the industry’s belief that global steelmaking demand will double within the next 15 to 20 years. IOC is a pioneer of the Quebec-Labrador iron-mining industry is the one of the original companies that worked on Rockland's Schefferville gold property in the Labrador Trough area. Read the entire Montreal Gazette story here.

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. 

Pictures: Retty Lake Cu-Ni-PGE Drill Core and Write up

Must see new pictures of Rockland's Retty Lake Cu-Ni-PGE drill core and a technical write-up comparing the rocks to the Ungava southern mineral belt. See pictures at http://bit.ly/mjfwQr . Assay results are in process.

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."

Labrador Trough News: Adriana drilling Lac Otelnuk

Adriana recommenced diamond drilling on the Lac Otelnuk property on May 12 as part of its 2011 exploration program to increase and upgrade mineral resources on its Lac Otelnuk world-class iron deposit located in the Labrador trough, Nunavik, Quebec. A drill program of 113 BQ holes totalling approximately 16,000 metres is planned for 2011 including the completion of infill holes on the South zone of the deposit to upgrade indicated resources to the measured category, delineation drilling on the North zone of the deposit where most of the drilling was carried out in the 1970s and wide-spaced exploration drilling to test other undrilled targets. In addition, a yet-to-be-determined number of large-diameter (PQ) holes are proposed to collect bulk samples for metallurgical grindability testing.

See rest of the news release here. 

Schefferville news - LIM Signs Impact Benefits Agreement With Innu Matimekush-Lac John

Rockland (RL-TSXV) neighbor, Labrador Iron Mines Holdings Ltd. has signed a landmark impact benefits agreement with the Nation Innu Matimekush-Lac John (MLJ) of Schefferville, Que., with regard to LIM's Schefferville area direct shipping iron ore mining projects in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and in the province of Quebec.

The historic life-of-mine agreement, which was approved by resolution of the band council of Matimekush-Lac John, signed by the chief and band council, and endorsed by community referendum, recognizes that LIM and MLJ wish to work together to establish a long-term, co-operative, respectful and mutually beneficial positive relationship, based on confidence, trust and certainty.

Under the IBA, LIM has agreed to the equitable participation of the Innu Matimekush-Lac John in its Schefferville area projects through employment, training, contract opportunities and financial benefits, including some community infrastructure projects, and has agreed to take certain social and environmental protection measures to mitigate the impact of the projects on MLJ families and traditional activities.
MLJ, by entering into this agreement, has given its consent to the company's iron ore projects proceeding in accordance with the agreement, and has agreed to provide LIM continuing and unobstructed access to, and quiet enjoyment of the iron ore projects and its properties.

The complete news release can be found here.