Defense Metals Corp. (TSXV: DEFN | OTCQB: DFMTF | FSE: 35D) has provided a progress update with respect to its 2023 site infrastructure geotechnical investigations. The work is being completed by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., one of the principal consultants for the preliminary feasibility study (PFS) regarding its Wicheeda Rare Earth Element (REE) Project, located near Prince George, Canada.
“It is great to see our technical consulting teams making significant headway with the Wicheeda site investigations,” Craig Taylor, CEO of Defense Metals, commented. “Defense Metals has assembled a world class team of experts who have both the experience and technical skills to bring this project through pre-feasibility.”
The SRK geotechnical investigation includes geotechnical engineering (waste rock, tailings, contact water pond, and site infrastructure geotechnical investigation), tailings alternative assessment prior to advancing into PFS-level design of a preferred alternative, and geochemical characterization (to support mine planning/waste management and to develop preliminary water chemistry predictions for the main mine facilities).
Site infrastructure geotechnical investigations planned include a series of excavated test pits, and sonic overburden drill holes designed to support the preliminary characterization of the shallow soil subsurface and bedrock foundations of potential future waste rock storage, mineralization stockpile, contact water pond, crusher, processing plant, and tailings storage facility locations.
To date, a total of 13 excavated tests pits and four sonic overburden geotechnical holes for a total of 93m have been completed to characterize surficial material conditions within the proposed areas. Site geotechnical investigations encountered shallow overburden conditions (nil or < 1m overburden depth), excavated test pit depths ranging from 1m to 5m; and sonic overburden drill holes in areas of thicker surficial material ranging from 7m to >36.6m depth to bedrock.
SRK on site engineering consultants supervised the investigations and carried out soil geotechnical logging, direct testing, sampling, photography of recovered materials, standpipe installation, and coordination of laboratory testing. SRK will process the data collected from the sonic drilling and test pit investigations, and laboratory testing results will be incorporated into the QA/QC dataset.
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