Dr. Peter Smith reports

FANCAMP REACHES NEW AGREEMENT WITH PANGANG GROUP LIMITED

Fancamp Exploration Ltd.'s 46.7-per-cent-owned Magpie Mines Inc. has reached a new agreement with the Pangang Group Ltd. of Panzhihua, Sichuan province, China, following a recent Magpie delegation visit to Pangang.

The delegation met senior officials of Pangang and discussions between both parties reiterated commitment to ensuring co-operation to further advance technology exchanges with respect to Pangang's smelting and beneficiation technologies and their possible applications for the Magpie titanium-vanadium-chromium magnetite mineralization, based on recently reported positive beneficiation test results achieved by Pangang on Magpie mineralization samples (refer to Fancamp's news release dated Oct. 27, 2014).

Magpie delegation also visited Pangang Iron and Steel Research Institute (PISI) and met senior officials of PISI representing the technology department of Pangang Group, the research and development management department of PISI, and the vanadium and titanium division of PISI. The delegation also visited PISI's hydrometallurgical pilot plant for upgrading TiO2 (titanium dioxide) concentrates.

Both sides discussed the possibility of applying Magpie's proprietary hydrometallurgical process for the recovery of premium titanium product from Pangang's TiO2 concentrate products grading about 47 per cent TiO2 and blast furnace (BF) slags grading about 25 per cent TiO2. The two parties reached a new agreement on future co-operation, whereby Pangang will provide Magpie with 50-kilogram samples of TiO2 concentrates from its beneficiation plant and 50-kilogram samples of its BF slags for further test work to be carried out in Canada using Magpie's proprietary hydrometallurgical technology, a process that should take four to six months.

Dr. Fouad Kamaleddine, PhD, PEng, Fancamp's vice-president of research and development, stated: "We are very pleased with the new agreement with Pangang, which could have significant benefits for both parties. Currently, no value is generated by Pangang from their BF slags, which is discarded as waste, and thus the importance of using a new technology to upgrade the slags to a marketable product. Also, worth mentioning that probably millions of tonnes of slags have piled up over the years, indicating the availability of an enormous volume of waste feedstock at virtually no costs."

The company also announces, with regret, the passing of its long-time director, Gilles Dubuc. Not a little of what the company is today is a consequence of his continued wise counsel and support through good times and bad, and he will be greatly missed.