Fortune Minerals (FORM-C) has retained Kilborn SNC Lavalin to prepare a preliminary design for the Nico/Sue-Dianne project in the Northwest Territories.
The London, Ont.-based junior has received no fewer than seven resource estimates for the Nico property’s Bowl zone, a polymetallic deposit and the principal focus of its exploration effort. The global resource totals 128.6 million tonnes in all categories, grading 0.07% cobalt, 0.08% bismuth, 0.05% copper and 0.54 gram gold per tonne. A core zone of 33.4 million tonnes grades 0.14% cobalt, 0.15% bismuth, 0.05% copper and 1.2 grams gold, and a higher-grade gold zone of 9.1 million tonnes (which overlaps the 33.4-million-tonne resource) has average grades of 0.09% cobalt, 40.09% bismuth, 0.02% copper and 4.1 grams gold.
Kilborn will be monitoring metallurgical tests at Lakefield Research, which is setting up a pilot plant to test a bulk sample of mineralization from the Bowl zone. Earlier metallurgical results showed recoveries of around 90% for cobalt, 85% for copper, 83% for gold and 55% for bismuth.
Lakefield has been experimenting with flotation, high-temperature pressure oxidation, and cyanidation for metal recovery.
Drilling on the Nico property has also intersected a mineralized zone about 1,100 metres northeast of the Bowl zone. There, a hole intersected 8.5 metres grading 1.07% copper, 0.14% tungsten oxide and 0.07 gram gold at a vertical depth of 50 metres. A higher-grade interval of 3.5 metres, included in the intersection, graded 2.41% copper and 0.27% tungsten oxide.
On the Bowl zone, hole 112 indicated extensions of the mineralization downdip, where two lenses were intersected. The upper lens, intersected over a 21-metre core length, graded 0.11% cobalt, 0.06% bismuth and 0.03 gram gold per tonne. The lower one averaged 0.1% cobalt and 0.4 gram gold over 18 metres.
A drill hole advanced on the eastern edge of the zone carried an average of 0.49% bismuth and 0.6 gram gold over 3 metres, while another hole, collared 200 metres farther along strike, cut 0.19% cobalt, 0.25% bismuth and 0.8 gram gold over 5.6 metres.
Along strike to the west, drill holes have extended the length of the zone an additional 300 metres.
The new intersections have not been incorporated into the resource figures for the Bowl zone. More infill drilling is planned.
At the Sue-Dianne property, a 50-50 joint venture with Noranda (nor-t), composite core samples were taken for metallurgical testing. Lakefield’s work on this material has shown recovery rates in excess of 90% for copper, and a sample of chalcopyrite-bornite mineralization yielded 93% of its copper, 81% of its gold, and 77% of its silver in an initial flotation test.
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