Recent preliminary estimates of reserves for the Kabanga nickel deposit in northeastern Tanzania put total reserves at about 25.5 million tons grading 1.19% nickel, 0.2% copper and 0.1% cobalt at a 0.5% nickel cutoff grade.
Sutton Resources (VSE) commissioned consultants Mine Development Engineering to complete the new estimate based on an additional 43,000 ft. of drilling on top of the old United Nations drilling dating back to the 1970s. The reserve compares with a previous estimate of 22 million tons grading 1.22% nickel, 0.17% copper and 0.08% cobalt within a larger reserve measuring about 40.5 million tons.
Sutton notes that the larger reserve estimate was classed as half drill-indicated and half extrapolated, while the new figure includes subsequent drilling on a tighter pattern.
Boosting the cutoff grade to 1% drops reserves to 11.7 million tons grading 1.72% nickel, 0.26% copper and 0.12% cobalt.
The deposit remains open to expansion with all the drilling to date concentrating on a
1-km segment of an 8-km-long magnetic anomaly contained within the Kabanga concession.
Further evaluation of the property is now under the direction of BHP Minerals International which has the right to earn a 52.2% interest by funding all exploration costs to the point of a production decision.
The Tanzanian government retains a 10% equity interest in the project.
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