The company engaged KeTe Whii-Procon, a joint venture between B.C.-based Procon Mining and Tunnelling and three local First Nations bands, to do the work, which will test the continuity of the drilled resource at Nico and provide material for pilot-plant testing, part of a larger feasibility study now under way on Nico. Supplies and equipment are to be trucked in over the winter road in February and March.
The plan is to excavate a 5 by 5-metre decline ramp running 750 metres, plus another 100 metres of workings underground. That should remove about 60,000 tonnes of rock, providing about 2,700 tonnes of mineralized material for the bulk sample. The Nico resource is fairly shallow and the decline will have a 16% grade.
The feasibility study, managed by consulting firm Micon International, is scheduled to be complete by mid-year. The current mining scenario being studied is a 3,000-tonne-per-day operation, with half coming from underground and half from open pits. The mine, which is about 160 km northwest of Yellowknife, would have an all-weather road from the Territorial highway system, which would also serve two communities, Rae Lakes and Wha Ti (formerly Lac la Martre). It would connect with the power grid; the Snare River power station is nearby.
Nico, an iron-oxide replacement deposit in volcanic rocks, has a measured and indicated underground resource of 5.1 million tonnes grading 0.16% cobalt and 0.22% bismuth, plus 3.44 grams gold per tonne, plus a near-surface resource of 8.2 million tonnes grading 0.13% cobalt, 0.14% bismuth and 0.48 gram gold per tonne.
Fortune owns 81% of the project, with the rest held by a private company, Candou Inc.
In December, Fortune agreed to buy the mill and buildings from the Golden Giant mine, near Hemlo, Ont., for $3.3 million. The company has finished pre-closing inspections on the asset, and the deal is scheduled to close at the end of August.
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