Ursa Major gets bulk sampling approval

Ursa Major Minerals (UMJ-V, UMJMF-O) has received provincial approval for a bulk-sampling program at its Shakespeare nickel-copper project west of Sudbury, Ont.

The closure plan for the underground workings was accepted by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, and allows the company to go ahead with a planned decline and 50,000-tonne bulk sample.

An access road should be finished by the end of May, and material from the box-cut and decline will be hauled to the Strathcona mill in Sudbury, owned by Xstrata (XSRAF-O, XTA-L) for beneficiation. The results of the test milling will be incorporated into mine planning, and Ursa also expects to get “significant cash flow” from the exercise.

The Shakespeare deposit has a reserve of 11.2 million tonnes at grades of 0.33% nickel, 0.35% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.33 gram platinum, 0.37 gram palladium and 0.19 gram gold per tonne. Two open pits are planned to exploit the deposit, with a net stripping ratio of 5.