The estimate, calculated by outside consulting firm Strathcona Mineral Services, puts the size of the Mequillon deposit at 1.4 million tonnes with average grades of 0.7% nickel, 0.9% copper, 0.03% cobalt, and 0.6 gram platinum and 2.1 grams palladium per tonne. At the present state of drilling, the whole resource is classified as inferred.
The mineralized zone to which the estimate refers is about 300 metres long and, on average, 19 metres thick. The volume of the zone was estimated from a set of 18 drill holes advanced on Mequillon in 2002 and 2003.
The calculation does not include drilling in 2004, results from which indicate the deposit may have a strike length about twice what was known in 2003. Assays of core samples from the 2004 holes are pending.
Mineralization at Mequillon is similar to the net-textured mineralization at Canadian Royalties’ Mesamax deposit, 25 km to the northeast. Mesamax has an estimated resource of 1.8 million tonnes at grades of 1.9% nickel, 2.3% copper, 0.08% cobalt, 0.9 gram platinum, 4.3 grams palladium, and 0.3 gram gold per tonne.
Unlike Mesamax, Mequillon has no comparable massive-sulphide zone, so average grades are substantially lower.
The company also announced it had entered into an agreement with a brokerage syndicate to place 4.7 million flow-through shares at $1.80, for gross proceeds of $8.5 million. Shares will have a 4-month hold period; the syndicate will receive a 5% commission and have the right to purchase shares up to 7% of the number they sell, also at $1.80.
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