EXPLORATION 1998 — Spectrum deals Ban Phuc interest to Falco

Falconbridge (FL-T) has teamed up with Spectrum Resources (SPC-V) on the latter firm’s Ban Phuc nickel-copper concession in Vietnam.

Spectrum holds a 70% interest in Ban Phuc Nickel Mines, the owner of the 600-sq.-km concession. The deal, terms of which will be released once it is made final, will see Falco earn an undisclosed interest in the concession.

Proven and indicated resources at the deposit stand at 1.4 million tonnes grading 2.28% nickel and 1% copper, using a cutoff grade of 1.5% nickel-equivalent. Those resources are described as occurring in massive and semi-massive sulphides associated with a feeder dyke. The deposit is also known to contain cobalt, but existing assay data is insufficient for the calculation of cobalt grades.

Drilling centred on an ultrabasic intrusive adjacent to the feeder dyke has outlined an additional indicated resource of 1.2 million tonnes grading 1.26% nickel and 0.15% copper, using a cutoff of 1% nickel. The company also reports that an inferred resource of 8.5 million tonnes grading 1% nickel was outlined by the Vietnamese government agencies that hold the other 30% interest in Ban Phuc Nickel Mines.

Other intrusives are known to exist on the concession, and small lenses of massive sulphides have been identified in a shear system similar to that of the Ban Phuc deposit. Grab samples from those areas returned up to 5.16% nickel and 8.6% copper, as well as 4.3% nickel and 0.3% copper.