Nickel at 5%, platinum at 11 grams — Falconbridge hits deep

Details are sketchy, but Falconbridge has confirmed reports of an exceptionally rich intersection at its Nickel Rim property, 10.5 km north of the Ontario town which serves as the company’s namesake.

Chief Executive Officer Frank Pickard said drilling has intersected 5% nickel, 27% copper, 11 grams platinum and 11 grams palladium per tonne “over quite a width.” The intersection is 2,500 metres below surface. He added that “the grades are just unbelievably high” and the intersection “probably represents the downdip extension of the Victor deposit.” That deposit, owned by Inco (TSE), had good intersections in a 3-hole program completed in the fall of 1991. Grades of 1.5-2.6% nickel, 5.1-7.4% copper and 6.8-17.1 grams per tonne of platinum, palladium and gold were intersected across widths ranging from 198.5 to 253.4 ft. These intersections were between 2,400 and 2,700 metres below the surface.

Inferred reserves at Victor range between 22 million and 44 million tonnes at depths of 1,500-2,700 metres.

When asked about the difficulties associated with developing a potential deposit at the depths of the intersection reported from the Nickel Rim property, Pickard said: “(Inco’s) Creighton Mine is just as deep and I think problems of this type are not insurmountable.”

Work on Nickel Rim is continuing. So far, only a few holes have been completed and results are still pending. The richness of the Falconbridge intercept suggests the tantalizing possibility of richer ore at depth in the Sudbury Basin. Falconbridge is owned 50/50 by Noranda and Trelleborg.