Further metallurgical studies have reinforced the favorable results of earlier tests performed on mineralization at the Nico polymetallic prospect, 170 km northwest of Yellowknife, N.W.T.
Samples that had responded well to flotation tests were submitted to metallurgical consulting firm Lakefield Research for further work. It was discovered that they yielded high recoveries in pressure oxidation and leach-ing tests.
On average, 97% of the contained cobalt and 87% of the contained copper was leachable after pressure oxidation, with 98% of the iron and 99% of the arsenic in the test material reporting to the process tails. Gold recovery — using cyanide leach after pressure oxidation, and recovery by carbon-in-leach — was 96%.
Project operator Fortune Minerals (FORM-C) resumed drilling at Nico’s Bowl zone this month, and is also drilling at the Sue-Dianne prospect to the north. Drilling immediately before the spring breakup intersected a number of wide, mineralized zones in the eastern part of the Bowl zone, with widths of 3 to 15 metres grading 3 to 18 grams gold per tonne, with cobalt grades of 0.04% to 0.15%, bismuth grades of 0.01% to 0.03%, and copper credits in some zones.
About 18 km to the northwest, Moss Resources (MRS-T) and Xemac Resources (XEM-M) intersected copper mineralization in four holes at the NOD prospect.
A hole drilled near the middle of a large magnetic anomaly over the prospect encountered copper mineralization, extending the full length of the hole, in altered and brecciated volcanic rocks. The significantly mineralized intervals included 9.4 metres grading 0.95% copper and 2.9 metres grading 2.21% copper, with associated gold, silver, cobalt and nickel.
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