Ursa Major bats .500 at Shakespeare

Two of four recently sunk holes by Ursa Major Minerals (YMJ-V) on the Shakespeare property west of Sudbury, Ontario, have returned better-than-expected nickel, copper, and platinum group element grades.

Hole U3-04 returned 49.7 metres (from 31.5 metres below surface) grading 0.59% nickel, 0.65% copper, 0.04% cobalt, 0.55 gram platinum, 0.63 gram palladium, and 0.32 gram gold per tonne.

Hole U3-03 yielded 5.6 metres running 0.53% nickel, 0.58% copper, 0.04% cobalt, 0.44 gram platinum, 0.44 gram palladium, and 0.21 gram gold.

The holes cut the mineralization about 152 metres to the northeast of previous drilling on the Shakespeare deposit. They tested a strong induced polarization anomaly and a magnetic high. Both the zone’s width and grade increase with depth. The zone is interpreted to dip steeply to the southeast with a strike length of around 305 metres.

Subject to financing, the company plans to drill test another new target 122 metres to the northeast.

Last fall, Ursa found several sub-angular boulders that ran up to 1.02% copper and 0.46% nickel but just 0.67 gram palladium and 0.48 gram platinum. The boulders lie 450 km southwest of the western end of the historic, low-grade Shakespeare deposit and coincide with an induced-polarization anomaly.

Falconbridge discovered the Shakespeare deposit several decades ago but considered it too low-grade to warrant follow-up work. Inferred resources stand at 1.9 million tonnes averaging 0.36% nickel, 0.42% copper, 0.44 gram palladium, 0.4 gram platinum and 0.23 gram gold.

The latest holes lie outside the resource area.

Holes U3-01 and U3-02 collared on a target southwest of the Shakespeare deposit failed to cut significant mineralization.

Ursa can earn a 51% interest in the Shakespeare property from Falconbridge by issuing 150,000 shares and spending $600,000 on exploration. The company can boost its stake to 75% for another 200,000 plus $600,000 worth of exploration. So far, Ursa has issued Falconbridge 150,000 shares. The company currently has just fewer than 5.8 million shares outstanding.