The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News – July 19, 2019
This copper-rich rock was discovered in a pit excavated to provide aggregate for road work on Fortune Minerals' NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories.
Fortune Minerals Ltd. July 18 reported the discovery of a new zone of copper mineralization at its NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories.
This new zone, which is about 1,600 meters southeast of the NICO deposit, was identified in bedrock exposed in a pit excavated last spring to provide aggregate for road work. It also sits along the edge of previously identified coincident magnetic, gravity and electrical resistivity geophysical anomalies at Peanut Lake that are similar to the ones associated with the main NICO deposit. Three of four grab samples collected from the pit returned grades of 1.66, 1.55 and 0.78 percent copper.
The roughly 1,000-meter geophysical anomalies in the vicinity of the new copper showing were identified in surveys carried out for Fortune and the Geological Survey of Canada. This is the strongest magnetic anomaly recognized on the NICO property.
The Geological Survey of Canada also carried out three-dimensional inversion modelling of the combined magnetic susceptibility, density, and electrical resistivity data from the combined earlier geophysical surveys over the NICO Project property. This modelling defines a near-surface source for the Peanut Lake anomaly, which is largely obscured by overburden and remains unexplained. The modelling conducted over the main NICO deposit was successful in delineating the known deposit. However, it also identified previously unidentified coincident magnetic, density and electrical resistivity anomalies centered roughly 300 meters north of the NICO deposit and 500 meters below the surface and near copper showings at Chalco Lake.
Fortune said these unexplained anomalies are an order of magnitude larger and significantly stronger than the ones associated with the known NICO deposit.
Fortune is conducting additional geological investigations in the vicinities of the Peanut Lake and Chalco Lake anomalies where small copper showings have also been identified. Work is being done to explain the source of the large anomalies to determine if additional ground based geophysical surveys are warranted to provide better definition for potential future drill testing.
According to a feasibility study published in 2014, mineral reserves at the Nico deposit will support a 21-year mine that would average 1,615 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt; 41,300 ounces of gold; 1,750 metric tons of bismuth; and 265 metric tons of copper per year.
An updated technical report on the NICO feasibility study is expected to be completed in the near future.
–SHANE LASLEY
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