Now that the black flies, mosquitoes and other nasty biting monsters of the Canadian Arctic have defrosted, some disturbed by the drilling that has been going on for the last 7 weeks at Nickel mountain (link), but apart from that, we haven't heard anything else.
This would represent a subtle change from last year, when they were rushing out press releases, some just a week after drilling commenced (link and link) telling us about the massive, massive sulfide hits. Why no promo PR's now?
You told us back at the start of June that drilling had commenced with 2 rigs, and by now, assuming they haven't broken down, you should have drilled 3000-3500m* by now.
(*my assumption is based on the drilling rates for drill-hole EL-17-01, where the hole was drilled to a depth of 332m over 8 days (24 Aug 2017 to 1st Sept 217)).
So no news on massive intercepts, I mean, the initial holes were going to focus on defining the Discovery zone and "systematically step out from EL-17-14, testing for nickel-copper-rich magmatic sulphide mineralization to the south where promising conductive targets have been defined by geophysical surveys".
I'm guessing it must have been the timing of the financing......
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Monday, July 23, 2018
AntaKori update
A quick Anta Kori update from the latest round of drilling (link) from a couple of weeks ago. The results were good, with holes AK10 and 13 hitting thick zones of copper and gold mineralization.
Holes 11 and 12 were relatively poor, but if we look at the drilling in a bit more detail, we can see that there is a geological reason for this.
Let us go through each hole.
This hits lots of mineralization, all nicely skarn mineralization and appear to be sitting above/over an interpreted porphyry. It is strange that historic holes SDH-033 didn't hit anything, but where it entered the limestone we can see that it appears to have intersected some post mineral intrusive and southern legacy were focusing on the high-sulfidation mineralization.
This hole was a bit crap, but really it was unlucky, it managed to drill a load of young, post mineral (?) volcanics that have stoped out (removed) the skarn and HS mineralization The narrow intervals could be fragments of skarn (xenoliths) in the volcanics.
On the surface, another poor hole, but it didn't intersect the limestone that hosted the great zone intersected by hole AK-18-009 and terminated in the upper volcanics hosting the high-sulfidation mineralization. But if you look at this section, we have holes AK14 and 17 and these should get some juicy hits
Almost the twin of hole AK10. Best grades were in the HS zone near surface, and in the underlying limestone the hole hit a well mineralized (>0.5% CuEq) skarn zone.
You can get the LF viewer file from here (link)
On the plan map and sections we have are shown the location, direction and inclination for some more holes, here are my predictions:
Holes 11 and 12 were relatively poor, but if we look at the drilling in a bit more detail, we can see that there is a geological reason for this.
Let us go through each hole.
AK10
This hits lots of mineralization, all nicely skarn mineralization and appear to be sitting above/over an interpreted porphyry. It is strange that historic holes SDH-033 didn't hit anything, but where it entered the limestone we can see that it appears to have intersected some post mineral intrusive and southern legacy were focusing on the high-sulfidation mineralization.
AK-11
This hole was a bit crap, but really it was unlucky, it managed to drill a load of young, post mineral (?) volcanics that have stoped out (removed) the skarn and HS mineralization The narrow intervals could be fragments of skarn (xenoliths) in the volcanics.
AK-12
On the surface, another poor hole, but it didn't intersect the limestone that hosted the great zone intersected by hole AK-18-009 and terminated in the upper volcanics hosting the high-sulfidation mineralization. But if you look at this section, we have holes AK14 and 17 and these should get some juicy hits
AK-13
Almost the twin of hole AK10. Best grades were in the HS zone near surface, and in the underlying limestone the hole hit a well mineralized (>0.5% CuEq) skarn zone.
You can get the LF viewer file from here (link)
On the plan map and sections we have are shown the location, direction and inclination for some more holes, here are my predictions:
- AK14 - this is a steeper hole drilled from the same platform as hole 12. I'm guessing that it will hit ~300m @ >1% CuEq starting from ~240m depth.
- AK15 - drilled 100m east from hole AK10. My guess is that it'll get 160m @ >1.0% Cu Eq from 150m depth (Skarn mineralization), before drilling into the underlying fine grained sediemnts which will contain ~0.5% CuEq from 320-400m depth.
- AK16 - almost vertical hole being drilled from the same collar as AK13. I'm guessing that it will return similar grades to hole AK2 (330m @ 0.66% CuEq)
- AK17 - also drilled from the AK12 pad, it should hit a nice interval of >1% CuEq from 150 to 520m
- AK18 - Hole drilled way out to the east exploring the near-surface high-grade (HS) hits in holes SRC-007, SDH-044. This hole could be an interesting one to watch, as if they find decent skarn mineralization over east, then there is potential for decent resource expansion.
- AK19 - main target appears to be the near-surface HS mineralization. The majority of this hole appears not to be on the Regulus concession
- AK20 - HS exploration hole to the north of the deposit, exploring the high-grade HS mineralization intersected in holes SDH-005 and 010. It appears that the majority of the hole will be outside the Regulus concessions.
So, it should be an interesting couple of months..
Monday, July 9, 2018
Pretium - at last....
Brucejack's Q2 production figures were released today (link), and from the nearly >C$2.50 share price increase over the last month (including 13% today) you can tell that the market was happy, as for the first time, the mine has expectations!
Let us break down the figures.
They were slightly under (3,300 ounces) from the Planned production figure outlined in the PEA, but a 3% difference isn't a huge amount for a nuggety gold deposit.
Slightly under (14.9 vs 15.4), but a huge turnaround from the previous quarter.
Slight dip, probably due to a planned shutdown for maintenance (probably 3 days in total).
We can see a dip in Q2, the mill was operating ~100 tonnes below capacity (2604 tpd vs 2700 tpd).
Now the hard part - they have to maintain it, as they can't use the 'ramping-up' excuse anymore if they don't meet their projected production figures.
 |
| At last the head grade is approaching the reserve grade! |
Au production
 |
| Blue = actual; red = planned (PEA); Green - difference |
They were slightly under (3,300 ounces) from the Planned production figure outlined in the PEA, but a 3% difference isn't a huge amount for a nuggety gold deposit.
Au Head-grades
 |
| A huge change |
Recovery
 |
| Still great! |
Mill Throughput - quarterly
Slight dip, probably due to a planned shutdown for maintenance (probably 3 days in total).
Mill throughput - daily
We can see a dip in Q2, the mill was operating ~100 tonnes below capacity (2604 tpd vs 2700 tpd).
Now the hard part - they have to maintain it, as they can't use the 'ramping-up' excuse anymore if they don't meet their projected production figures.
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Altar - It's all about that As
Altar project, has a problem...
Come on babe, I'm about to put it down
And all that As
Go ahead and lock the door, you're about to work it out
And all that As
Won't you lead me to your whoopee spot?
Oh it don't make no sense all of that As you got
'Cause I done called it too that you see booty flu
With all that As
Oh baby all that As
Whip your hair in those stiletto heels
And all that As
I'm about to dress you up in hundred dollar bills
And all that As
Driving me crazy baby don't you pump the brakes
You better call the cops, I'm about to steal the cakes
On all the evidence they got my fingerprints
On all that As
Oh baby all that As
Or visually,
This shows that there is an ~inverse ratio between As and Cu. So, high-As in the low grade (<0.4% Cu) and lowish As in the high-grade (.0.5%) core. However, we still see that concentrates produced by Altar will probably contain at least 1% As.
Why is this a problem? Penalties - here is a nice article for a few years back from International Mining (link). Highlights:
It's all about that As
Come on babe, I'm about to put it down
And all that As
Go ahead and lock the door, you're about to work it out
And all that As
Won't you lead me to your whoopee spot?
Oh it don't make no sense all of that As you got
'Cause I done called it too that you see booty flu
With all that As
Oh baby all that As
Whip your hair in those stiletto heels
And all that As
I'm about to dress you up in hundred dollar bills
And all that As
Driving me crazy baby don't you pump the brakes
You better call the cops, I'm about to steal the cakes
On all the evidence they got my fingerprints
On all that As
Oh baby all that As
Or visually,
 |
| Source: 2013 technical report - Stillwater mining |
Why is this a problem? Penalties - here is a nice article for a few years back from International Mining (link). Highlights:
- China Imposes a limit of 0.5% As on imported base metal concentrates
- Few smelters will treat >1% As and will charge a penalty to do so (link)
It's all about that As
Monday, July 2, 2018
Siesta time GMV?
Darn, those technical reports must be hard, look at poor GMV Minerals, requiring an additional 2-3 weeks to file a technical report (link).
Shame that was >2 months ago.....
Shame that was >2 months ago.....
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