Mincor Resources reports that renewed near-mine extensional drilling has generated strong results at its Mariners and Miitel mines in the Kambalda nickel district in Western Australia.
At Mariners, Mincor is targeting a repeat of the very-high-grade Terrace orebody, which was discovered in late 2010, began production in June 2011, and produced the bulk of the ore from Mariners during Mincor’s 2012 fiscal year. Ore from the Terrace orebody underpinned a remarkable 78% increase in Mariners’ nickel grade from 2.20% nickel in fiscal year 2011 to 3.93% nickel in fiscal year 2012.
Mincor’s initial hole into the target area beneath the Terrace orebody returned a strong intersection of 3.8 m at 4.59% nickel (true width 1.9 m). A more recent hole has returned 17.98 m at 3.77% nickel (estimated true width of 6.9 m).
At Miitel, the recent discovery of the N29C orebody has highlighted the potential for high-grade orebodies to supplement and eventually replace the modest-grade production available from the main N18 orebody. The first strike drive through the N29C was completed during the June quarter of 2012 and yielded an estimated 4,840 mt of ore at 3.38% nickel, confirming the expected grades and widths. Geological re-interpretations based on the data emerging from the N29C have opened up substantial new possibilities in the area.
Mincor now has four underground drill rigs active at its Kambalda mines. (www.mincor.com.au)