Quadra FNX Mining has announced an NI 43-101 compliant inferred resource totaling 12.5 million mt, grading 2.3% copper, 2.2% nickel, and 8.5 g/mt total precious metals, for its Victoria project in Sudbury, Ontario. The grades are well above those historically found in the Sudbury district, and the deposit remains open in all directions.
The new Victoria inferred resource was defined by 31 diamond drill holes, 23 of which intersected the Zone 4 mineralized envelope. The bulk of the tonnage is contributed by 12 million contiguous mt from Zone 4, with the balance in the underexplored Zone 2 and the Mini, which ultimately is expected to connect to Zone 4.
With the inferred Victoria resource complete, Quadra FNX is shifting its exploration focus at the property from infill to step-out drilling.
Quadra FNX initiated an internal scoping study in the last quarter of 2010 to evaluate development options for the Victoria project. Based on the results of this work, the company’s current base case development scenario is to sink concurrently a production shaft and a ventilation shaft that could support ongoing exploration as well as, ultimately, a 2,500- to 4,000-mt/d mining operation. This development approach would allow access for definition drilling from the ventilation shaft and would support production during the underground development stage, allowing for the shortest timeline to full production.
Quadra FNX reports that due to the cylindrical and steeply dipping shape of Zone 4, the deposit appears amenable to lower-cost, semi-bulk mining methods, such as long-hole stoping. Including underground development, capital costs to develop the project are estimated at about $750 million, over a seven-year development period. (www.quadrafnx.com)
