JUBILEE Mines NL plans to start underground development at its Cosmos nickel mine next year.
This follows the discovery of a high-grade resource containing 46,000 tonnes of nickel for the Cosmos Deeps deposit, which will more than double the life of the current project.
The first Cosmos Deeps resource estimate of 560,000t at 8.2 per cent nicke, follows a concerted, around-the-clock expl-oration and drilling campaign during the past seven months which has also confirmed the potential to further increase the underground resource.
Significant mineralisation has also been identified outside the current resource envelope.
Jubilee managing director Kerry Harmanis called the discovery “an outstanding result” for the company and a tribute to the efforts of its exploration team, which discovered the Cosmos Deeps system in February.
“This initial resource is already 40 per cent larger than the Cosmos open pit resource of 32,000t (401,000t at 8.2 per cent nickel),” Mr Harmanis said.
“Over 90 per cent of the total resource is contained within the Main Zone, which has a grade more than 10 per cent higher than Cosmos itself — a factor which will have a very significant positive impact on the economics of the Cosmos Deeps project.”
“We have been able to quantify this resource in time to guarantee continuity of ore feed to the Cosmos plant.”
- Kerry Harmanis
The Main Zone resource totals 450,000t at 9.2 per cent nickel, while the hanging wall zones contain a total resource of 110,000t at 3.9 per cent, resulting in an average overall nickel grade of 8.2 per cent. Some 90 per cent of the Cosmos Deeps Main Zone resource is classified in either the measured or indicated categories due to the excellent internal geological and grade continuity of the mineralisation, giving a high degree of confidence that an excellent rate of resource/reserve conversion will be achieved.
“We are very happy that we have been able to quantify this resource sufficiently to justify an underground mine development in time to guarantee continuity of ore feed to the Cosmos plant,” Mr Harmanis said.
“Even more exciting is the fact that the full extent of the Cosmos Deeps mineralised orebody has not yet been delineated because the mineralised zones remain open along strike to the north and south, as well as up-dip to the west and down-dip to the east.”
He said a pre-feasibility study was well advanced on the Cosmos Deeps development, with the key components of resource calculation and metallurgical test work now largely completed.
