Nickel producer Mincor Resources has announced a 37 per cent increase in its ore reserves at its Kambalda Nickel Operation.
Nickel producer Mincor Resources has announced a 37 per cent increase in its ore reserves at its Kambalda Nickel Operation.
The company said the update to its ore reserves and mineral resources provides a solid platform for Mincor's continued growth and underpins plans to lift production by over 35 per cent over the next two years.
Mincor said it added 16,600 tonnes of nickel metal to its ore reserves before depletion for production of 11,793 tonnes.
This means Mincor replaced 140 per cent of the nickel that it mined during the year.
"This is an excellent outcome after a year of outstanding exploration success," said managing director, David Moore.
"We have substantially increased both the size and quality of our Reserves and Resources and can see a clear path, in the form of current drill intersections, to achieve continued increases," he said.
"Mincor's exploration success over the past ten years confirms Kambalda as one of the great nickel districts of the world, and we look forward to our next decade in the District," said Mr Moore.
See full company statement below:
Australian nickel producer Mincor Resources NL (ASX: MCR) has continued its strong track record of resource and reserve growth at its Kambalda Nickel Operations in Western Australia, today announcing a 37% increase in its Ore Reserves as part of the annual update to its Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources.
The excellent result provides a solid platform for Mincor's continued growth as a successful and profitable mid-tier nickel miner and underpins its plans to lift production by 35% over the next two years.
For the year to 30 June 2010 Mincor added 16,600 tonnes of nickel metal to its Ore Reserves, before depletion for production of 11,793 tonnes. This means that Mincor replaced 140% of the nickel that it mined during the year.
Mincor's updated Ore Reserves stand at:
- 1,746,000 tonnes @ 2.9% nickel for 50,200 tonnes of contained nickel metal
(2009: 45,400 tonnes contained nickel before production).
This represents a 37% increase in Ore Reserves before production.
Similarly, the Company added 8,700 tonnes of nickel metal to its Mineral Resource, again before mining depletion. Mincor's updated Mineral Resource is:
- 4,048,000 tonnes @ 3.7% nickel for 150,700 tonnes of nickel metal (2009: 153,700 tonnes nickel).
The full tabulation of Mincor's updated Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves is presented below.
The stand-out result for the year was the successful conversion of the 2009 discovery of the Mariners N10 Inferred Resource into a strong, high-grade Ore Reserve. Infill drilling completed since September 2009 has increased the N10 Mineral Resource by 49% to 324,000 tonnes @ 4.9% nickel for 15,800 tonnes of nickel, from the previously published Inferred Resource containing 10,600 tonnes of nickel.
With appropriate mining parameters this has converted into a high-grade Ore Reserve of 299,000 tonnes ore @ 3.5% nickel for 10,600 tonnes of contained nickel metal.
In January this year, Mincor announced the potential discovery of the N11 ore body at Mariners, below the N10.
The drill-out of this potential new ore body will commence later in the current financial year.
Reserves Touch 50,200 tonnes of Nickel, Underpinning 35% Production Growth Target
- Ore Reserves increase by 37%, or 16,600 tonnes, to 50,200 tonnes of contained nickel
- Mineral Resources increase by 8,700 tonnes to 150,700 tonnes of contained nickel
- The strong results underpin Mincor's ambitious 35% production growth target over the next two years
- Figures include outstanding high-grade maiden Ore Reserve for the Mariners N10 ore body: 299,000 tonnes ore @ 3.5% nickel for 10,600 tonnes of contained nickel
- Drilling through 2010/11 to extend open mineralisation at South and North Miitel, at the Mariners N11 target and down-plunge at Otter Juan - further resource extensions considered highly likely.
"This is an excellent outcome after a year of outstanding exploration success," said Mincor's Managing Director, Mr David Moore.
"We have substantially increased both the size and quality of our Reserves and Resources and can see a clear path, in the form of current drill intersections, to achieve continued increases. Mincor's exploration success over the past ten years confirms Kambalda as one of the great nickel districts of the world, and we look forward to our next
decade in the District."
The results continue Mincor's track record of replacing and/or adding to its Resources and Reserves. Mincor commenced mining at Kambalda in 2001 with a total Ore Reserve of 25,400 tonnes of nickel metal. To the end of June 2010, the Company had mined 122,800 tonnes of nickel metal and had a further 50,200 tonnes in Reserve.
