Mincor encounters high-grade nickel at Burnett

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Mincor Resources (ASX: MCR) has encountered a series of nickel intersections at the Burnett Resource, which is the northern extension of the company’s Miitel nickel mine at Kambalda in Western Australia.

The company believes the results could lead to an upgrade to the existing Mineral Resource at Burnett and trigger development of a new mining front at Miitel.

The latest intersections include:

UMI-14-071A
10.97 metres at 3.62 per cent nickel from 181.87m (estimated true width 6.5metres);

UMI-14-072
1.73m at 6.06 per cent nickel from 189.13m (estimated true width 0.9m);

UMI-14-064
1.67m at 2.69 per cent nickel from 115.71m (estimated true width 1.5m).

The Burnett deposit is the faulted offset of the northern end of Mincor’s Miitel ore body, which is currently in production at a rate of approximately 4,200 tonnes of nickel-in-ore per annum.

Burnett contains an estimated Mineral Resource of 240,000 tonnes at 3.7 per cent nickel for 9,000 tonnes of nickel metal.

Mincor explained thatapproximately 70 per cent of this Resource – 6,300 tonnes of nickel metal – is situated in the B02 surface located about 700m north of current mine infrastructure, with the balance in the smaller, lower-grade B01 surface located between the B02 and the mine infrastructure.

“To date the economic viability of Burnett has been impaired by the distance between the main B02 Resource and mine infrastructure, with the intervening B01 Resource being too small and too low-grade to provide the necessary ‘stepping stone’ to moderate the capital outlay required to reach the B02,” Mincor Resource said in its ASX announcement.

“Crucially, these latest drilling results are from the B01 surface, and suggest that further drilling may outline additional zones of thick high-grade mineralisation in the B01, fundamentally improving the economics of the entire Burnett Resource.

“This could have far-reaching implications for the future of Miitel, as a second strong mining front at North Miitel could not only extend Miitel’s mine life and increase its production rate, but would also open up a new exploration front beyond the B02 to the north.”

Website: www.mincor.com.au