Amur Minerals Corporation, a nickel-copper sulphide mineral exploration and resource development company focused on the Far East of Russia, is pleased to provide its second drill update covering the month of June 2018 at its wholly owned Kun-Manie nickel copper sulphide project (“Kun-Manie”).
As announced on 27 February 2018, this year’s field programme is focused on the completion of specific tasks related to advancing the development of the project into one of the world’s largest nickel producers. Drilling is designed to establish the final data set for allowance of reporting Russian reserves that will, in turn, allow the Company to obtain mining production approvals from the Russian Federation and local agencies, to convert a large high grade block of Inferred resource for inclusion in the Mining Ore Reserve (“MOR”) and move forward into an earlier period of the production schedules, and to acquire a large metallurgical sample to define the variability and content of the life of mine sulphide concentrate for either toll smelter and or Low Grade Matte (“LGM”) generation (an owner operated option).
Highlights
- At the end of June 2018, a total of 66 holes (10,809.3 metres) have been completed since initiation of the planned 20,300 metre drill programme on 6 May 2018. All drilling has been completed using the Company owned Boart Longyear LF70 and LF90 drill rigs, with the two rigs drilling an average combined total of 193 metres per day. The Company has completed approximately 50% of the 2018 planned programme.
- Detailed infill drilling of limited areas within the four deposits, from which mining is planned, is well advanced. This infill drilling is being completed in accordance with the Company obtaining final approvals of a Russian certified reserve and its use in the development of mine designs for approval by Russian authorities allowing mine production to be implemented. This regulatory related drill work has been completed at the largest of the two deposits, Maly Kurumkon / Flangovy (“MKF”) and the Ikenskoe / Sobolevsky (“IKEN”) deposit, and is presently being implemented at Kubuk (“KUB”). Work at Vodorazdelny (“VOD”) is scheduled for later in the season. To date, nearly 70% of the planned infill drill metres (4,677.2 metres of the planned 6,500.0 metres) have been completed. Drill results thus far have confirmed the continuity of the mineralisation with regard to both thickness and grade.
- The largest Inferred resource inventory at Kun-Manie is located at the southern limits of the IKEN ore deposit. An estimated 27.8 million tonnes containing 222,000 nickel tonnes and 63,000 copper tonnes is contained within this area, and to the east toward the KUB deposit. The nickel grade of this Inferred block ranks the area to be amongst the highest nickel grade blocks at Kun-Manie, and for this reason, drilling for resource conversion (Inferred to Indicated) and its subsequent inclusion into the Mining Ore Reserve (“MOR”) has been implemented. Drilling results from 11 ore holes confirm the continuity of the mineralisation with regard to both thickness and grade. The indicated vertical thickness is 23.6 metres (28.7 metres at year end 2017) with a nickel grade of 0.87% (0.94% at year end 2017) and a copper grade of 0.24% (0.26% at year end 2017). The current Inferred resource is included in the Pre-Feasibility Study and is scheduled for mining during the mid life stage of the planned 15 year operation. Successful conversion of the Inferred resource will trigger a rescheduling and it is likely the area would be brought forward in the mine life which could further improve the project Net Present Value (“NPV”) and the Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”) of the Kun Manie project.
- Nine metallurgical sample collection holes have been completed bringing the total drill meterage for this category to 1,933.3 metres (28% complete). The mineralised portion of the core for use in the planned test work has been delivered to the Khabarovsk core storage facility.
- Final analytical results from Alex Stewart Laboratories (“ASL”) are now being received and the information provided within this announcement and future drill update reports will be updated to reflect these final independent and certified results suitable for use in resource and reserve definition (see Analytical Results – Cautionary Comment below).
- A total of 787.0 metres of drilling (four holes) was completed at the Gorny deposit which is located to the east of the MKF deposit. This unplanned drilling was implemented after the MKF infill drill effort was completed. This was possible due to high melt water levels at the Maya River, along which the access road between MKF and IKEN is located. Once water levels receded, the LF90 was moved to the KUB deposit where it is presently completing the infill drill progamme for Russian reserve finalisation. Drill results at the Gorny deposit have identified low grade and thin mineralised zones to be present and very similar to those that are present up dip from the deeper economic mineralisation at MKF. No additional drilling is planned at Gorny.
Robin Young, CEO of Amur Minerals, commented: “Drilling continues apace, and we have now completed half of our planned programme for 2018, with over 10,000 of the 20,000 planned metres already being drilled.
Drilling at two of the largest areas where infill drilling for Russian regulatory considerations was required, has already been completed and we are now drilling at Kubuk and are progressing well towards completing the infill effort there. We are seeing that the infill work and preliminary results are confirming the continuity of the grade and thickness of the deposits and anticipate that the final results will lead to a final approved Russian certified reserve and associated mine plan and production schedule.
“Drilling of the Inferred high grade zone at Ikenskoe / Sobolevsky is also confirming the continuity of the mineralisation with regard to thickness and grade. With continued successful drilling here, we anticipate its conversion to a JORC Indicated resource allowing for its full and unqualified inclusion in the mine production schedule. As a result of its favourable configuration and exposure at the surface, this area looks to be mineable early on in the production cycle, this, along with its high nickel and copper grades, the highest grades in the mining licence, is expected to have a positive impact on the NPV and IRR at Kun-Manie.
“We are extremely pleased with this year’s drill results so far and they are allowing us to clear various hurdles meaning that we can move toward production as swiftly as possible.”
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