NICKEL/COBALT – Westhaven Ventures Inc. Dec. 3 reported assay results from drilling at its Ben property, located some 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Williams Lake, B.C. The program consisted of nine holes, totaling 930 meters of diamond drilling. Highlights include: hole BN14-16 intersected 19.7 meters of 0.28 percent nickel and 0.012 percent cobalt starting from bedrock surface: B14-19 intersected 153.7 meters of 0.18 percent nickel and 0.010 percent cobalt starting from bedrock surface: BN14-22 intersected 57.7 meters of 0.21 percent and 0.011 percent cobalt; and BN14-23 intersected 106.6 meters of 0.18 percent nickel and 0.01 percent cobalt. Westhaven said this most recent phase of widely spaced drilling, in several separate areas, strengthens management’s belief that large scale tonnage potential exists on this easily accessible and well situated property. Drill holes BN14-15 and BN14-16 were designed to test the near-surface projection of the Skelton zone along strike from hole BN13-03, which intersected 70.6 meters containing 0.31 percent nickel and 0.012 percent cobalt. Holes BN14-17 and BN14-18 tested the eastern extension of the magnetic anomaly 300 meters to the east. BN14-19, drilled roughly 6,000 meters to the south of the Skelton zone, tested the Southern lobe, a magnetic target 800 by 850 meters in area. BN14-20 and BN14-21 tested the Ring zone, a large 1,500 meter diameter serpentine ring dyke located 2,200 meters northeast from BN14-19. BN14-22 and BN14-23 tested the Northern lobe, a 4,000 meter long northwest trending magnetic anomaly located 700 meters north of BN14-21. Westhaven reports that every drill hole intersected shallow dipping bodies of magnetite-rich serpentinized ultramafics containing nickel-sulfide mineralization. A drill location map can be found at: http://westhavenventures.com/_resources/maps/airborne_magnetics.png
COPPER/GOLD – Teuton Resources Corp. Dec. 3 reported that assays for all five holes drilled into the Del Norte property in 2014 have now been received. The Del Norte property is located east of Stewart in the Eskay Creek-Sulphurets-Premier region of northwestern British Columbia. It was originally staked in 1983 to cover three gold-bearing streams and since that time about C$4.5 million has been spent in exploration, most of it by former optionees. Work to date has uncovered a number of mineralized occurrences clustered along an eight-kilometer (five miles) long contact between volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The 2014 program was aimed at testing a new zone of copper mineralization which had been recently exposed on the south side of Del Norte Creek. Five holes were drilled into the target area, all intersecting broad zones of bulk tonnage style, copper-gold mineralization. Hole D14-05, the deepest drilled in the program, was still in mineralization when it had to be stopped due to weather conditions. The mineralized intersections, consisting for the most part of an altered intermediate intrusive with both phyllic and propylitic alteration, are interpreted as being part of a porphyry copper-gold system. The copper grades in this portion of the system are low, but the gold is well within the range of values associated with typical porphyry copper-gold deposits in British Columbia. True widths of the mineralization are not known. Teuton President D. Cremonese said, “The 2014 results are encouraging as they indicate we are on the periphery of a porphyry copper-gold system. Geophysical surveys are recommended to test for possible higher-grade material along strike and to depth. A deep induced polarization and/or magnetotelluric survey should be carried out to the north for 500 meters, covering a zone from which nine silt samples taken in 1988 returned values ranging from 85-2,040 parts-per-billion gold, 36-5,328 parts-per-million copper and 6-103 ppm molybdenum, and to the south for 500 meters, covering a copper-gold bearing fault zone discovered in 1991. Targets identified by such work would be followed up by further drilling, which could begin as early as June. If this work proves positive, the property could, in the future, be fairly inexpensively accessed by a road constructed along the Del Norte Creek valley connecting to the White River logging road network.” The Del Norte property lies within the Stikinia terrane which is host to several very large undeveloped resources of copper-gold, including Seabridge Gold Corp.’s KSM copper-gold deposits (recently approved for production by the B. C. provincial government).
POLYMETALLIC – Chieftain Metals Corp. Dec. 1 reported the filing of the 2014 feasibility study for the Tulsequah Chief polymetallic deposit located in northwestern British Columbia on SEDAR as well as on the company’s website. Chieftain says the NI 43-101-compliant feasibility study reflects a project with lower capital costs resulting in enhanced projected investment returns, notwithstanding the lower annual production relative to the prior 2012 feasibility study. Additionally, this operating profile preserves all the growth potential and is expected to allow Chieftain to use funds for project expansion out of future cash flow. The 2014 feasibility study is based on reserves of 4.4 million metric tons and is the higher-grade portion of the 6.4 million metric tons previously reported in the2012 feasibility study. The updated study envisions a 1,100-metric-ton-per-day underground operation with an 11-year mine life. Pre-production capital costs are estimated at C$198.6 million, including contingency, and operating costs are estimated to average C$186 per metric ton processed, including concentrate shipment. Using a base case price for metals and foreign exchange based on spot prices at Oct. 15, 2014, the operation is forecast to produce 46.9 million pounds of zinc per year at a C1 cash cost of zinc production (net of by-product credits) of negative C25 cents per pound. The 2014 feasibility study yields a pre-tax net present value (eight percent discount) of C$212 million and an internal rate of return of 25.1 percent and post-tax NPV (eight percent discount) of $146 million and an IRR of 21.8 percent. The updated feasibility study proposed the use of conventional barging for five months of the year to transport concentrate and supplies. This eliminates the road proposed in the 2012 feasibility study, saving C$125 million in capital expenditures, but similar proposals have met resistance from fishermen and others in Southeast Alaska. Chieftain Metals President and CEO Victor Wyprysky said, “We are pleased to deliver the completed feasibility study report demonstrating robust economics for the Tulsequah Chief project. We are now evaluating options to secure project financing.”
GOLD – Banks Island Gold Ltd. Dec. 1 said the commissioning of grinding and flotation circuits is nearing completion and production of gold concentrate has continued at its Yellow Giant gold property, located on Banks Island, British Columbia. The company realized 1,467 ounces of gold equivalent sales in the month of October. Gold sales from August through October total 3,588 gold-equivalent ounces payable from the smelter. During the month of October Banks Island Gold stockpiled its gravity concentrates for further processing on the concentrating table. The company said it will recognize the production from this stockpiled gravity concentrate in November. Gold recovery at the flotation plant averaged 91 percent during October and average throughput to flotation averaged 157 metric tons per day. Plant availability averaged about 68 percent during the month. Banks Island said new mine startups in the region resulted in a high employee turn-over rate which impacted production at the processing plant. The company has addressed this issue through the hiring of experienced process foremen and training of a local work force.
Additionally, Banks Island reported the closing of a previously announced shares-for-debt arrangement to a particular arm’s length vendor in which the company issued 635,000 common shares to settle indebtedness of C$273,050. The common shares issued in connection with the debt settlement are subject to a hold period of four month and one day from date of issuance.
TAILINGS DAM REVIEW – The results of a third-party review into the design of a northwestern B.C. gold and copper mine indicates that it has the potential to cause significantly more environmental damage than the recent collapse of the Mount Polley tailings pond, according to a recent report by The Canadian Press. The Aug. 4 breach at the Mount Polley tailings pond released 17 million cubic meters of water and more than seven million cubic meters of slurry into a nearby into a network of salmon-bearing lakes and rivers. The Tahltan Central Council instigated the review and Imperial Metals funded it after the Mount Polley mine dam failure. Engineering firm Klohn Crippen Berger made 22 recommendations for the owner of the mine, Imperial Metals Corp., to improve the tailings dam of the Red Chris mine, located 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Terrace, B.C. The review found the design of the dam is feasible, but that there are issues that must be addressed. The three-phased review looks at the tailings pond design, water quality predictions and geohazards at the mine site. It identifies a “major design issue” for the soil on which the dams would be built, noting the porous soil could cause damaging water leaks if the planned installation of a fine-grained tailings blanket isn’t enough to limit seepage. It also suggests that designers carefully monitor the water balance for their tailings reservoir and complete a risk assessment around the effects of another nearby landslide. Some of the report’s other suggestions include more detailed documentation, emergency response measures, environmental testing and design changes. “Any technical lessons to be learned from Mount Polley cannot be applied to this facility because the forensic investigation into the cause of that failure has not yet been completed,” the report said. “At the same time, any failure of the Red Chris impoundment will likely have a much more significant environmental impact than the Mount Polley failure.” The spill prompted Tahltan members to blockade the Red Chris site with concerns about the mine’s human and environmental impact in their territory. After more than two weeks, the protest ended with an agreement between Imperial Metals and the Tahltan Central Council for the engineering firm to review the project. At the time of the agreement, Imperial Metals said it would address issues identified in the review “to the reasonable satisfaction” of the nation’s leadership. Meanwhile, the B.C. government has ordered inspections of all tailings dams in B.C., including the one at the Red Chris mine, by year’s end.
