I receive regular updates on INCO and thought this one might be interest to some of you, if only to demonstrate the area is rich with Palladium / platinum. If this is a red herring my apologies.
Palladium, platinum discoveries expected to pay off for Inco Limited
TORONTO, Jan. 18 /CNW/ - As part of its ongoing exploration program and
efforts to increase palladium and platinum production, Inco Limited today
announced new high-grade ore discoveries at Sudbury, Ontario. Through these
discoveries, Inco expects to capture the benefits of the current prices for
platinum-group metals.
Inco geologists have discovered new platinum-group metal deposits at its
Copper Cliff North Mine. In addition, Inco has increased the amount of
platinum-group metals at its Totten deposit and identified very high-grade
copper, nickel and platinum-group mineralization at the McCreedy East Mine.
"We're having tremendous success finding new high-grade ore deposits near
Sudbury that have excellent precious metal values, which are predominantly
palladium and platinum with some gold, and can be developed at low cost," said
Inco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mike Sopko. "We also expect to bring
them rapidly into production with existing mine infrastructure at a time when
market prices for these metals have been soaring."
The Company currently plans to produce 416,000 ounces of platinum-group
metals in 2001 from Inco ores and purchased materials, a 21 per cent increase
over the 344,000 ounces it produced in 2000. Revenue from platinum-group
metals was US $224 million in 2000, 72 per cent higher than the US $130
million in revenue in 1999. Most of the platinum-group metal production comes
from Sudbury ores.
The current price for palladium is over US $1,000 an ounce while platinum
sells for more than US $600 an ounce.
Inco is a significant producer of platinum-group metals. Palladium and
platinum are critical to a host of industries today, ranging from auto
manufacturing to computers. These metals are also used for catalytic
converters to reduce auto emissions, fuel cells for batteries in hybrid and
electric cars and components for laptop computers.
The Copper Cliff North Mine discovery, an extension of the 138 orebody,
has exceptionally high-grade platinum-group metals. Located 400 metres north
of the mine shaft, the deposit was brought into production in the last quarter
of 2000. It contains a proven reserve of 300,000 tonnes grading 16.4 grams per
tonne of combined platinum-group metals and gold, 0.9 per cent nickel and 4.5
per cent copper. Exploration continues since the deposit is still open at
depth.
Pump Lake, another new deposit consisting of three zones situated about
2,500 metres north of the Copper Cliff North Mine shaft, also has excellent
potential. Exploration drilling to date has outlined a total indicated
resource of 3.5 million tonnes of 1.4 per cent nickel, 1.0 per cent copper and
1.5 grams per tonne combined palladium, platinum and gold. Included in this
total is the East Flank zone which contains 0.23 million tonnes of 1.5 per
cent copper, 3.2 per cent nickel and 5.9 grams per tonne palladium, platinum
and gold combined. Further drilling is expected to increase this resource.
Further exploration at the high-grade Totten discovery, announced in
October, 1999, has increased the total indicated and inferred resource tonnage
by about 20 per cent at a slightly higher grade. The deposit, as delineated,
contains 10.1 million tonnes of 1.50 per cent nickel, 1.97 per cent copper and
4.8 grams per tonne of palladium and platinum, including 1.4 million tonnes of
inferred resource at 1.4 per cent nickel, 2.0 per cent copper and 7.1 grams
per tonne palladium and platinum. Significant additions to this resource are
expected since exploration drilling and geophysics indicate that the limit of
the orebody has not yet been reached. More detailed delineation drilling is
ongoing and a feasibility study is underway to bring the orebody into rapid
production.
Inco geologists also report the discovery of narrow veins of very high-
grade platinum-group mineralization at the McCreedy East Mine. This new
mineralization is believed to be a faulted extension of McCreedy East's 153
orebody which has similar high-grade platinum-group metals. The new zone has
been intersected in nine holes over a strike length of 600 metres and with a
down dip for 300 metres. Further exploration is needed to establish the
continuity of the mineralization and estimate a mineral resource.
Intersections from this new zone are listed in the in the chart below.
<<
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Core Length (m) %Ni %Cu Grams/tonne precious metals
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.5 0.2 26.0 19.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.2 24.3 10.9 9.1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.4 0.5 29.7 32.6
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.5 0.2 4.7 8.6
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.9 0.3 3.2 19.3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.3 2.0 21.6 24.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4 2.0 2.0 104.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.0 2.0 31.1 12.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.3 1.2 10.6 31.4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.2 1.8 25.9 60.1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.9 2.9 28.1 58.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.7 0.1 4.2 8.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.2 1.1 29.3 43.1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.2 2.8 22.1 33.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
Inco is one of the world's premier mining and metals companies. It is a
leading producer of nickel, supplying about 24 per cent of total world demand.
It is also an important producer of copper, precious metals and cobalt and the
leading producer of value-added, speciality nickel products. |
