Landore Resources Moves One Step Closer To A Scoping Study On The Junior Lake Nickel And Iron Ore Property In Ontario
By Alastair Ford
minesite.com
“Junior Lake is developing into a very serious property.” So says Richard Prickett, chief executive of Landore Resources, in response to the latest set of drill results to come out from his company’s flagship property in Ontario. The new numbers take the B4-7 nickel deposit on Junior Lake one step closer to a decision on a scoping study. Back in May 2008 Landore released an initial inferred resource estimate for B4-7 which showed it to contain 19,000 tonnes of nickel, 11,700 tonnes of copper, 1,800 tonnes of cobalt, 15,700 ounces of platinum, 59,200 ounces of palladium and 4,000 ounces of gold. The current round of drilling is designed to take resource definition up to the indicated level, ahead of a decision towards the end of the year on whether to proceed to the next phase, a scoping or pre-feasibility study.
And, as Richard implies, so far the drilling’s been going well. Among the better infill holes one showed 17.95 metres at 0.73% nickel, 0.28% copper, 0.06% cobalt, 0.25 grammes per tonne platinum, and 0.92 grammes per tonne palladium. Those sorts of numbers are encouraging, to say the least. But the infill drilling only represents part of the picture. B4-7 is about three kilometers south east of the company’s other nickel deposit on Junior Lake, VW, which was also the subject of a new resource estimate in 2008. According to work carried out by Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle, VW contains 19,443 tonnes of nickel, 2,661 tonnes of copper, 765 tonnes of cobalt, 4,498 ounces of platinum, 5,729 ounces of palladium and 1,755 ounces of gold. Put those two together and you begin to build some serious inventory. “Both of these are growing deposits”, says Richard Prickett, “and we’re doing some exploration between the two”. Were Landore able to join the two properties up, the upside would be significant.
Any investors who are expecting Landore to start tearing up the ground between B4-7 and VW at a rate of knots are likely to be disappointed, but it is at least now being drilled. “We’re moving along very nicely”, says Richard Prickett. “We do it very methodically, perhaps in a slower way than people would want us to. But we don’t like wasting drill holes.” That said, though, aside from filling in the gaps from the previous wide-spaced resource drilling, the latest drill programme has also confirmed that B4-7 is open along strike and down plunge to the northwest. That’s the direction in which VW lies, so the possibility of one single, much larger, resource, is still out there, tantalizing investors. To date, Landore hasn’t talked up that possibility too much, perhaps because a previous airborne electromagnetic survey only showed the trend continuing out for another 500 metres. Still, that’s something in itself, and the company plans to drill up that same 500 metres in September in the hope at least that it will be able to add further tonnage.
But more to the point, the time has now come to find out once and for all if B4-7 and VW are linked in any meaningful way. So an eight hole drilling programme has commenced on what the company calls the “highly prospective ground” between the two. Whichever way that goes, there will in any case be plenty to talk about before the full extent of either B4-7 or VW, or whether the two meet in the middle is known. A resource update across Junior Lake should be out in the third quarter of the year, and once that is done Landore’s board will get down to debating just how it wants to proceed its nickel prospects. The time may be near when the company goes out looking for a larger partner to help it take B4-7 and/or VW forward, but equally Landore may decide to go it alone for a while yet.
Meanwhile, there’s also the Lamaune iron deposit at the other, western, end of Junior Lake to consider. There, a recent 22-hole drill programme has just been completed and has confirmed the presence of a magnetite iron deposit across more than five kilometres of ground. Assays and metallurgical results on that ore are pending, but it sure sounds promising. What’s more, as and when Landore comes to think about doing more work on Lamaune, or indeed on B4-7 and VW, there’ll be few worries when it comes to money. Richard Prickett isn’t entirely precise as to how much Landore has in the bank at the moment, but he does say with confidence that one of Landore’s shareholders has promised to provide further cash when it’s required, which is a nice comfortable position to be in. So it ought to be interesting to watch all the news flow coming in over the autumn, as the nickel and iron ore properties begin to shape up. Interesting too, to see how the shares react, especially as metals prices have come back strongly, with prices looking set to remain robust. There’s a certain air of confidence in Richard Prickett’s voice, and you can see why. Watch this space. |
