Understanding of the grade will be very important.
A lot of variables affect what is an economic grade:
presence of other metals, thickness, total tons, depth, location, etc.
A very important factor in the Voisey play is the presence of cobalt;
at over US$20/pound, it can add a lot of value.
Its interesting to compare the gross metal value of 2 of the South
Voisey holes with Inco's Voisey's Bay deposit and with Inco's 1997
average production grades in Canada. (The Inco info is derived from
their 1997 Form 10-K, available from their web site.)
PM's (precious metals) is an estimate of Au, Pt, Pd.
PM's Gross metal
Ni % Cu % Co % opt value/tonne
South Voisey
Hole 97-75 11.75% 9.70% 0.43% 1,017
Hole 97-96 1.13% 0.78% 0.20% 168
Voisey's Bay:
Ovoid 2.83% 1.68% 0.12% 240
Eastern Deeps 1.36% 0.67% 0.09% 128
Inco production 1.32% 1.12% 0.02% 0.02 102
Clearly, the grades don't have to be anywhere near as spectacular as
97-75 to make an economic orebody. Hopefully, people won't be spoiled
by the 97-75 results, and panic if we get great -- but not
spectacular - results. If there is a sell off on less than
spectacular results, it will be a great buy opportunity for those that
take a more fundamental view of the project.
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