"During the past two years, MIQ has hit several good drill holes at the Railroad Project...but on November 27, 1997, MIQ announced results of a hole that caught my attention and certainly the attention of Kinross. In the Bunker Hill Zone, hole # BHRR9705 intersected 25 feet of .139 OPT gold and a whopping 15.5% copper. Further down in the hole the drills caught another 50 feet of 2.18% copper".
Bunker Hill as I reported in my posts earlier was my #1 target too. High grade is nice, it excites speculators and drives stock price up. It does not make a mine though. What is needed is CONSISTENCY.
In order for ore body to be economic you need minimum width, extension, dip angle, average depth and grade. Most of the mines are developed by major mining companies and production on large scale is one way they keep costs low. For low cost type of mining you need preferably open pit mine design.
So far Railroad mineralization occurs shallow and if proven in substantial quantities all ingredients may be there for viable operation. This years drilling program will definitely indicate if potential is there.
From 95 to 120 feet depth for a total of 25 feet of 0.139 opt (4.3 g/t) with 15% copper is nice if it can be extended in all directions. Cu value go deeper to a level of 150 feet. It is often easier to understand polymetals ore value if all metals are translated in to Au. Hence 15% Cu is valued at $225 (assuming copper at $1500) . This amount of copper represent equivalent of 23.25 g/t or 0.75 opt of gold.
By adding 0.139+0.75=0.89 opt (27.59 g/t ) we get total value of ore expressed in gold. Very nice figure. At such shallow depth this is definitely the richest intersection on Railroad project to date.
Majority of big open pit mining operations work with ores at average grade of Au 3-4 g/t (Hemlo-Ontario, Kumtur-Kyrgiztan, tau-Uzbekistan) in some cases with copper and other metals present that add to mill credits.
My expectation from Railroad is to see 10+ million tons of ore proven with average Au at 0.03 to 0.2 opt.
Anything above in tonnage, grade, parallel metals like copper or zinc just add to potential.
Live long and prosper. |
