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Gold/Mining/Energy : Mining News of Note -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LoneClone who wrote (35837)	4/21/2009 12:33:43 PM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 193209

Selkirk Metals Has Two Company Makers On The Go Up In British Columbia By Rob Davies minesite.com Most juniors are content to have one project that has the potential to change their fortunes. Selkirk Metals is a bit greedier than most and is in the lucky position of having two on the shelf, either of which could transform the company. It helps of course if the starting point is low to begin with. At a C$8 million market capitalisation Selkirk won’t need to find an awful lot of metal to make a difference to its valuation. That’s one of the great attractions of small caps - you don’t need to find a massive deposit to make a massive impact on the share price. Selkirk already knows it has five million tonnes of 7.5% zinc and 2.5% lead at its Ruddock Creek property in British Columbia. That tonnage though, is not yet 43-101 compliant. But according to Graham Keevil at Selkirk the drilling programme now underway has a good chance of doubling that figure and making it compliant. While that project is the major focus, Graham is also keen to talk about the potential of the Catface copper project on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Work by Falconbridge in the 1980s delineated a 169 million tonne porphyry copper deposit grading 0.43% copper here. Again though, this is not to 43-101 standards. If the name Keevil rings a bell it is because Graham is the son of the legendary Gordon Keevil who is the President of Selkirk and is the driving force behind the company. While metal prices are depressed at the moment, there will come a time when these deposits will become economic, and the plan is to have everything in place to press the button as soon as conditions are right. At Ruddock underground drilling is being carried out from a 900 metre decline to test the structure below the top 250 metres that is the only part that has been investigated so far. The aim is to get 10 million tonnes with a 5:1 zinc-lead ratio, although the tipping point into making the project economic is calculated at 8.2 million tonnes. A key factor in the financial modelling is that the mineralogy is very suitable for the Trail smelter in the south of the province. And an important milestone was achieved in early March when the company received a Section 10 Order which triggers an environmental assessment. An operation that envisages producing 2,000 tonnes a day for 10 to 15 years in British Columbia will obviously have to meet stringent standards. So the sooner that aspect is tackled the better. Consultants Golders is already working on a feasibility study which is expected to be completed by the autumn of 2010. At a likely capital cost of C$90 million, including the hydro plant, it is shaping up to be a substantial project. An updated resource figure due out in a few weeks time will mark the first step in bringing it to fruition. While Catface is a little further behind, Graham is confident that the data from the drilling programme in 2008 has shown that there is enough potential there to warrant a lot more work. So far only the Cliff Zone has an inferred resource and the potential of the Irishman Creek and Hecate Bay Zones have yet to be quantified. There will undoubtedly be significant environmental issues for Catface, as with Ruddock. But the trade-off for that is the complete absence of political risk - and that is always something to remember in these uncertain times.