Nevada Copper (NCU.TO) is still drilling at the open pit and underground mineralization on its Pumpkin Hollow project and has released more results from an additional five drill holes which were aimed at expanding and extending the known mineralization around the North and South pit.
The best hole clearly is hole 11 which returned 116 meters of 0.56% CuEq, but also 63 meters of 0.40% CuEq and 87 meters of 0.43% CuEq (much higher than the cutoff grade of 0.16% Cu that has been used for the open pits). This hole was drilled in the center of the North pit and seems to have a higher grade than the surrounding mineralization. 21 holes have now been completed by Nevada Copper (the assay results of six more holes are still pending), and the results are quite encouraging. We would have preferred to see some higher grade (and longer) intercepts in the so-called ‘Connector Zone’ (in between the North and South pit) but we’re already very happy to see some of the waste rock and inferred tonnes will now be upgraded and potentially be incorporated in the mine plan. This should reduce the strip ratio and allow Nevada Copper to recover more copper than originally anticipated.
Nevada Copper still is one of the best companies to gain exposure to the copper price. As there aren’t a lot of multi billion pound copper projects in safe regions with a total initial capex of roughly $1B left, we also consider NCU to be a prime takeover candidate. The share price has recently come down again due to a temporary weakness in the copper price, but we’re confident the share price will be back up at C$2 in no time.
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Disclosure: The author holds a long position in Nevada Copper. Nevada Copper is a sponsor of the website. Please see our disclaimer for current positions.
