Nevada Copper (NCU.TO) has released the results of six drill holes which were aimed at taking samples to do additional metallurgical test work on the iron ore zones of the Pumpkin Hollow project. Whereas we would have expected these holes to merely confirm the expected grades in the South Pit, there were a few holes that caught our attention due to the higher than expected copper grades, even though the program was specifically aimed at intersecting the iron-rich zones.
Hole S-07 which was drilled at the southern part of the pit intersected almost 140 meters (112 meters true width) of 1% copper, including a higher grade zone of 70 meters at 1.49% copper as well as 0.19 g/t gold and 7.7 g/t silver. According to Vice President Greg French, this drill hole confirmed the higher grade copper core of the southern pit has now been extended towards to south. That could be important as this high-grade drill hole will very likely have an effect on the design of the pit walls. The resources could also be positively impacted as finding in excess of 100 meters at 1% copper is pretty good at an open pit deposit where the average grade of the reserves is 0.32%.
On top of that, the iron-focused drilling also seems to have hit the sweet spots as the drill bit intersected 117 meters of 40% Fe and almost 225 meters of 48.4% iron. These assays will now be used for additional metallurgical test work, undoubtedly at the request of the ‘large multi-national Steel producer’ the company has been negotiating with.
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