Ring of Fire duo may explore shared mine facilities

Posted on September 9, 2013

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It seems a couple of Ring of Fire participants are starting to sniff around the possibility of a joint mining initiative that might help them unlock some of economic potential of Ontario’s far northern mineral zone.

In a release outlining some “handsome” drilling data from its Black Horse chromite property, KWG Resources suggested it was looking at a proposal from neighbouring Noront Resources to explore the merits of developing their adjoining properties through shared facilities.

“We have received a proposal to now complete a trade-off study on mining this from underground, using shared facilities with Noront’s underground mining of the Eagle’s Nest nickel and PGM deposit,” said KWG president Frank Smeenk in the release. “That would seem a logical and productive next area of inquiry to move forward the understanding of the Ring of Fire’s economic viability.”

Noront is working to develop an underground mine and on-site metal mill at its Eagle’s Nest site east of Webequie First Nation. Its proposal is currently undergoing a comprehensive environmental assessment process under the aegis of the federal environmental assessment agency. The company is also advancing its Blackbird chromite deposit, which is located near the Eagle’s Nest site.

KWG, meanwhile, is engaged in a project with Bold Ventures to explore an adjacent Koper Lake property optioned from Fancamp Exploration. The Koper Lake-Black Horse venture launched a diamond drill program in March, allocating $2 million for chromite exploration and $1 million on a related nickel target for this first phase of the initiative.

Smeenk touted the latest information from Black Horse as “a significant addition to the Ring of Fire’s chromite resource inventory,” with a “quite handsome” grade.

Using the drill hole data available as of August 17, 2013, and applying a 20-per-cent cut-off, Nipigon-based Sibley Basin Group Geological Consulting Services estimated Black Horse’s inferred resources at 43.8 million tonnes at a grade of 37.5 per cent chromium oxide (Cr2O3).

An amended report issued Monday upped that estimate to “a total of 46.5 million tonnes at a grade of 38.8 per cent Cr2O3 of inferred resources which should be upgradable through gravity and/or heavy media concentration. These resources are blocks above cut-off and have had no mineability criteria applied to them.”

Sibley Basin Group recommended that further drilling be done, at an estimated cost of $6.68 million, to better define the limits and continuity of the mineralization, as well as explore for nickel copper mineralization.

Last month, KWG reported that a continuous pilot smelting campaign, based on 1,186 kilograms of Fancamp drill core from two 2010 holes, had “confirmed that very high chromium recoveries averaging 95 per cent can be achieved, producing ferrochrome alloy grades of 60-62 per cent chromium.”

Conducted by Sudbury-based XPS Consulting & Test Work Services, the test “demonstrated that Black Horse massive chromite can be efficiently smelted in a DC furnace using moderate flux and reductant additions and manageable operating temperatures,” the KWG release said.