As part of a plan to develop marginal deposits while metal prices are high, HudBay Minerals (HBM-T) will be spending $8.5 million on a program of infill drilling, a bulk sample and a feasibility study on the Bur massive sulphide deposit near Snow Lake, Man.
Bur, which is about 22 km from the Snow Lake mill, has an indicated resource (based on drilling up to the 1990s) of 391,000 tonnes grading 2% copper and 9% zinc, plus an inferred 897,000 tonnes grading 1.9% copper and 7.7% zinc. The resource predates recent securities rules, and drilling at Bur in 2005 and 2006 has indicated other resources.
Most of HudBay’s drilling, and that of previous operator Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting, concentrated in an area about 2.5 km long, and went to depths around 300 metres.
The deposit is long and very narrow, and HudBay expects it to be a high-cost mine. Capital costs, though, are expected to be around $35 million, including the present budget for feasibility work.
The company has already applied for a permit for advanced exploration, including driving a ramp and taking a 10,000-tonne bulk sample. If the feasibility study is positive, Bur would feed the Snow Lake mill and Flin Flon metallurgical plants, producing about 6,000 tonnes copper and 20,000 tonnes zinc annually for a three-year mine life. There are by-product silver and gold credits as well.
HudBay also announced a $35-million exploration budget for 2007, mainly for projects in the Flin Flon greenstone belt of northern Manitoba. Other projects around the Balmat zinc mine in upstate New York and sediment-hosted zinc targets in southwestern Ontario are slated for further work.
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