Louvicourt numbers differ Teck aims to boost reserve

The three partners in the Louvicourt base metal project in northwestern Quebec do not appear to be in complete agreement as to the size of current reserves.

Preliminary reserves at the project, set to enter production later this year, were recently downgraded significantly.

According to 25% owner Teck (TSE), which recently staged its annual meeting in Toronto, reserves now total slightly more than 15 million tonnes grading 3.7% copper and 1.7% zinc.

In mid-April, 30% owner Aur Resources (TSE) and 45% owner Novicourt (TSE) jointly announced a new reserve calculation (“undiluted geological reserves”) of 15.7 million tonnes averaging 3.4% copper and 2.2% zinc, plus silver and gold values. (That calculation incorporates a 2% copper equivalent cutoff grade.)

The Aur-Novicourt figures include 2.6 million tonnes at 1.5% copper and 3.9% zinc calculated from surface drilling data above the 475-metre level and below the 880-metre level.

Prior to the downgrading, Teck was quoting a tonnage of 24 million tonnes at 3.9% copper and 2% zinc. Aur and Novicourt previously quoted 26.5 million tonnes grading 4.2% copper and 2.2% zinc.

“What is important is not so much the geological reserve,” Michael Lipkewich, Teck’s senior vice-president of operations, told The Northern Miner. “What is important is the minable plan.”

The companies plan to meet to discuss the reserve calculations. Chairman Norman Keevil told shareholders that Teck’s reserve calculations are based on the drilling to date of zones 4 and 5. The potential exists to increase reserves from zones 1, 2 and 3.

According to Aur and Louvicourt, the downgrading was “principally a result of reserve losses on the eastern portion of the deposit and losses resulting from reduced continuity of the mineralized zones due to complex folding in the western portion.” The companies are confident that new reserves will result from additional drilling.

The deposit sits at a depth of 300-900 metres below surface. Shareholders attending Teck’s 80th annual meeting were told by Keevil that Teck is Canada’s second-oldest continuously operating mining company, the first being 88-year-old Cominco (TSE), in which Teck is a major shareholder. Teck, which first went into business as a gold producer at Kirkland Lake, Ont., continues to mine gold as well as copper, zinc, lead, silver, niobium and coal. On the exploration side, the list of countries or regions in which it has interests includes Canada, the U.S., Mexico, West Africa, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil and Chile.

Louvicourt is one of two new Teck projects scheduled to begin operations this year. Expected to produce its first copper cathode in June is the open-pit Quebrada Blanca project in Chile, in which Teck has a 29.25% direct interest and an indirect interest through Cominco.