Vancouver — GlobeStar Mining (GMI-T) got a healthy share price boost after an initial resource estimate for its Cumpie Hill project in the Dominican Republic gave investors confidence in the nickel laterite deposit.
Based on 75 diamond-drill holes completed since GlobeStar discovered nickel at Cumpie Hill in early 2006, the resource estimate pegged indicated resources at 3 million tonnes averaging 1.5% nickel for 44,800 tonnes of contained metal. Inferred resources contributed an additional 2.5 million tonnes grading 1.5% nickel, for 35,700 contained tonnes.
Results from metallurgical testing were also positive, indicating close to 90% nickel recovery.
On news of the resource estimate, GlobeStar shares saw a 14 lift in just over an hour of trading. The next day, the stock closed at $1.75 after a similar gain, giving a total share price boost of 28 or 19%. The company has a 52-week trading range of $1.11-2.54 and has 102.2 million shares issued.
Globestar holds 192 sq. km of nickel laterite concessions covering 44 km of the central peridotite belt extending southeast from the Falcondo nickel-laterite mine and smelter complex that Xstrata (XSRAF-O, XTA-L) acquired in its takeover of Falconbridge last year. GlobeStar’s goal is to identify ore that could be processed by Falcondo’s existing smelter facilities, though the company has not entered into discussions with Xstrata on the idea.
GlobeStar’s focus within its nickel laterite project is C1, the concession directly adjacent to Falcondo’s property that includes Cumpie Hill. The company identified two main areas of laterite development within the Cumpie Hill project area, known as the Cumpie and Loma Mala sectors.
The Cumpie sector consists of three dismembered areas of laterite that together cover a strike length of 1.3 km, with an average width of 300 metres. The laterite profile ranges in thickness from 2 to 40 metres. The nearby Loma Mala sector is the next target for diamond drilling.
Nickel laterites in the Dominican are generally situated on the summits of a series of hills and ridges along a belt of peridotites. In the tropical climate of the Dominican, peridotite can weather to produce an enhanced-grade nickel laterite profile, with an upper zone of high-iron limonite and lower-grade nickel followed by a saprolite horizon with typical grades between 1.5% and 2% nickel.
Only a few kilometres away from C1 sits GlobeStar’s flagship project, the Cerro de Maimon copper-gold-silver project, currently under development. Production from the copper-concentrate sulphide flotation and gold-silver oxide cyanidation circuits is expected to begin next summer.
The project, which GlobeStar acquired from Falconbridge in 2002, hosts proven and probable oxide reserves of 1.16 million tonnes grading 34.5 grams silver per tonne and 1.86 grams gold. In sulphide, the deposit holds 4.82 million tonnes grading 2.54% copper, 34.9 grams silver and 0.96 gram gold. The sulphide portion also contains 160 million lbs. zinc, but the project has no credit for the zinc, which is treated as a penalty in the copper concentrate.
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