Development program for Inco’s Victor deposit

A $72-million development program on Inco’s (TSE) high-grade Victor copper-nickel deposit near Sudbury, Ont., is under way.

The program, scheduled for completion over the next three years, will include three phases: the sinking of a shaft from surface to 5,800 ft.; the development of 5,500 ft. of exploration drifts; and 125,000 ft. of underground diamond drilling to the 9,000-ft. horizon. The shaft has been sized to facilitate early production from this area, if warranted. The Victor property, on the East Range of the Sudbury Basin in Maclennan Twp., has a history of exploration. It was first patented in 1890 and, through a series of mergers, eventually passed to Inco, which, by 1960, had mined 134,000 tons of nickel-copper ore from a near-surface deposit. Recent exploration has identified two separate mineralized zones — an upper and lower zone, at 5,000 and 7,000 ft. below surface, respectively. The upper zone is contact-style mineralization, which is typically high in nickel and low in copper and precious metals. Surface drilling on the upper zone has outlined a mineral reserve exceeding 6 million tons grading 0.54% copper and 2.26% nickel.

Mineralization in the lower zone is typical footwall-style with moderate nickel content and high copper and precious metal values. This zone contains a mineral resource of more than 7 million tons grading 5.1% copper, 1.9% nickel and 0.22 oz. per ton of gold, plus platinum group metal values. A geological interpretation of the exploration results suggests the deposit contains a mineral resource of more than 20 million tonnes. One of the goals of the program will be to firm up this estimate.

William Dawson, Inco’s project manager at Victor, views the underground development as a detailed exploration program. “Our aim is to define the inferred mineral resource,” he told The Northern Miner.

Once the development program is completed, Dawson says, a feasibility study will then be undertaken to determine the viability of the project. In other news, Inco plans to invest $18.3 million to establish a new ore-handling system at its Creighton mine near Sudbury.

The system is designed to recover 2.6 million tons of ore grading 2.45% copper and 2.9% nickel. The material is between the 7,200 and 7,400-ft. levels and its excavation will provide the initial stage for future deepening of the mine.

Creighton currently operates at the 7,200-ft. level and has reserves that extend well below 7,400 ft.

Besides being one of Canada’s most prolific mines (in production since 1902), Creighton is one of the most experimental. The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory is situated on the 6,800-ft. level, and a tree seedling nursery has been set up at 4,500 ft.