EXPLORATION HIGHLIGHTED BY QUEBEC RAGLAN PROJECT

Falconbridge is spending $46 million this year on exploration. It will feed another $23 million (of capitalized funds) to the New Quebec Raglan project on the Ungava Peninsula. Most of the other money will be spent searching for nickel and the other base metals around Sudbury and Timmins, Ont.

At Raglan recently, a freighter successfully navigated the winter ice and docked at an abandoned port in Deception Bay, only 40 km away from the nickel-copper project on the Ungava Peninsula.

Mike Knuckey, Falconbridge’s vice-president of exploration, says such a feat suddenly extends the potential shipping season for this isolated project 1,700 km north of Montreal — well past the former three months the company thought it would have.

“One constraint has been the shipping season. We made this experimental voyage (in March) to see if we could get in at this time of year,” he says. The voyage of the M.V. Arctic, a freighter upgraded to a Class IV ice-breaker, means the shipping season could last up to eight months.

Falconbridge is spending up to $23 million on the project this year. A pre-feasibility study was completed and approved by Falconbridge’s board of directors in April. The $35-million program is expected to last about 18 months, during which time work will also be done to obtain the necessary permits and arrange financing for mine development and the construction of a concentrator and other facilities. The Katinniq mine and mill at Raglan will produce up to 20,000 tonnes of nickel in concentrate annually.

New Quebec Raglan, is an enormous nickel-copper play that Falconbridge, the sole owner, has coaxed along for years. The exploration play itself is a series of deposits stretching along a 50-to-60-km strike length. Falconbridge has focused efforts on several local deposits.

Reserves in one localized cluster of orebodies stand at more than 10 millon tonnes grading 3.1% nickel and 0.8% copper, roughly double the grade of the company’s Sudbury mines. The reserve, stated in the proven, probable and drill-indicated categories, represents a 4-million-tonne increase from earlier reports.

“In terms of grade, we figure Raglan is the best undeveloped sulphide deposit around,” Knuckey says.

Because of its location, Raglan will be a fly-in/fly-out operation (that is, if development follows the feasibility). As with northern operations such as Echo Bay’s Lupin mine and Cominco’s Polaris mine, Raglan would have workers arrive from points south in company-owned or company-chartered aircraft. They would clock in for a 2-or-3-week stint and then fly out for a period of rest and relaxation.

Falconbridge envisions a 30-to-40-million-lb. nickel producer in the Ungava area, initially an open pit operation and later underground. In 1990, Falconbridge’s other operations produced 56,300 tonnes (124 million lbs.) of nickel.

To the west, near Contwoyto Lake in the Northwest Territories, lies an 11-million-tonne massive sulphide deposit that Falconbridge would like to farm out to a prospective partner. The grade is 14.5% zinc, 3% copper, 1.5% lead and 78 grams silver. That’s not a bad tonnage and the grade is rich. But because of its location, transportation costs will be high. In that regard, gold mines, which ship bullion not concentrates, have a clear advantage over would-be far-northern base metal mines.

“The problem is the transportation,” Knuckey says of the Izok Lake prospect. “We’re looking for a partner and then we will do a feasibility study.”

Timmins Area

In and around Timmins, the hunt is on for further reserves to supply the Kidd Creek metallurgical complex. Mine production peaked a couple of years ago and is now declining.

Reserves to the 5600 level are 41.2 million tonnes of 3.3% copper, 5% zinc and lead and silver. At a production rate of roughly four million tonnes per annum, current reserves would be exhausted in another 10 years. Of course, underground exploration should turn up more ore.

Most of the reserve potential lies at depth, but small lenses of maybe one-quarter to one-half million tonnes have been found at higher elevations. Surface drilling near the site also turned up one good teaser — a 10-ft. (3-metre) intersection of 7% zinc. “We haven’t had anything as good in subsequent drilling,” says Knuckey.

Just east of the metallurgical site, Falconbridge has a copper-zinc property that yielded at least one good intersection — 10 metres grading 1.37% copper and 7.5% zinc. This, the Dundonald project, began as a nickel play, but after having spent $2.5 million, Falconbridge views it as a nickel and copper-zinc prospect. Another $1 million will be spent on Dundonald this year.

About 10 miles northwest of Timmins is the old Kam Kotia mine. This former base metal mine is now in the hands of the province. Falconbridge (at the time of writing) had applied to take over the property for exploration.

Sudbury Area

Near Sudbury, the Lindsley project (named after company founder Thayer Lindsley) is the most advanced play. A shaft has been sunk by J.S. Redpath (see TNMM Oct./90) to 1,660 metres below surface. Cross-cutting and drifting is being done on the 1,310-metre and 1585-metre levels. On 1310 level, Falconbridge plans to set up diamond drill stations every 25 metres. Up to 29,000 metres of core will be taken.

“Basically, by the end of 1992 we should have a good idea of what we have,” Knuckey says of the project.

The company also has a solid prospect in the interior of the basin. Unlike the Lindsley project, this is not a nickel-copper play. The Errington Vermilion project, as it is called, includes two former mines that produced copper, zinc and lead for about one year. Metallurgical problems and low metal prices forced the closure in 1956..

The Errington mine has several shafts and a reserve of seven million tonnes grading 1.2% copper, 4.2% zinc, 1% lead and 0.02 oz. gold. The Vermilion has less than half that tonnage and a slightly richer grade. The grades, according to Knuckey, are marginal, but the widths run up to 20 and 30 metres. Asked what kind of grade he would like to see, Knuckey quickly replied, “Kidd Creek’s.” Again, the aim is to find feed for the Timmins complex.

Potential Elephant in Chile

Outside of North America, the company has an interest in a true elephant, a 240-million-tonne porphyry copper property in northern Chile. To earn 33 1/3% each, the joint-venture partner (Shell Minera Chile and Chevron) must spend $45 million by mid-1993. Knuckey is bullish on this one: “It could easily rise over one billion tonnes,” he says of the reserve figure. The grade is better than 1% copper and 0.04% molybdenum.

President Frank Pickard is well aware that the potential for more nickel-copper orebodies in the Sudbury area is great. The company has focused efforts for the past few decades on the northwest area around Onaping. Pickard is keen to explore elsewhere on the structure.