Shining Tree drilling suggests extension

Ursa Major Minerals (UMJ-V) has completed a five-hole program on its Shining Tree nickel property in Fawcett Twp., about 100 km north of Sudbury, Ont. One hole suggests that mineralization persists downdip.

That hole intersected 19.8 metres grading 0.76% nickel, 0.43% copper and 0.03% cobalt, with platinum group credits.

The four other holes retested areas of drilling by previous operators, confirming historical results. The mineralized zones extended over core lengths of a few metres to 36.6 metres, with nickel grades ranging from 0.55% to 1.24%. The long intersection of 36.6 metres ran 0.88% nickel and 0.6% copper.

Shining Tree has an indicated resource of 1 million tonnes at 0.71% nickel and 0.36% copper, plus another 1.5 million tonnes grading 0.67% nickel and 0.36% copper.

Scoping work on the deposit suggests about 400,000 tonnes of material grading 0.68% nickel and 0.33% copper could be taken out economically as a satellite operation to Ursa’s Shakespeare development project, southwest of Sudbury.

Ursa Major is also proceeding with feasiblity work on Shakespeare, in which Xstrata (XTA-L) holds a 14% interest.

Ursa and Xstrata concluded an agreement for Xstrata to mill a 50,000-tonne bulk sample from Shakespeare at the Strathcona mill in Sudbury. Xstrata may then custom-mill Shakespeare ore until the Shakespeare mill is commissioned, after which the companies have a 7-year agreement for smelting the Shakespeare concentrate.

Six recent drill holes on Shakespeare confirmed reserve grades in the area to be bulk-sampled — between 0.24% and 0.37% nickel and between 0.31% and 0.45% copper, plus cobalt and precious metal credits — and demonstrated that the mineralized zone extends to surface. Ursa is seeking a decision from the Ontario government to increase its permitted bulk sample size to 50,000 tonnes.

The reserve at Shakespeare is 11.2 million tonnes at grades of 0.33% nickel, 0.35% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.33 gram palladium, 0.37 gram platinum, and 0.19 gram gold per tonne, down to a depth of 250 metres in a pit with a stripping ratio of 5.15.