Ursa Major posts Shakespeare resource (April 26, 2004)

Ursa Major Minerals (UMJ-V) has calculated a new resource at the Shakespeare nickel-copper deposit near Sudbury, Ont.

Ursa Major, which holds a 75% interest in the property under a deal with former operator Falconbridge (FL-T), is hoping to mine Shakespeare as a feeder operation for Falco’s Sudbury milling and smelting complex.

The new resource has been calculated for two zones: Shakespeare East and Shakespeare West.

Shakespeare East, the larger zone, discovered by Ursa Major in 2002, contains an indicated resource of 9 million tonnes grading 0.36% nickel, 0.37% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.34 gram platinum and 0.19 gram gold per tonne, plus an inferred resource of 22,000 tonnes with 0.29% nickel, 0.24% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.23 gram platinum, 0.24 gram palladium and 0.14 gram gold per tonne.

Shakespeare West has an indicated resource of 3 million tonnes at grades of 0.29% nickel, 0.33% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.34 gram platinum, 0.37 gram palladium, and 0.19 gram gold per tonne. An inferred resource of 93,000 tonnes at 0.27% nickel, 0.31% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.33 gram platinum, 0.35 gram palladium and 0.17 gram gold per tonne has also been outlined.

In 1985, Falconbridge calculated a near-surface resource on Shakespeare West of 1.9 million tonnes grading 0.36% nickel, 0.42% copper, 0.4 gram platinum, 0.44 gram palladium and 0.23 gram gold per tonne.

The two deposits are both enclosed in a pit shell based on some preliminary economic assumptions. The cutoff grade of the resource is a total metal value, using 24-month average prices, of $43.65 per tonne (Canadian). Those average prices were:

— US$9,280 per tonne for nickel,

— US$1,810 per tonne for copper,

— US$10.48 per lb. (US$23,100 per tonne) for cobalt,

— US$635.40 per oz. for platinum,

— US$300.31 per oz. for palladium, and

— US$351.43 per oz. for gold.

The pit design shows a stripping ratio of 6.38 to 1.

The $43.65 cutoff grade was based on estimated mining costs, including $1.75 per tonne for mining, $4.40 per tonne road haulage to the Falconbridge mill, $10.50 per tonne for processing, and general and administrative costs of $1 per tonne.

A resource estimate last July, using a cutoff grade of $50 per tonne, showed a smaller but higher-grade resource. Improved metal prices, offset somewhat by the increased value of the Canadian dollar in U.S.-dollar terms, have allowed some marginal lower-grade mineralization to be brought into the resource.