New Age Metals updates Pre-Feasibility Study of River Valley Palladium Project

New Age Metals Inc. has delivered an update on the Pre-Feasibility Study and exploration activities at the River Valley Palladium Project near Sudbury.
Since the previous update was announced in a company press release dated August 17, the Mineral Resource Estimate of River Valley has been updated and progress has been made advancing the mineral processing and metallurgical, geomechanical and geotechnical, and environmental and community relations work components of the Pre-Feasibility Study. Concurrently, NAM completed an initial phase of drilling at the Banshee Zone and excavated a new exploration trench near the Dana South Zone (Figure 1), to further explore the palladium potential in this area.

Figure 1. Geology map of the northern area of the River Valley Palladium deposit near Sudbury, Ontario. Palladium mineralized zones projected to surface. Mineral Resource Estimates using CDN$15/t Net Smelter Royalty (“NSR”) cut-off (see Company press release dated October 5, 2021). The Huronian, Grenville and Nipissing geological units excluded for illustration clarity. 

 

Pre-Feasibility Study

Updated Mineral Resource Estimate

The updated Mineral Resource Estimate by P&E Mining Consultants Inc (Brampton) (“P&E) was announced in a Company press release dated October 5, 2021 and will underpin the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study. At cut-offs of CDN$15/t NSR (pit constrained) and CDN$50/t NSR (out-of-pit), the Mineral Resource Estimate consists of: 89.6 Mt grading 0.54 g/t Pd, 0.21 g/t Pt, 0.04 g/t Au and 0.06% Cu, or CDN$47.58 NSR/t in the Measured and Indicated classifications; and 94.3 Mt grading 0.35 g/t Pd, 0.16 g/t Pt, 0.03 g/t Au and 0.06% Cu, or CDN$31.69 NSR/t in the Inferred classification. Contained metal contents are 2.3 Moz Pd+Pt+Au in the Measured and Indicated classifications and 1.6 Moz Pd+Pt+Au in the Inferred classification. 

The updated 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate is based on all historical and 2020 diamond drilling, revised mineralized domain modelling, inverse distance grade interpretation methodology, and higher overall metal prices, particularly for palladium. At the CDN$15/t NSR cut-off, the pit constrained Measured & Indicated Mineral Resources total of 89 Mt grading 0.79 g/t Pd+Pt+Au (2.3 Moz) reported herein significantly exceeds the potentially mineable resources total of 78 Mt grading 0.79 g/t Pd+Pt+Au (2.0 Moz) reported in the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) of River Valley.

Overall, the Pre-Feasibility Study as led by P&E will consider optimized mine production and mineral processing rates, based on this potentially more valuable Updated Mineral Resource Estimate than that which underpinned the 2019 PEA.

Tags: Northern Ontario / Operational Updates / Metals / All Articles