LONDON (Alliance News) - Amur Minerals Corp said Monday its 2018 drill programme at its nickel copper sulphide Kun-Manie mine in east Russia has been completed "with all objectives completed".
Key objectives for Amur included drilling per Russian agency requirements allowing for the compilation of a Russian feasibility study, to be used in necessary mining permits.
Amur set out to drill to convert 25.0 million tonnes of existing inferred resources to that of indicated. The programme also was intended to identify new resources for determination of a life of mine mining ore reserves for future study updates.
The miner acquired additional representative metallurgical bulk sample for the final flow sheet and plant design determination.
"Having successfully completed the 2018 engineering related drill programme at our Kun-Manie nickel copper sulphide project, the company can fully shift its focus to the detailed engineering phase of the project. This year's drill results have been highly beneficial to the company," said Chief Executive Officer Robin Young.
Amur believes "as much as" 30 million tonnes of existing inferred ore may have been converted to indicated, Young said.
"The potential to increase the mineral resource inventory by up to an additional 25 million tonnes should materially impact the estimated mineral resource of the project," the CEO added.
Based on mining technology company RPM Global's preliminary pit design, Amur expects the three pits at Ikenskoe, Isk and Kubuk will merge into one pit.
Young added: "This being possible, it could provide substantially greater potential to selectively mine higher-grade production earlier in the mine life, resulting in an increase in the tonnes of metal produced by the processing plant."
Shares in Amur Minerals were up 2.2% Monday at 3.96 pence each.
Amur Minerals (AMC)