NovaCopper Inc. Announces Significantly Increased Resources at Bornite Deposit: 334 Million Pounds of Copper Indicated, 5.7 Billion Pounds of Copper Inferred

NovaCopper Inc. (TSX:NCQ,NYSEMKT:NCQ) announced an updated NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the Bornite deposit, for its Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in the Ambler mining district of northwest Alaska. The resource estimate significantly increases the resources to 5.7 Billion Pounds of Copper Inferred and 334 Million Pounds of Copper Indicated.

As quoted in the press release:

Highlights
At a base case 0.50% copper cutoff grade, the Bornite Project is estimated to contain in-pit Indicated Resources of 14.1 million tonnes at 1.08% copper or 334 million lbs of contained copper (see Table 1 for details).
At a base case 0.50% copper cutoff grade, the Bornite Project is estimated to contain in-pit Inferred Resources of 109.6 million tonnes at 0.94% copper or 2.3 billion lbs of contained copper (see Table 1 for details).
At a base case 1.50% copper cutoff grade, the Bornite Project contains below-pit Inferred Resources of 55.6 million tonnes at 2.81% copper or 3.4 billion lbs of contained copper (see Table 2 for details).
Contained copper in Indicated resources have increased from 179 to 334 million pounds which constitutes an 87% increase in contained metal (see Figure 1 for details).
Contained copper in Inferred resources have risen from 3,292 to 5,696 million pounds which constitutes a 73% increase in contained metal (see Figure 1 for details).

NovaCopper President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, said:

We are extremely pleased with the Bornite resource expansion. We have added more high quality copper resources, at a grade of approximately 1% copper, for a potential open-pit mine scenario. Also, at a grade of approximately 2.8% copper, we have the potential for an underground mine scenario. Importantly, given that the amount of contained metal in the in-pit resource is insensitive to changes in the copper cutoff grade, the project could have great flexibility in mining selectivity during future mine planning.

Click here to read the NovaCopper Inc. (TSX:NCQ,NYSEMKT:NCQ) press release