NovaCopper Reports 173% Increase in Indicated Resources at the Bornite Project

NovaCopper (NYSEMKT:NCQ;TSX:NCQ) announced the release of an updated National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) compliant resource estimate for the Bornite Project located in the highly prospective Ambler mining district of northwest Alaska. This release incorporates recent work to advance the 3D lithology, alteration and structure model for the Bornite deposit, as well as the results of the 2014 assaying of previously un-sampled or partially sampled historical Kennecott drill core.
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 40.5 million tonnes at 1.02% copper for 913 million pounds of contained copper.
• At a base case 0.50% copper cutoff grade, the Bornite Project is estimated to contain in-pit Inferred Resources of 84.1 million tonnes at 0.95% copper for 1.8 billion pounds of contained copper.
• At a base case 1.50% copper cutoff grade, the Bornite Project is estimated to contain below-pit Inferred Resources of 57.8 million tonnes at 2.89% copper for 3.7 billion pounds of contained copper.
• Contained copper in Indicated Resources has increased from 334 to 913 million pounds which constitutes a 173% increase in contained metal.
• Total contained copper in Inferred Resources has decreased from 5,969 to 5,450 million pounds (1,768Mlbs in-pit and 3,683Mlbs below-pit) which constitutes a 4% decrease in contained metal.  The reduction in contained copper is due principally to moving in-pit Inferred Resources to the Indicated category.

Nova Copper President and CEO, Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, stated:

We are extremely pleased with the expansion of the Indicated Resources at Bornite. This increase in in-pit Indicated Resources is a huge value-add for shareholders. This increase came at a very low cost as we were able to effectively utilize an extensive database that has been developed on this property.  By applying a well-executed, geologically-focused re-log and re-assay program we have added more high quality copper resources at an average grade of approximately 1% copper in a potential open-pit mine scenario. The resource model also shows that there is ample room to expand the resources adjacent to the current in-pit endowment, as well as down dip to the north and east of the below-pit resources. Importantly, given that the amount of contained metal in the in-pit resource is insensitive to changes in the copper cutoff grade, the project should provide great flexibility in mining selectivity during future mine planning.
The latest results on Bornite further demonstrate that Ambler is evolving into one of the world’s major mining districts. Bornite is located approximately 26 kilometers southwest of our advanced Arctic project. When combined with our high-grade (5.9% copper equivalent¹) potentially open-pit resource at Arctic, currently being advanced towards a pre-feasibility level of study, and safe jurisdictional location in mining-friendly Alaska, we believe the Ambler mining district represents a unique opportunity in the global copper space – not to mention our significant resources of zinc, gold and silver!

Connect with NovaCopper (NYSEMKT:NCQ;TSX:NCQ) to receive an Investor Presentation.