ONTARIO - Toronto-based NORTH AMERICAN PALLADIUM (NAP) has released its first NI43-101-compliant resources estimate for the Shebandowan West nickel-copper-PGM deposit west of Thunder Bay. The estimate includes 2.58 million tonnes of measured and indicated material grading 0.91% Ni, 0.62% Cu, 1.09 g/t Pd, 0.34 g/t Pt and 0.23 g/t Au. There are also 340,000 tonnes of inferred resources grading 1.11% Ni, 0.61% Cu, 0.97 g/t Pd, 0.27 g/t Pt and 0.18 g/t Au.
The Shebandowan West deposit is located less than 100 km from the company's Lac des Iles palladium mine. NAP has the right to earn a 50% interest in the deposit from CVRD INCO. Four mineralized zones (Shaft, West, Road and D) are covered by the agreement.
As the name suggests, the Shebandowan West project is located immediately west of the former Shebandowan mine. The former mine, which was in operation from 1971 to 1998, produced 8.7 million tonnes of ore at 2.07% Ni, 1.00% Cu and approximately 3.0 g/t PGE and gold. The mineralization found at the Shebandowan West is believed to represent an extension of the Shebandowan mine orebody.
The nickel-copper mineralization on the property is hosted by an east-west-striking, steeply dipping unit of ultramafic volcanic rocks, and is viewed as having similarities to the nickel-copper mineralization found in the Kambalda region of Australia or in the Raglan area in Canada. On the Shebandowan property, the nickel-copper-bearing sulphide minerals (chiefly pentlandite and chalcopyrite, respectively) mainly occur as breccia- and stringer-style mineralization with sections of semi-massive to massive sulphides, according to NAP.
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