Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
For more information:
Pure Silver Exploration Company
Dear Member,
Significant discovery at El Ocote potentially doubles silver resource
Company bound for producer status
Well-financed with $1.4 million in the treasury
"Pure" silver play with experienced management team
With a significant new discovery under its belt at Honduras' El Ocote concession, Vancouver-based SilverCrest Mines is well on its way to achieving its goal of becoming a high grade silver mine operator throughout North, Central and South America.
At the feasibility phase, El Ocote is one of four 100%-owned concessions in SilverCrest's Honduran portfolio, the other three being Opoteca, La Pochota, and the "grass roots" Arena Blanca area.
Completion last summer of a C$700,000 private placement through Cannacord Capital, combined with a non-brokered private placement for C$250,000, gives SilverCrest the working capital necessary to continue its exploration activities on all four properties over the next 12 months.
"We've also had some warrants exercised," said SilverCrest President Scott Drever. "Our treasury has about $1.4 million now, and that's certainly sufficient for the first set of drilling on the Honduran projects."
As a pure silver play, management is expecting SilverCrest to benefit from a small pool of competitors in financial markets.
"There are very few pure silver companies," Drever Explained. "And there are silver bugs as well as gold bugs in the market. The silver bugs are just as enthusiastic as the gold bugs."
The 384-hectare El Ocote concession is about 220 kilometers west of Tegucigalpa and 20 kilometers east of the city of Ocotepeque in the Department of Ocotepeque.
Initial estimates for El Ocote Breccia Pipe show indicated and inferred silver resources at 16.2 million ounces – but that was before the newly discovered "Rosita Extension," which the company believes has the potential to double or even triple the El Ocote resource.
Initially, aerial photographs showed the the "Rosita Structure" with a strike length of nearly 1000 metres, about half of which had been confirmed on the ground. At least 150 metres carries significant silver values over combined widths of at least 60 metres ("Rosita Extension").
In October, the company announced that additional field work has confirmed that the newly discovered Rosita Extension extends both to the southwest and northeast, beyond the previously assumed boundaries of the El Ocote Breccia Pipe. The northeast extension was identified in one previous drill hole that reported silver values of 180 gpt Ag and over 20 metres.
"We need to get in there with a portable rig," Drever said. "The first phase will be six or eight holes, and that would give us a good idea of what the significance of that Rosita Extension is. The main Breccia pipe also needs five or six holes to bring the categories up a bit and allows to get going on the feasibility study."
SilverCrest's Opoteca concession is an advanced stage exploration project with a 13 million ounce resource @125 gpt/3.64 opt silver, amenable to open pit mining, and with resource potential of more than 20 million ounces.
The 600-hectare Opoteca concession is in west-central Honduras about 100 kilometers north of Tegucigalpa and 15 kilometers north of the city of Comayagua in the Department of Comayagua.
Indicated Resources are estimated at 1.3 million tonnes grading 123 g/t silver and 0.17 g/t gold containing 5.6 million equivalent ounces of silver based on a 30 g/t silver cut off grade. Inferred Resources are estimated at 1.7 million tonnes grading 126 g/t silver and 0.10 g/t gold, containing 7.4 million equivalent ounces of silver.
"We've laid out six holes on this," Drever said. "And we'll probably drill four or five wildcats in the other areas."
The company's 400-hectare La Pochota concession, 120 kilometers southwest of Tegucigalpa, has bonanza silver grades of 332 to 514 gpt silver with significant gold credits, confirmation of grades by independent QP.
The deposit is an epithermal vein system with existing and accessible underground workings. Approximately 250 metres of exploration drifting exists with only minor stoping. Various previous operators and engineering reports show the vein ranging between 1 to 4 metres in width.
The vein appears to strike along a dip slope for 600 metres and is measured down dip for 125 metres. Reported grades vary from 332 g/t to 514 g/t silver with significant gold credits. A drill program will be required to test the strike and depth extensions as well as test several parallel structures.
SilverCrest's 200 hectare Arena Blanca concession is an early stage exploration project with high grade potential. Arena Blanca, on cleared land at elevations of 200 to 1000 meters, is in the west-central part of Honduras approximately 200 kilometers north of Tegucigalpa.
The mineralization occurs in a quartzvein/shear zone hosted in granodiorite. The 5 to 6 meter wide quartz vein occurs on a dip slope and has been accessed by an adit and sampled up dip where the zone outcrops on a hilltop.
Sample results from a United Nations report yielded grades ranging from 1,945 g/t to 7,600 g/t silver. A modest first phase drill program will test for mineralized continuity between the adit access and the hilltop.
But, Drever said, this project could move up the priority list "simply because of the grades we've seen there. It's still grass roots, but it's so intriguing."
Minews Story
Date : November 5, 2003
The Ex-Sutton Resources Team Are On Track To Duplicate Success With Canico.
Michael Kenyon was in London a couple of weeks ago to bring investors up to date with Canadian listed Canico and its Onca Puma nickel project in Brazil. Apart from the fact that nickel is still flavour of the month, this project is considered by several leading brokers in Canada to be a world class project in the making. Unusually Michael Kenyon and his team have been here before as they discovered and developed the Bulyanhulu gold deposit in Tanzania before selling it on as part of Sutton Resources to Barrick for US$325 million three years ago. Not that things have gone all their way with Onca Puma. When they visited London in April 2002 they were struggling to raise US$22.5 million in order to take up the option from Inco to acquire the deposit.
In the event Michael Kenyon had to ask for an extension of the payment terms. This was given; the payment was made earlier this year when raising capital for mining projects became easier; and a scoping study is expected later this month. The deposits on the Onca Puma property were first discovered by Inco in the 1970s and when Canico did its deal the resource was estimated at just under 50 million tonnes grading 2.3% nickel and 0.90% cobalt. Since then a major drilling programme has been carried out and the resource has been enlarged to 104.4 million tonnes grading 2.15% nickel and 0.11% cobalt. As a result it can now be claimed to be one of the world’s highest grade undeveloped nickel laterite deposits and there is plenty of potential for its size to increase as it is open laterally and at depth
A scoping study was carried out in 1997 which assumed that the deposits could be exploited using conventional smelting technology. Based on this the project had a net present value of US$107 million assuming a nickel price of US$3.0/lb and a 10 per cent discount rate. The current scoping study, due to be released shortly, is evaluating various development options for Onca Puma so that it can advance to a feasibility study which should be ready before the end of next year. The basic choices are between producing nickel matte which would be expensive, but Inco would purchase all the matte with payments based on a sliding scale based on the nickel price, or ferronickel for which there is great demand and Inco would help on marketing.
The answer seems to be the ferronickel route using pyro-metallurgical methods. The project could be developed in two phases. The first would involve a production facility capable of treating 1.25 million tonnes of ore a year and this could be upgraded to 2.5 million tonnes a year in the third year. At the moment the timetable looks like production should start before the end of 2006. It is impossible at this stage, however, to go firm on any of this. Stockbrokers RBC Capital has estimated that development of the 1st Phase would cost US$600 million and that 70 per cent of this would come from bank loans. This would leave Canico to find US$180 million which is a just about half its current market capitalisation Not an easy task, but the company has some hefty shareholders and the management has an excellent record.
The answer may be for the company to raise a significant proportion of this money before the bankable feasibility study is completed. Such a move would bring with it two advantages. First, it could start work on development work such as detailed design which would help to bring forward the anticipated date for production to start. And second it would persuade potential lenders that the money was virtually in the bag. The alternative, of course, would be to bring in a major partner. Clearly Inco with its 18 per cent interest already in Canico would be first in the queue. Michael Kenyon, however, says that the preferred option would be for his company to develop the mine itself and the sums certainly confirm that this route has plenty of attractions. Either way it is a company worth watching.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREVIOUS PAGE / PRIVACY / JOIN US / CONTACT US
Copyright © 2003 MINESITE. All rights reserved.
News from Reuters
Canico Eyes $500 Million Cost to Build Nickel Mine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
Hide advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19:39 EDT Monday, September 29, 2003
By Nicole Mordant
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canadian mining junior Canico Resource Corp. , which owns one of the world's prized nickel deposits, said on Monday it expects to sink $500 million to $600 million into building a mine and plant at the site in Brazil.
Canico's chief executive, Michael Kenyon, said an independent scoping study, due next month, would provide a clearer idea of the capital cost of developing Onca-Puma, a big-tonnage, high-grade nickel laterite deposit whose expanding size has propelled the firm's stock by 350 percent this year.
"I don't see why the cost would be much different from Loma," Kenyon told Reuters in an interview.
Anglo American Plc's Loma de Niquel mine in Venezuela, one of the last nickel laterite facilities built, cost around $525 million, Kenyon said.
Kenyon expected operating costs to range between $1.35 and $1.60 a pound. The bottom of the range reflects the world's lowest-cost nickel laterite producers, while the upper end represents the likes of Inco Ltd.'s PT Inco facility in Indonesia.
The mine could start production in 2006 or 2007 with potential output of 50 million pounds (22,679 tonnes) of nickel a year. A possible later expansion could double production.
Nickel is one of the hottest topics in metal markets at the moment. It has jumped 45 percent in value this year on gathering expectations the next three years will show a shortage of new supply to meet growing world demand.
The market has high expectations of Canico, whose management team, previously with Sutton Resources, financed and started developing Tanzania's Bulyanhulu gold project. Sutton was later sold to Barrick Gold Corp. for $353 million.
JUNIOR FINANCING
Although successful so far at keeping its shareholders happy, Canico, as a small exploration company with a market capitalization of about $270 million, has work ahead of it securing debt finance from banks for the project.
Kenyon is just back from a trip with analysts and bankers to the project in Brazil's Para state. Canico started the wooing process early, although funding is likely to be approved only after a feasibility study is completed, in late 2004.
The 100 million tonne-plus resource offers the possibility of a two-line plant but Kenyon says there is little chance banks will finance anything more than a single line facility, expected to process 1.25 million tonnes of ore a year.
"We are just not that creditworthy major company," he said.
That said, Canico has a heavyweight in its corner. It is nearly 20 percent owned by Toronto-based Inco. The western world's biggest nickel producer sold Onca-Puma to Canico and has the right of first refusal on the property if the Vancouver-based firm puts it on the block.
Drilling results last month estimated Onca-Puma, at a 1.5 percent nickel cut-off grade, contains a total inferred resource of 104 million tonnes, grading 2.15 percent nickel and 0.11 percent cobalt.
This tripled the previous resource estimate, sending Canico's shares into orbit. They hit a new high of C$13.75 earlier this month. But on Monday the stock closed down 43 Canadian cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange at C$12.65.
($1=$1.35 Canadian)
© Reuters Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction or redistribution of Reuters content, including framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Your Call
After indexes fell last week from mid-September highs, is the correction over?
Yes, it's over
No, expect 5% off Dow
No, expect 10% off Dow
View Results
Your Call brought to you by
GlobeinvestorGOLD.com
News from Reuters
Reuters Canada Business Summary
Reuters (Tuesday, September 30, 2003 at 16:11)
U.S. Stocks Fall for Session, Month; End Quarter Up
Reuters (Tuesday, September 30, 2003 at 16:10)
Shaw Communications Says Founding Family Ups Stake
Reuters (Tuesday, September 30, 2003 at 15:56)
Bank of Canada Sees Solid Growth, Tame Inflation
Reuters (Tuesday, September 30, 2003 at 15:54)
U.S. Stocks Slip on Disappointing Data, Sun Micro
Reuters (Tuesday, September 30, 2003 at 15:35)
Canada Posts July Deficit As Revenues Slide
Reuters (Tuesday, September 30, 2003 at 15:04)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2003 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer / Privacy Policy / Tell a Friend / Help & Contact Us / Back to the Top
Date : Aug 27, 2003
Jubilant Team At Canico Resources Reckon They Are Close To Developing A World Class Nickel Mine At Onca-Puma.
The last time Minews met Michael Kenyon and Jonathan Rubenstein of Canico Resource Corp was in April 2002 At that time the Canico share price was around C$3 and they were not finding it too easy to raise funds for the Onca -Puma nickel project in Brazil. This year things have changed significantly as it has become clear that it is a world class deposit and the shares are now over C$12. There is no intention here of Minews trying to reinvent himself as a share tipster, but just to point out the pace at which things are moving in the mining sector, and particularly in nickel. As Our Man in Oz pointed out today, “Nickel is fascinating. Reminds me of the 66-68 nickel boom which started with a strike at Sudbury, and helped launch WMC at Kambalda.” Nothing new about a nickel boom then, but it also points up the shrewd timing of the Canico team who previously made squillions at Sutton Resources which they built up from a market capitalisation of around US$15 million back in 1990 to the US$325 million paid by Barrick Gold three years ago.
A year or so later they agreed to acquire Onca -Puma from Inco and when last in London were in the process of raising the necessary C$22.5 million to exercise the option. As a result Inco was going to end up with an 18 per cent interest in Canico and two directors on the board. The big Canadian nickel producer had discovered Onca- Puma in the 1970s, but had clearly not given it much priority as when Canico acquired it the near surface deposit had only advanced as far as having an inferred resource of 50 million tonnes grading 2.3% nickel and 0.90% cobalt. However it is worth pointing out that this could warrant a mine with a forty year life producing over 25,000 tonnes of nickel a year from what was claimed as the highest grade undeveloped nickel mine in the world.
Not a bad start , and it gets better as s scoping study carried out in 1997 had assumed that the deposits could be exploited using conventional smelting technology. This was not just guesswork as Inco had done plenty of metallurgical testwork and has agreed to process and/or market all nickel products and also put its technical expertise, which is great, behind the project. Canico’s plan in April 2002 was to start drilling by mid year and complete a bankable feasibility study by the end of 2004. First, however they had to get the money together to exercise the option. This was eventually achieved in February this year when two placements at C$3.31/share raised C$25.2 million and the deal was completed.
Four months later Canico announced that it had drill tested about 17 kilometres of the prospective 20 kilometre strike length of the Onca ridge. The results had confirmed that the mineralization at Onça was thicker, more continuous and considerably more extensive than previously estimated. The new inferred resource calculations have now been announced nad have been the driving force behind the share price in recent weeks. At a 1.5 per cent nickel cut-offgrade the Onca resource is now 69.85 million tones grading 2.12% nickel and 0.123% cobalt and at Puma there are estimated to be 34.6 million tones at 2.21% nickel and 0.07% cobalt. The total inferred resource at the two nickel laterite deposits is therefore 104.4 million tones grading 2.15% nickel and 0.105% cobalt which is well above most expectations
The Onca estimate is based on the results of 485 diamond drill holes and the revision to the Puma estimate is based on the results of an additional 24 diamond drill holes west of the main Puma ridge. This new resource estimate will now be used in a scoping study which should be completed later this year. This will be aimed at establishing order of magnitude parameters for building and operating a nickel mine at Onca-Puma prior to the full feasibility study. At the moment an appropriate cut-off grade has yet to be established for use in mine planning and financial modeling, and this, together with considerations such as strip ratios and mineral chemistry will be important factors in the study.
Ten drills are currently at work on Phase 2 infill drilling at Onca-Puma, which is to be completed on a 100 metre grid. Bulk sample material from a number of excavated pits is being readied for metallurgical pilot plant testing in Norway which is scheduled to begin in November. An initial environmental impact study has been completed and a full study is in progress so it is fair for Michael Kenyon, the CEO of Canico, to claim that a lot has been achieved at Onca -Puma in a short time. His plan is to turn it into a world class nickel producer and the shares are reflecting the odds on him achieving this with Inco at his shoulder.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREVIOUS PAGE / PRIVACY / JOIN US / CONTACT US
Copyright © 2003 MINESITE. All rights reserved.
News StoriesMining CompaniesMining AdvisorsCommoditiesEquipmentIndiciesMetal PricesServicesInvestment CompaniesAustralianCanadian & AmericanSouth AfricanUK & EuropeanMining GuidesRecent StoriesCommodity MoversEuropean IndiciesAccountantsInvestor RelationsLawyersNominated AdvisorsStockbrokersEquipmentPropertiesProductsCountries of OperationExploration TargetsStockmarket ListingsProducts MinedDedRedPendingPendingEuropean IndiciesFTSE Gold IndiciesMajor IndiciesAnnual ConstituentsClosing Gold ValuesRules for EntryPendingCapital PRCity of London PRCitigate Dewe RogersonConduit PRLM AssociatesWH IrelandStockbrokers with Mining InterestsPendingLME Metal PricesPrecious Metal PricesDaily Prices & StocksCPMR Mining ResearchInkerman Group LtdIntierra MappingMilstone GritInt'l Diamond ConsultantsLatest NewsFeaturesBrokersCommodities....Mineral Securities
>/ / /...
News
Commodities
Features
Brokers
Archives
Mining Calendar
Links
Join Us
Contact Us
Oil Barrel
Intierra
Latest 10 virus alerts
28 Aug W32/Blaster-E
27 Aug W32/Tzet-A
22 Aug W32/Agobot-Q
21 Aug W32/Pandem-B
21 Aug Troj/Bdoor-RQ
19 Aug W32/Dumaru-A
19 Aug W32/Sobig-F
19 Aug W32/Blaster-D
18 Aug W32/Nachi-A
15 Aug Troj/Graybird-A
Source: Sophos Anti-Virus
Add this info to your website
Feature Story
Date : Aug 27, 2003
Jubilant Team At Canico Resources Reckon They Are Close To Developing A World Class Nickel Mine At Onca-Puma.
The last time Minews met Michael Kenyon and Jonathan Rubenstein of Canico Resource Corp was in April 2002 At that time the Canico share price was around C$3 and they were not finding it too easy to raise funds for the Onca -Puma nickel project in Brazil. This year things have changed significantly as it has become clear that it is a world class deposit and the shares are now over C$12. There is no intention here of Minews trying to reinvent himself as a share tipster, but just to point out the pace at which things are moving in the mining sector, and particularly in nickel. As Our Man in Oz pointed out today, “Nickel is fascinating. Reminds me of the 66-68 nickel boom which started with a strike at Sudbury, and helped launch WMC at Kambalda.” Nothing new about a nickel boom then, but it also points up the shrewd timing of the Canico team who previously made squillions at Sutton Resources which they built up from a market capitalisation of around US$15 million back in 1990 to the US$325 million paid by Barrick Gold three years ago.
A year or so later they agreed to acquire Onca -Puma from Inco and when last in London were in the process of raising the necessary C$22.5 million to exercise the option. As a result Inco was going to end up with an 18 per cent interest in Canico and two directors on the board. The big Canadian nickel producer had discovered Onca- Puma in the 1970s, but had clearly not given it much priority as when Canico acquired it the near surface deposit had only advanced as far as having an inferred resource of 50 million tonnes grading 2.3% nickel and 0.90% cobalt. However it is worth pointing out that this could warrant a mine with a forty year life producing over 25,000 tonnes of nickel a year from what was claimed as the highest grade undeveloped nickel mine in the world.
Not a bad start , and it gets better as s scoping study carried out in 1997 had assumed that the deposits could be exploited using conventional smelting technology. This was not just guesswork as Inco had done plenty of metallurgical testwork and has agreed to process and/or market all nickel products and also put its technical expertise, which is great, behind the project. Canico’s plan in April 2002 was to start drilling by mid year and complete a bankable feasibility study by the end of 2004. First, however they had to get the money together to exercise the option. This was eventually achieved in February this year when two placements at C$3.31/share raised C$25.2 million and the deal was completed.
Four months later Canico announced that it had drill tested about 17 kilometres of the prospective 20 kilometre strike length of the Onca ridge. The results had confirmed that the mineralization at Onça was thicker, more continuous and considerably more extensive than previously estimated. The new inferred resource calculations have now been announced nad have been the driving force behind the share price in recent weeks. At a 1.5 per cent nickel cut-offgrade the Onca resource is now 69.85 million tones grading 2.12% nickel and 0.123% cobalt and at Puma there are estimated to be 34.6 million tones at 2.21% nickel and 0.07% cobalt. The total inferred resource at the two nickel laterite deposits is therefore 104.4 million tones grading 2.15% nickel and 0.105% cobalt which is well above most expectations
The Onca estimate is based on the results of 485 diamond drill holes and the revision to the Puma estimate is based on the results of an additional 24 diamond drill holes west of the main Puma ridge. This new resource estimate will now be used in a scoping study which should be completed later this year. This will be aimed at establishing order of magnitude parameters for building and operating a nickel mine at Onca-Puma prior to the full feasibility study. At the moment an appropriate cut-off grade has yet to be established for use in mine planning and financial modeling, and this, together with considerations such as strip ratios and mineral chemistry will be important factors in the study.
Ten drills are currently at work on Phase 2 infill drilling at Onca-Puma, which is to be completed on a 100 metre grid. Bulk sample material from a number of excavated pits is being readied for metallurgical pilot plant testing in Norway which is scheduled to begin in November. An initial environmental impact study has been completed and a full study is in progress so it is fair for Michael Kenyon, the CEO of Canico, to claim that a lot has been achieved at Onca -Puma in a short time. His plan is to turn it into a world class nickel producer and the shares are reflecting the odds on him achieving this with Inco at his shoulder.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREVIOUS PAGE / PRIVACY / JOIN US / CONTACT US
Copyright © 2003 MINESITE. All rights reserved.
>Nickel beats the gold and silver picks
By: Tim Wood
Posted: 2003/08/22 Fri 15:26 EDT / © Mineweb 1997-2003
NEW YORK -- We have mentioned several stocks this year as attractive to investors, most of them gold and silver plays. But none has been better than the one we flagged as a potential ten-bagger – Vancouver based Canico [CNI].
The company recently announced that its Onca-Puma nickel laterite deposit in Brazil surpassed the 100 million tonne mark, beating our expected figure by 20 million tonnes. The new resource estimates have tripled previous figures and maintained a remarkable grade of 2.15% nickel after a season of intensive drilling.
Canico is due to complete a scoping study this Fall and has scheduled a full feasibility study for completion in late 2004.
Steady reporting from the project has raised the stock price from C$2.67 when it came to our attention, to C$12, a gain of 349%. If you invested with American dollars, the gain has been an even sweeter - 406% thanks to the strong Canadian currency.
In May we pegged fair value for Canico at C$12-14 on a fully diluted basis. which it is now approaching. It has had a lot of lift from resurgent nickel prices which have topped $4.30 per pound. Nickel has gained on higher imports to Japan, the strike at Inco [N], a market deficit not yet threatened by Voisey's Bay and Goro, and good stainless steel offtake.
Having hit the new tonnage marks, we see Canico as having value up to C$19 assuming a nickel price of $3 per pound, a metal recovery rate of just 70%, a half billion dollar capital cost to bring the mine to production requiring a discounted share placement and maintaining Inco’s stake at the required 18%. At current nickel prices and a recovery rate of 80%, the rule-of-thumb price rises to C$31.
There is some overhang in the market from early warrant holders who are handsomely in the money and that would trigger warrant conversion by Inco in order for it to maintain its stake. The exercise dates loom in late September and October, but hopefully they will be easily mopped up.
Canico still has C$31 million in cash so it is unlikely to need another financing before its feasibility study is completed.