Russian nickel copper sulphide project begins industry low cost drilling phase

By Dale Benton
Amur Minerals Corporation, a nickel-copper sulphide mineral exploration and resource development company, with a specific focus on the far east of Russi...

Amur Minerals Corporation, a nickel-copper sulphide mineral exploration and resource development company, with a specific focus on the far east of Russia, has initiated its 2017 drill programme.

The Kun-Manie nickel copper sulphide project, wholly-owned by Amur, is one of the largest potential economic contributors to the Far East region of Russia.

Kun Manie is strategically located near the three largest nickel consuming nations in the world. For reference, that’s China, Korea and Japan.

Amur has a 20-year period for production, ending in July 2035 and will look to recover 100 percent of nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium, gold and silver.  

Predominantly an exploration project, the commencement of drilling represents a shift in focus in the eyes of Robin Young, CEO of Amur Minerals.

During the 2016 season, Amur recorded drilling costs per metre of US$40, which included labour, drill consumables and analytical results. 

Similar costs are anticipated for this year and will rank among the lowest within the mineral drilling industry

And in other great news for the project, for the second year in a row drilling has been initiated well ahead of the planned 1 June 2017 start date, with this year's drill season commencing on 5 May 2017

“With our 2017 field season commencing ahead of schedule, matching the earliest start on record, our team is highly motivated to match last year's incredible results, which provided major upgrades to the potential of Kun-Manie.  Resource expansion and the substantial uplift in our average nickel and other metal grades available for the determination of mineable reserves have set us a high bar to match,”

''We look forward to reporting our results and achievements as they develop over the course of this drill season.  It is with great interest and anticipation that we are now beginning to test the two largest remaining targets as well as move toward increasing our existing 80 million tonne Measured and Indicated resource inventory.  We are also pleased to have reached the point where we are able to complete drill tasks which are intended to lead to operating permits specific to the mining operations.  This addition reflects that we no longer consider Amur to be an explorer, but a company with a project that can be classified as a world class operation."

Look out in an upcoming issue of Mining Global for an exclusive feature on Amur Minerals and Robin Young, CEO of Amur Minerals.

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