Cadillac Ventures Looks to Take Former Tungsten Mine to Production, Armed with Experience

Late in November, the Toronto-based company announced that it resumed exploration on the property, which covers more than 125 square kilometres and has NI 43-101 compliant tungsten, tin and molybdenum resources. 

The base metals explorer has generated buzz since the news, with its stock up more than 10 per cent in the last month.

The phase 1 ground exploration program at the property will target the Tin Hill, Burnt Hill Brook Area, the Burnt Hill Mine Area, and the 2 1/2 Mile Brook Area, with two prospecting crews currently in the field. 

The company has said that the sampling program in each area has successfully located outcrop mineralization with quartz veining at each site. The mineralization found has been sampled, with more than 2,800 samples submitted to a lab for testing, with results to be released when available.

Cadillac has just raised $1.2 million under a recent financing to fund exploration, and plans to raise more funds next year. 

Burnt Hill currently holds 461,000 tonnes of total NI 43-101 compliant underground and open pit resources in the indicated category, grading 0.489% tungsten and 0.01% tin. The inferred category holds a total of 590,000 tonnes, grading 0.535% tungsten and 0.013% tin.

Cadillac also stands to benefit from its nickel and copper Thierry project in northwestern Ontario, which consists of the past producing Thierry Mine and hosts two NI 43-101 compliant resources at the Thierry Mine and the K1-1 deposit. 

In September, the company released results from its summer drilling program on the K1-1 open pit deposit, located about three kilometres from the Thierry Mine. It said the campaign was a success as each hole found mineralization outside of the current NI 43-101 compliant Whittle Pit model. The results included notable intersections such as 225 feet at 0.48% copper and 0.11% nickel, as well as 160.2 feet at 0.51% copper and 0.1% nickel.

Based on a preliminary economic assessment, the Thierry project was estimated to produce a total of 5.25 million tonnes per year, comprised of 3.85 million tonnes from open pit, and 1.4 million tonnes from the underground operation.

The report showed a pre-tax net present value of $380 million using a six per cent discount rate and an internal rate of return, on a pre-tax basis, of 19 per cent, with a life-of-mine NSR revenue total of $3.7 billion.

Total estimated capital costs were seen at $843 million, or $11.93 per tonne, with a payback period of four years from the start of commercial production on pre-production capital.

In the meantime, the junior base metals explorer is planning to continue drilling on the K1-1 deposit, with the aim of creating “substantially more tonnage” on the open pit deposit. The company is working to update the resource at K1-1, and is targeting "further positive results" outside the current pit, with mineralization extending at depth.

Brewster says that an additional 5,000 to 7,000 metres needs to be drilled before the K1-1 resource is updated, with around 3,000 metres having been drilled so far. Baseline monitoring and environmental work is also continuing at Thierry, but a partnership is necessary to take the project to the next level. 

Discussions for a potential partnership agreement at Thierry are ongoing. The Thierry Mine, which remains open at depth and to the west, has 8.8 million tonnes in estimated measured and indicated resources and 14.9 million tonnes of inferred, using a cut-off NSR of C$41/tonne. The open pit K1-1 deposit holds 53.61 million tonnes in the inferred category, at an NSR cut-off of C$11/tonne.

• < Prev
• Next >