The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor It is nowhere near the size of Lalor, that other renowned Snow Lake area ore body. But the Reed Lake deposit still appears highly promising following the release of an initial guideline-compliant mineral estimate. The report, unveiled last week, calculates that the deposit contains 2.55 million tonnes of indicated ore with an eye-catching copper grade of 4.52 per cent. Neil Richardson of VMS Ventures, the junior miner that owns the property along with HudBay Minerals, said in a news release that he is pleased by the "remarkably high copper values." See 'VMS...' on pg. 3 Continued from pg. 1 "With today's copper prices, and when we combine the favourable characteristics of the Reed Lake deposit, in particular the very high-grade copper component being near vertical and near surface," said Richardson, the company's chief operating officer, "with the likelihood this will be in production next year, benefits should flow to our shareholders much more quickly than would be the case if we had grades more typical of this belt." Added VMS CEO Rick Mark in an e-mail to shareholders: "Clearly, the [copper] grade steals the show." Though HudBay has stopped short of confirming that Reed Lake will become a mine, Richardson said VMS looks "forward to HudBay developing the project quickly." HudBay said the release of the resource estimate will allow it to complete a pre-feasibility study. The HBMS parent said permitting and pre-feasibility efforts will be conducted throughout 2011 with the expectation of a construction decision Ð for or against Ð by year-end. In addition to the indicated copper grade, Reed Lake contains 0.91 per cent zinc, 7.86 grams per tonne silver and 0.64 g/t gold, according to the new report. Ore The report also shows 170,000 tonnes of ore in the less reliable "inferred" category. This ore also contains a high copper grade, 4.26 per cent, along with 0.52 per cent zinc, 4.55 g/t silver and 0.38 g/t gold. HudBay said exploration at the property will continue with efforts in the immediate future. They will focus on near-deposit geophysical anomalies as well as on completing required exploration on adjacent option properties into which HudBay is earning from VMS. HudBay classifies Reed Lake as a deposit that could be accessed via a ramp with the ore trucked to the Flin Flon concentrator. 70-30 HudBay has a 70 per cent stake in the Reed Lake joint venture, with VMS holding the remainder. HudBay acts as the operator with authority and discretion as to the exploration and potential development. A guideline-compliant resource estimate of Lalor, released in 2008, showed 16.6 million tonnes of indicated and inferred ore. That includes 3.4 million indicated tonnes grading 8.82 per cent zinc and 0.71 per cent copper with 20.5 g/t silver and 1.9 g/t gold; and 13.2 million inferred tonnes grading 8.19 per cent zinc and 0.70 per cent copper with 34.1 g/t silver and 2.9 g/t gold. Lalor is already confirmed as HudBay's next northern Manitoba mine, with initial production ready to begin next year and full production set for 2014.
