North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, who is stepping down as the president and CEO of Novagold Resources Ltd., is jumping into the driver's seat of NovaCopper Inc., a vehicle designed for the continued exploration of NovaGold's Ambler project and other prospects in the Upper Kobuk region of Northwest Alaska.

"My passion is exploration and just like we found two other world-class, high-quality targets in Donlin and Galore (projects), we are looking to do the same thing in the Ambler district," Van Nieuwenhuyse told Mining News during a Dec. 15 interview.

Upon NovaGold shareholder and other customary approvals, NovaCopper's exploration portfolio will boast Arctic and Bornite, two of the highest grade un-mined copper deposits in the world.

In October, NovaGold and NANA Regional Corp. forged a partnership that consolidates NovaGold's (NovaCopper's) Ambler project and lands owned by the Alaska Native regional corporation into an 180,000-hectare (445,000-acre) land package currently known as the Upper Kobuk Mineral Project.

Arctic - the most advanced of the projects on NovaCopper's Ambler property - currently has an indicated resource of 16.8 million metric tons averaging 4.1 percent copper and 6 percent zinc. The deposit has an additional 12.1 million metric tons averaging 3.5 percent copper and 4.9 percent zinc in the inferred resource category.

At a copper-equivalent grade of 8.3 percent, the Arctic project is regarded as one of the highest-grade undeveloped volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits in the world.

Bornite - the most promising of the prospects on the land NANA brings to the Upper Kobuk Mineral Project - is a carbonate replacement-style deposit that contains some 70 million metric tons averaging 1.2 percent copper and at least 454,000 metric tons of higher grade ore averaging around 4 percent copper, according to exploration carried out by Kennecott Exploration Co. during the 1950s and 1960s.

After some 5,900 meters of drilling carried out by NovaGold in 2011, the company believes that Bornite is bigger and higher grade than the historical resource suggests.

"We had the first year of exploration on the Bornite property with some absolutely spectacular drill results," Van Nieuwenhuyse said.

Spectacular copper in 2012

The initial six holes, RC11-181 to 186, of NovaGold's 2011 program have more than confirmed the historical high-grade copper zones within the Bornite deposit.

Highlights of the confirmation drilling:

RC11-181 cut 17.6 meters grading 8.4 percent copper. Overall the hole intersected four mineralized intervals totaling 122.3 meters averaging 2.3 percent copper;

RC11-182 cut two mineralized intervals totaling 93.2 meters averaging 2.1 percent copper;

RC11-183 cut 6.8 meters grading 24.5 percent copper within a mineralized interval totaling 26.3 meters grading 6.7 percent copper;

RC11-184 cut 5.5 meters grading 28.5 percent copper within a mineralized interval totaling 31.9 meters grading 5.4 percent copper;

RC11-185 cut 18.1 meters grading 3.8 percent copper. Overall the hole intersected two mineralized intervals totaling 121.3 meters averaging 1.4 percent copper; and

RC11-186 cut three mineralized intervals totaling 153.1 meters averaging 1.2 percent copper.

NovaCopper will incorporate these drill results into NI 43-101-compliant resource, expected to be completed early in 2012.

While the confirmation drilling cut grades that more than proved the robustness of Bornite, the most exciting results came in two exploration holes drilled into South Reef, a new zone located some 500 meters northeast of the historical deposit.

RC11-187, the first hole to target South Reef, cut a continuous 178 meters averaging 4 percent copper, including 34.7 meters at 12 percent copper.

"It is one of the best copper holes drilled in the world, ever!" said a beaming Van Nieuwenhuyse.

After losing several holes before reaching target depth, NovaGold also was able to drill a second hole into the South Reef zone.

RC11-194, drilled 700 meters along strike to the northeast of RC11-187, cut 110.6 meters of 2.6 percent copper.

Given the grades, thicknesses and apparent strike-extent, South Reef is shaping up to be a substantial addition to the Bornite project ,and Nova Copper plans to enable a resource to be calculated for the project at the end of the 2012 drill season.

"We are very excited about our initial drilling at Bornite, specifically the discovery of a new zone at South Reef, and we will be following that up with an exploration program next year," Van Nieuwenhuyse told Mining News.

Preparing for 2012 drilling

NovaCopper is already busy planning the 2012 drill program for the Upper Kobuk Mineral Project. Van Nieuwenhuyse told Mining News that the company plans to open up the Bornite camp in April and is currently securing drills, helicopter and all of the other components need for a successful exploration program.

"We will look forward to a good, aggressive drill program next year - I am excited!" said the incoming NovaCopper president and CEO.

The Upper Kobuk Mineral Project consists of two contemporaneous and adjacent mineralized belts - the Devonian Ambler VMS belt blanketed by NovaCopper's 90,624 acres of state, federal and patented mining claims and the Devonian Bornite carbonate-hosted copper-cobalt belt that is hosted primarily on the lands owned by NANA.

Prior to 2011, NovaGold's exploration in the district focused on the Arctic deposit which lies some 26 kilometers (16 miles) to northeast of the Bornite deposit.

A preliminary economic assessment prepared for Arctic early in 2011 envisions a 4,000-metric-ton-per-day-mine producing some 1.7 billion pounds of copper, 2 billion pounds of zinc, 291 million pounds of lead, 266,000 ounces of gold and 22 million ounces of silver over a 25-year mine life.

Van Nieuwenhuyse said previous investigations of the Upper Kobuk - primarily by companies exploring the region in the 1960s and 1970s - has revealed more than a dozen promising exploration targets and selecting which of these prospects to drill is "a bit like being a kid in a candy store."

"We have other areas we want to target in the Bornite area of the Cosmos Hills and we have some excellent targets to follow up on adjacent to the Arctic deposit," Van Nieuwenhuyse explained.

It is proposed that the shares of NovaCopper will be distributed to shareholders of NovaGold as a return of capital by way of a plan of arrangement under the Companies Act (Nova Scotia). NovaGold shareholders will vote on the plan at a special meeting scheduled for February.

"Management believes that this is one of the most exciting copper opportunities in the industry, and we are planning an increased work program next year to expand the newly identified South Reef deposit at Bornite as well as test a number of other VMS targets in the district. These outstanding drill results demonstrate the potential for Ambler to become one of the highest-grade and most- significant polymetallic copper-dominant districts in the world," said Van Nieuwenhuyse. "We are encouraged by this season's drilling campaign and believe that our shareholders will derive significant value from direct ownership of these valuable and exciting assets."

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (907) 726-1095
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-lasley-ab073b12/