Sue-Dianne Copper-Silver-Gold Deposit
Fortune Minerals Limited owns a 100% interest in the Sue-Dianne copper-silver-gold deposit located in the Northwest Territories within Tlicho Territory, ~25 km north of the NICO deposit and 75 km north of Whati. The deposit is situated on a 451-ha lease that Fortune acquired from Noranda in 1996 as part of a regional approach to exploration.
The Sue-Dianne deposit occurs in a similar geological setting to the NICO deposit and is hosted in strongly iron oxide altered and brecciated ignimbrite of the Faber Group immediately above the volcanic unconformity with underlying Treasure Island Group metasedimentary rocks.The base of the deposit is intruded by the Faber Lake Rapakivi Granite Pluton, and the deposit is also associated with transverse faults that splay from the nearby Wopmay Fault. Sue-Dianne mineralization consists of iron-oxide cemented and potassium altered breccias and microbreccias with disseminated and fracture filling chalcopyrite, chalcocite and bornite copper sulphide minerals, pyrite and local molybdenite.The deposit is delineated by surface trenches and the assays from 61 drill holes intercepts.
The Sue-Dianne In-pit Mineral Resources total 10 million tonnes, averaging 0.8% copper at a 0.4% copper cut-off value.An additional 14 million tonnes of potential Mineral Resources are identified outside of the pit shell, and the deposit remains open for potential expansion to the east and at depth.
Micon 2008 Resource Estimate @ 0.4% cut-off
| Classification | Tonnes | Cu | Ag (g/T) | Au (g/T) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicated | 8,444,000 | 0.80 | 3.2 | 0.07 |
| Inferred | 1,620,000 | 0.79 | 2.4 | 0.07 |
Fortune carried out metallurgical test work on the Sue-Dianne mineralization at SGS Canada Inc. in Lakefield, Ontario and determined that a good quality copper concentrate can be produced by bulk flotation concentration methods. Hydrometallurgical studies also determined that the copper and gold could be recovered by pressure oxidation of the copper concentrate using similar conditions as the NICO ores. However, the two concentrates are not amenable to blending indicating that batch processing will be required for processing Sue-Dianne mineralization or it may be processed in a dedicated mill and concentrator. The Sue-Dianne deposit represents incremental mill feed to extend the life of the NICO concentrator and Alberta Refinery.
