Earth AI, Legacy Minerals make first greenfield palladium discovery using artificial intelligence
The companies announced the verified discovery of one of the largest palladium mineral systems in Australia.
Lonmin Canada (Loncan), a subsidiary of Sibanye-Stillwater, has appointed Toronto’s Wallbridge Mining Co. to be the operator of the advanced stage Denison nickel-copper-PGM property near Sudbury. Wallbridge has received a 20% ownership share of Loncan and a seat on the Loncan board of directors as part of the arrangement.
The Denison property was previously known as the Crean Hill mine. It was developed by Inco and later operated by Vale Canada. By the time mining was suspended in the early 2000s, the mine has produced 16 million tonnes of underground ore grading 1.22% nickel, 1.11% copper and 1.92 g/t total precious metals plus 5.04 g/t gold. There was also an open pit that produced 1 million tonnes grading 0.73% nickel, 0.56% copper and 0.025% cobalt.
Recent drilling intersections located outside any resource estimate for the Denison project are promising. They include 1.69% nickel, 2.28% copper and 2.37 g/t total precious metals over 8.23 metres in the 99 Shaft zone and 1.87% nickel, 0.95% copper and 3.14 g/t total precious metals over 6.16 metres in the 109 West zone;
Wallbridge will launch separate exploration teams to the Denison project and the company’s Fenelon gold property in Quebec.
Francois Demers, VP mining and projects of Wallbridge, has been appointed to lead all Wallbridge matters as they relate to Loncan in addition to Wallbridge’s existing joint venture agreements with Lonmin. “The first order of business will be to combine all historic resources on the Denison property into one complete NI-43-101 compliant resource estimate and to complete an economic study,” he said.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
