The Iron Creek cobalt project in Idaho, US, has received its first National Instrument 43-101-compliant inferred mineral resource estimate, TSX-V and ASX-listed First Cobalt announced on Wednesday.
The inferred mineral resource is estimated at 29.6-million tons (26.9-million tonnes) grading 0.11% cobalt equivalent under a base case scenario, pit constrained and deeper mineral resource. An alternative underground-only scenario results in 4.9-million tons (4.4-million tonnes) grading 0.30% cobalt equivalent.
The resource contains 45-million pounds (20 411 t) of cobalt and 175-million pounds (79 379 t) of copper for 62.9-million pounds (28 528 t) of cobalt equivalent.
The resource is considered to be open along strike and at depth, with true widths between 10 m and 30 m.
First Cobalt stated that preliminary metallurgical testing concluded that simple flotation methods were applicable, yielding recoveries of 96% for cobalt and 95% for copper in rougher floatation.
A 30 000 m drill programme is ongoing to double the strike length for an updated resource estimate planned for early 2019.
"The initial resource estimate and the pace of progress at Iron Creek have exceeded our expectations. We have delineated a sizeable primary cobalt deposit on patented property and mineralisation continues to expand to the east, west and at depth. The mineralogy is simple and initial metallurgical testwork is very encouraging with high metal recoveries. Cobalt is associated with pyrite rather than minerals containing arsenic, which may offer processing and offtake advantages," president and CEO Trent Mell said.
Mine Development Associates in Reno, Nevada was retained to prepare a resource estimate for the Iron Creek cobalt and copper project. The resource estimate was based on data from 62 diamond drill holes, totalling 15 235 m.