Rockcliff grows Rail deposit resource

Rockcliff Metals team outside of the Bucko mill (Credit: Rockcliff)

Rockcliff Metals has released an updated resource for its wholly owned Rail deposit in Manitoba, with both the total resource tonnes and contained copper-equivalent metal at the 20-sq.-km property more than doubling.

Indicated resources have increased to 1.17 million tonnes at 3.52% copper-equivalent for a total of 90.7 million lb. of contained copper-equivalent metal, compared to 820,000 tonnes at 3.9% copper-equivalent containing 70.3 million lb. of metal previously.

Indicated resources have increased to 1.17 million tonnes at 3.52% copper-equivalent for a total of 90.7 million lb. of contained copper-equivalent metal

In addition, the latest release also includes a new high-grade inferred resource of 728,000 tonnes grading 4.09% copper-equivalent, which contains a further 65.6 million lb. of copper-equivalent.

"We are very pleased with that the successful drill programs at Rail have added substantially to the Rail indicated classification tonnage," CEO Alistair Ross said in a release.

"The high-grade Rail deposit remains open along strike and at depth and several additional nearby copper targets remain untested."

Rockcliff intends to complete a preliminary economic assessment for Rail in the first half of this year. The previous resource estimate for this property was completed back in 2010.

Last year, the company completed over 30,000 metres of drilling across the Rail, Tower and Talbot properties within Manitoba's Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt; a further 70,000 metres is planned for 2020.

With a lease on the 1,000 t/d Bucko mill and processing facility within trucking distance, Rockcliff plans to make potential production decisions for the deposits at the end of the year.

(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)