NOW READ THE HISTORICAL REPORTS With a mindset on how former owners calculated the resource....
- East + West
- Blend entire deposit ( one large open pit )
In my opinion, i'd revert back to the East West concept.
High grades
Heck.... there was over 2 billion pounds of, copper assessed at one point.
The Preliminary Economic Assessment released in Jun/2012 recommended developing the Wellgreen deposit as a conventional, diesel truck-shovel open pit mine using a conventional concentrator to produce bulk nickel-copper-platinum group elements concentrate. The study envisioned a projected mine life of 37 years with a nominal mining rate of 111 500 tonnes/day and an onsite concentrator processing 32 000 tonnes/day. The initial capital cost was estimated at $863 million and the project was expected to produce (in concentrate) 888 571 177 kg nickel, 933 199 575 kg copper, 60 669 267 kg cobalt, 41 547 495 g (grams) gold, 76 629 263 g platinum and 102 623 012 g palladium.
Running with a ( one large open pit ) may have caused a blend of lower grades
mixed with higher grades = more tonnage = dilution of grades.
Own opinion.
In addition, the periodite nickel could be where the lower grade nickel resides,
Separating the Shaw into several zonations, east, west, serpentines
could result in better economic format.
Ever since Nickel Creek ownership...
Copper grades diminished ?
Link -
https://data.geology.gov.yk.ca/Occurrence/17432#InfoTab