Amur Minerals Corporation (LON:AMC) has completed around 25% of its planned drilling for 2018 at its Kun-Manie nickel-copper sulphide project in Russia.
The AIM-listed mine said since the start of the drill programme on May 6, it completed 5,078.2 metres, with 1,085 mineralised samples prepared and analysed for nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum and palladium.
READ: Amur Minerals estimates Kun-Manie nickel costs will be below industry average
The group added that to fulfil Russian licensing requirements and to progress towards mine design and production, detailed infill drilling was necessary, with work completed at both the Maly Kurumkon / Flangovy (MKF) and Ikenskoe / Sobolevsky (IKEN) mineral trends.
Additional infill drilling (totalling c.2,800 metres) is planned at both the Vodorazdelny (VOD) and Kubuk (KUB) sites and would begin this month, the company said.
Regarding the current infill drilling results, Amur said that it had confirmed the continuity of mineralisation and indicated metal content at both the IKEN and MKF deposits, with a high grade ore block (ranging from 0.9% to 1.0% nickel) also discovered at IKEN which could “positively impact the economic potential of the project”.
Robin Young, Amur Minerals chief executive, said: “Having planned to drill approximately 20,000 metres over the course of the season, and having already completed more than 5,000 metres of drilling, we are rapidly advancing towards the completion of our 2018 drill objectives.
He added: "The Russian Federation infill drilling requirement allows the Company to complete detailed exploration, post reserves with the State Reserves Committee, ("GZK"), and progress towards mine designs and approval for the construction phase. This infill drilling has already been completed at two of the four deposits.”