Landore Resources: Poised to take Junior Lake nickel-copper project into development

Canadian minerals explorer Landore Resources (LON:LND) is getting closer to establishing a commercial nickel-copper mine at Junior Lake, chief executive Richard Prickett told Proactive Investors.

Prickett explained that in the coming months the group’s immediate focus is on bringing the Junior Lake nickel and copper resources up, so it can move the project into the mine development phase.

“We’ve always said that if we can increase our deposit from 50,000 to 75,000 tonnes then we’ve got a very economic nickel-copper mine,” he said.

“We’ve done a lot of the scoping work, the metallurgical testing and environmental studies. 

“A little bit more resources will take us straight forward to a feasibility study. And after that we’ll be able to move the project towards production.

Landore first discovered the Junior lake nickel and copper deposits back in 2005. 

Now nearly seven years later the project is on the brink of becoming a commercially viable development project.

At the moment it comprises three areas of interest - the VW and B4-7 deposits as well as the B4-8 exploration target. 

These areas are found on the western edge of the 33 square kilometre licence area at Junior Lake. In all, the three areas cover just less than 8 square kilometres. 

Landore believes these deposits become economically viable at 75,000 tonnes nickel equivalent. And in the months ahead it is hoped the project can be pushed beyond this threshold.

“The mineralisation is definitely there,” Prickett said. 

“What we’ve got to do now is plug away at it. We are still drilling at the moment and there will be more results before the end of the year.”

In August the company revealed a batch of drill results from B4-8 which encountered massive sulphide mineralisation similar to the adjacent B4-7. Landore considered these results to be quite significant. 

Meanwhile VW and B4-7 are open in all directions. And Landore’s current drilling work is exploring how far the deposits can be expanded.

“Our expectations are high,” Prickett added.

“The signals are looking good. Everything is still open and there is no reason to believe that the deposits don’t continue.” 

Landore is fully funded on its work at Junior Lake until the first quarter of next year.

While most of the group’s money and effort are being spent at Junior Lake, it is important to point out that there is much more to Landore beyond this relatively near term prospect. 

In all, the company owns several promising mineral exploration projects in Ontario, Canada. Its asset portfolio spans a variety of metal commodities - including nickel, copper, gold, iron, silver and even lithium.

Most of these are pretty early stage. But Landore is not burdened with any notable obligations to maintain its interests in these projects.  

“We’ve got lots of early stage assets. None of them have any significant spending commitments,” Prickett said. 

“All the projects could probably do with some capital, but you have to assess which ones are going to give the best value in the quickest possible time.

Landore remains very conscious about what going on in the rest of the world, particularly in respect of gold, he added.

“We have got very valuable gold assets further north from Junior Lake.”

The group’s Miminiska Lake and Keezhik Lake gold exploration projects are found on the same trend as two very significant mines, GoldCorp’s Musslewhite and Red Lake mines.

Up until recently the isolated projects were effectively cut off due to high logistical costs of mobilising exploration equipment up to the site.

“They’re small deposits at the moment and Landore has not worked on them for a while.

“We didn’t get up to them last year because drilling costs were quite high. But getting access to the property has improved and it will improve even more in the future.”

Prickett added: “We had teams in there recently and there have been some very interesting results coming from that work.

“We haven’t been able to announce any details on that yet, but we will be able to by the end of the year.

“Those are areas we are having a good look at and we are very interested in them.”

It is understood that capital funding would be required if Landore decided to carry out a major drill programme on these early stage gold projects. But at the moment the work consists of first and second pass exploration, and he says the firm has enough capital for that.

“If we wanted to go and do some major resource drilling we would have to raise money, but we would talk to major shareholders before we did anything,” he added.

“Once we’ve completed that earlier stage exploration work we’ll have a better idea of what’s required capital wise.”

A third, albeit indirect, point of interest for Landore investors is Lamaune Iron. 

The company comprises a potentially significant iron ore mine development project which was spun out of Landore in July this year.

Shareholders received one share in Lamaune for every five Landore share owned when the project was spun out.

At present Lamaune is an unlisted company however it has always been Landore’s intention to float the company onto public markets. 

Such an IPO would then bring in sufficient funds to take the project into the development phase.

“(These type of projects) require a lot of capital and we didn’t want it to be a distraction, or indeed a dilution, to Landore’s main efforts with the nickel and gold deposits,” Prickett explained.

“All the spending commitments are up to date. It doesn’t require any money to be spent on it. We are now just sitting and waiting. 

“It is a very attractive asset. But we just need to hold on for a bit.”

“We’ll decide what to do about funding in the first quarter of next year. We’ve got a number of private investors that we are talking to as well.”

The company believes Lamaune has huge potential to expand on the 600 million tonnes of magnetite iron ore that’s already estimated to be in the ground. 

Landore believes that previous geophysical surveys show that the iron ore deposit is much bigger, and it predicts that, including satellite deposits, there could be well over a billion tonnes there.

The major infrastructure requirements are expected in place by the time Lamaune would be taken into development. The Canadian national railway is located just 13 kilometres away and the area has good road access, good water, and there are proposals to build a new hydropower system nearby. 

“We feel very confident about Lamaune. There is certainly a demand for the iron ore in that that area,” Prickett said. 

“What we need to do is raise the money, somewhere between $20 and $30 million, in the new company to take the project to the next stage.”

It is clear to see that while Landore may be one of AIM’s more understated stocks there is certainly no shortage of potential in the portfolio.  

In the near term investors will look to the pending Junior Lake drill results, and look forward to news on potential mine development plans. 

After that the gold properties and Lamaune news will also be keenly awaited.