Nordic Resources has expanded its Kopsa gold-copper-silver resource to 1.52 million ounces of gold equivalent, with testwork confirming strong recoveries across different ore types and grades. The company is now drilling further while holding A$7.744 million in cash, but the project remains at the resource and exploration stage.
- Kopsa resource reaches 44.03Mt at 1.07g/t AuEq for 1.52Moz AuEq
- 86% of Kopsa ounces are classified as Measured or Indicated
- Gold recoveries reached up to 90%, copper recoveries up to 91% and average silver recovery 79%
- Three Central Finland gold projects now contain 1.93Moz AuEq
- A$7.744 million cash balance provides an estimated 6.9 quarters of funding
Kopsa resource reaches 1.52Moz AuEq
Nordic Resources Limited (ASX:NNL) has given its flagship Kopsa project a larger and more defined resource base, reporting 44.03 million tonnes at 1.07 grams per tonne gold equivalent for 1.52 million ounces AuEq. The interim JORC 2012 estimate is constrained within an optimised pit shell and uses a 0.4g/t AuEq cut-off.
The estimate contains 1.18Moz of gold, 71,000 tonnes of copper and 3.50Moz of silver. Importantly, 86% of the Kopsa resource by AuEq ounces sits in the Measured and Indicated categories. Nordic says 97% of the in-situ resource was captured within the optimised pit shell, while the higher-grade stockwork mineralisation starts at surface and is predominantly classified as Measured.
The update incorporates drilling completed to the end of July, including 9,631 metres over the preceding 12 months. Nordic says that work added resources at a rate of 73 AuEq ounces per metre drilled. That is a useful exploration metric, although it does not by itself establish an economic mining operation or a production schedule.
Metallurgy supports gold, copper and silver recovery
The resource increase lands alongside metallurgical results that provide technical support for the metals included in Kopsa’s AuEq calculation. Locked-cycle and variability testing across 11 geographically diverse samples produced gold recoveries of up to 90%, copper recoveries of up to 91% and silver recoveries averaging 79%, using a conventional combined flotation and leach process.
Gold recovery averaged 88% across lower-grade tonalite variability samples, with the company reporting little variation across a wide range of head grades. Premium copper-gold concentrates were obtained from the flotation stage, while gold and silver leached effectively after flotation. The results had already been reported during the quarter in the Kopsa recovery testwork, and have now been incorporated into the resource assumptions.
Nordic’s AuEq calculation uses assumed prices of US$3,500 an ounce for gold, US$14,000 a tonne for copper and US$60 an ounce for silver, alongside recovery factors of 88%, 89% and 79% respectively. Those assumptions are material: changes in metal prices or recoveries would affect the equivalent-ounce presentation and any future economic assessment.
Drilling and project expansion continue
A 12,000 to 13,000-metre Kopsa drill program began in August, with about 6,000 metres completed by quarter end and completion scheduled for December. Nordic says mineralisation remains open in most directions and at depth, leaving room for further resource growth. The company’s three existing Central Finland gold projects now contain 55.2Mt at 1.09g/t AuEq for 1.93Moz AuEq, with 80% of those ounces in Measured and Indicated categories.
After the quarter closed, Nordic also completed its acquisition of the nearby Jukulainen project, adding a fourth exploration asset in the Middle Ostrobothnia Gold Belt. The 532-hectare project covers about four kilometres of prospective shear-zone strike, while surface rock-chip samples have returned assays of up to 43.7g/t gold. As reported in the Jukulainen project acquisition, those results are early-stage evidence only: drilling has yet to test the mineralisation’s depth, thickness or continuity.
Cash supports exploration runway
Nordic ended September with A$7.744 million in cash and cash equivalents. Quarterly exploration expenditure was A$805,000, while administration and corporate costs were A$377,000; after interest and financing movements, the company reported relevant quarterly outgoings of A$1.12 million and estimated 6.9 quarters of funding at that rate.
The balance gives Nordic room to keep drilling without an immediate funding requirement indicated in the filing. The more consequential question is what the drilling, metallurgy and permitting work can establish beyond a growing resource inventory. Kopsa still needs the studies and approvals that would connect its ounces and recoveries to a development case.
Bottom Line?
The next material test is whether continued drilling and technical studies can convert Kopsa’s larger, metallurgically supported resource into a credible development pathway.
Questions in the middle?
- Can the current drilling program add enough scale or grade to materially improve Kopsa’s future development case?
- How will future studies assess processing options, permitting requirements and the potential use of nearby regional mills?
- Will Jukulainen deliver drill-confirmed continuity beyond its high-grade surface rock-chip results?