Altona Mining has also acquired a number of nickel Resources. The most important of which are in the Kotalahti area 100km SW of Outokumpu.
The Valkeisenranta nickel-copper deposit is located 1.5km from the historic Kotalahti nickel mine which produced some 12.3Mt at 0.7% nickel and 0.3% copper from 1957 to 1987. The deposit is located some 120km from the Luikonlahti mill and was discovered by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK). It occurs from 100-400m depth. Hosted in a 1.9Ga Proterozic intrusion approximating a vertical pipe of 500 x 1,000m in area comprised of (serpentinites and pyoxenites) ultramafic rocks.
The best intercept to date is 52.30m at 1.45% nickel and 0.42% copper and the Resource Estimate reported by Belvedere is 1.54Mt at 0.71% nickel and 0.29% copper (see Appendix for details). Within this a high grade Resource has been reported of 0.85Mt @ 0.95% nickel and 0.38% copper. Metallurgical testwork at GTK in 2001 and 2008 indicated a concentrate of 7.5% nickel and 3% copper could be produced.
Hole
From
(m)
Interval
(m)
Ni
(%)
Cu
(%)
Co
(%)
S
(%)
R460
251.20
52.30
1.45
0.42
0.06
8.70
R460B
252.75
48.65
1.27
0.43
0.05
8.63
R460B
321.65
34.40
0.34
0.10
0.02
2.43
R464
194.35
24.75
0.70
0.22
0.03
4.28
R492
286.40
19.45
0.65
0.13
0.02
2.29
R492
331.85
75.20
1.04
0.46
0.04
6.57
R494
371.80
13.65
1.11
0.27
0.04
6.26
Most Significant Driull Intercepts at Valkeisenranta
Deposit
Tonnes
(m)
Ni
(%)
Cu
(%)
Valkeisenranta
1,540,000
0.71
0.29
Särkiniemi
100,000
0.70
0.35
Sarkalahti
190,000
1.02
0.33
Nilnimäki
80,000
1.07
0.32
Total
1,910,000
0.79
0.32
Resource Estimate for Kotalahti Area
Särkiniemi
Särkiniemi is located in eastern Finland some 45km south of the town of Kuopio and close to historic Kotalahti nickel mine.
Belvedere carried out open pit mining at Särkiniemi during 2007-2008 and the ore was trucked to the Hitura mine for processing. The Hitura mill feed from the Särkiniemi mine was 123,000t at 0.92% nickel, 0.44% copper and 0.06% cobalt. The remaining Resource is about 100,000t at 0.7% nickel, and most of this is related to E-lens. Belvedere has already made underground development work for the E-lens but mining was ceased due to low nickel prices. The mining Reserve of E-lens is 69,000t at 0.77% nickel (Appendix 4, Management Discussion and Analysis, Belvedere 30 April 2008).
Open pit and underground workings are filling up with water. Discussion with the North-Savo Regional Environment Centre confirmed that the current environmental obligations are related to water quality monitoring and the existing bond is considered to be enough for mine closure work. The Environmental bond required is €100,000.
Other Assets Some 100km south of Kotalahti are a number of small nickel deposits; Vehmasjärvi, Hanhisalo, Pihlajasalo and Heiskalanmäki.
Hanhisalo has been studied Kontoniemi, Olavi and Forss, Heikki (1998). Tutkimustyöselostus Leppävirran kunnassa valtausalueilla Hanhi 1 (kaiv.rek.nro 5473/1) ja Hanhi 2 (kaiv.rek.nro 5771/1) suoritetuista nikkelimalmitutkimuksista vuosina 1993-1996. Other deposits (Vehmasjärvi,Pihlajasalo,Heiskalanmäki) were reviewed by Outokumpu Technology Oy in 2006. (Meriläinen, Markku and Loven, Pekka (Outokumpu Technology Oy) and Strauss, Toby (Belvedere Resources Ltd. 2006. National Instrument 43-101 Technical report: Property portfolio of Suomen Nikkeli Oy (Finn Nickel Ltd) in southern Finland.)
Resource estimates were made but were unclassified and thus do not comply with the JORC Code.These deposits will be reviewed by Universal in 2010.