Mining.com reported that NexMetals Mining announced that its Selkirk copper-nickel-PGM project in Botswana has seen resources increase by nearly 70%, becoming a “significant force” in the company’s Botswana operations.
On the 24th, NexMetals stated that through successful resampling and drilling, the Selkirk project’s resources were upgraded from Inferred to Indicated to approximately 1.1 billion pounds of copper equivalent, with ore resources of 78.2 million mt at a grade of 0.66% copper equivalent.
After the upgrade, the remaining Inferred ore resources stand at 15.1 million mt at a grade of 0.60% copper equivalent, equating to 200 million pounds of copper equivalent.
Compared with the latest update (2024), the project’s copper equivalent increased by 63%, mainly due to higher metallurgical recoveries and the inclusion of by-product cobalt, silver, and gold.
Additionally, the company noted that changes in metal prices also had a significant impact on the resource estimate, as the Selkirk project is a polymetallic deposit.
NexMetals stated that this resource upgrade has improved resource confidence and reduced development risk, representing an “important technical milestone” for the project.
The company said that with the expanded resource, the project has now “developed into a strategically important, multi-commodity critical metals asset” with scale and development potential. Previously, Selkirk was “seen as a minor asset with limited value,” the company added.
The project is located approximately 75 km northeast of NexMetals’ Selebi project; both projects are former copper-cobalt-nickel mines. The Selkirk project’s mining license covers 14.6 km², while one mining license for Selebi spans 115 km².
On the 24th, NexMetals CEO Whiteford Sean said in a press release: “When we acquired the Selebi and Selkirk projects in liquidation in 2022, we saw the opportunity to unlock value through modern exploration and disciplined technical work, and today’s resource update at Selkirk is a great example of that strategy being put into action.”
