Mincor Resources (ASX:MCR) should trade higher after a series of...

Mincor Resources (ASX:MCR) should trade higher after a series of significant nickel intersections at the Burnett Resource, which is the northern extension of its flagship Miitel Nickel Mine in Western Australia.

Latest intersections include 10.97 metres at 3.62% nickel from 181.87 metres, 1.73 metres at 6.06% nickel from 189.13 metres, and 1.67 metres at 2.69% nickel from 115.71 metres.

The results could lead to an upgrade to the existing Mineral Resource at Burnett and trigger the development of a new mining front at Miitel.

The Burnett deposit is the faulted offset of the northern end of Mincor’s Miitel ore body, which is currently in production at a rate of 4,200 tonnes of nickel-in-ore per annum.

Previous work by Mincor has demonstrated that Burnett contains an estimated Mineral Resource of 240,000 tonnes at 3.7% nickel for 9,000 tonnes of nickel metal.

To date the economic viability of Burnett has been impaired by the distance between the main B02 Resource and mine infrastructure.

However, these latest drilling results are from the B01 surface, and suggest that further drilling may outline additional zones of thick high-grade mineralisation in the B01, fundamentally improving the economics of the entire Burnett Resource.

This could have significant implications for the future of Miitel, as a second mining front at North Miitel could extend Miitel’s mine life and increase its production rate, and also open up a new exploration front.

There remains a large area of untested, channelised and highly prospective basal contact north of the recent holes, between the B01 and the B02 resources.

The entire area between the current mine infrastructure and the B02 is now a high-priority exploration target and the focus of ongoing drilling.