The NICO deposit can be classified as a hydrothermal iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposit.

The NICO deposit is hosted in iron- and potassium-altered, brecciated basement sedimentary rocks of the Treasure Island Group at and beneath the unconformity with the volcanic Faber Group rocks.

Cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mineralization at NICO is intimately associated with a regionalscale metasomatic event and a later, more restricted, sulphide mineralizing event. Both the Treasure Island Group metasediments and the overlying Faber Group volcanics were subjected to intense regional potassium and iron metasomatism. In the NICO area, the combination of iron and potassium metasomatism has resulted in the creation of an assemblage of amphibole-biotite ± magnetite altered metasedimentary rocks which extend along strike for approximately 2 km. The deposit is hosted within a 200-m thick package of northwest-striking and northeast-dipping amphibole-biotite ± magnetite ironstone and schist and amphibole-biotite altered subarkosic wacke. The latter is considered to be the protolith to the ironstone/schist and becomes increasingly more abundant in the upper part of the hanging wall. The dominant amphiboles are iron-rich.

Sulphide mineralization is disseminated and makes up between 3% and 10% of the mineralized rocks. The sulphide minerals are predominantly aligned along the foliation planes. Only small native gold grains have been observed. These are mainly associated with sulphides, but also occur with silicate minerals such as feldspar (Thalenhorst and Farquharson, 2002). The sulphides consist primarily of cobaltite/cobaltian arsenopyrite,
bismuthinite and chalcopyrite.

Gold mineralization forms a central ‘bulls-eye’ to the deposit within the cobalt-bismuth core of the magnetite mineralization and is confined largely to the middle and lower zones. Two correlatable horizons of less altered subarkosic wacke partially demarcate the lower/middle and middle/upper zone boundaries (Thalenhorst and Farquharson, 2002). The upper zone is much more restricted in extent and the sulphide and Au-Co-Bi mineralization is weaker.

A minor amount of mineralization occurs in the overlying felsic extrusive/intrusive Faber Group units, and is hosted by east-west striking, sub-vertical, vein-like structures. The arsenopyrite in these near vertical zones was most likely introduced during the stage 6 mineralizing event. Sulphide intersections also occur in the cross-cutting quartz-feldspar and feldspar-amphibole ± quartz porphyry dykes. Many of the late stage felsic intrusions cutting the deposit have removed Co-Bi-Au mineralization and left blocks of relatively unmineralized rock in the centre of the deposit.

The NICO property has a number of mineral occurrences and one ore deposit, referred to as the Bowl Zone. In general, this orebody is comprised of a series of stacked stratabound lenses of ironstone that dip at approximately 50° towards the north-northeast. The mineralized zones to be mined consist of three sub-parallel lenses, approximately 40 m apart. They are referred to as the Upper, Middle and Lower Zones, which are up to 1.5 km in length, 550 m in width (down dip) and 70 m in thickness (across dip).

The Project will utilize conventional open pit mining, supplemented by trackless underground mining methods in the early years of its life. It will then convert to an open pit operation only for the remainder of its productive mine life of approximately 20 years.

Production from the open pit will be supplemented by high-grade ore mined from underground for a short period early in the Project life, in order to enhance early cash flow.

Access for underground mining will be gained by rehabilitating and deepening the existing exploration decline. It is planned to mine 21 individual stopes, generally on the retreat, using transverse and longitudinal blasthole mining methods. All underground rehabilitation, development and stoping operations will be undertaken by a contractor.

The recovery of saleable products from the NICO deposit will take place in two stages. First, a bulk flotation concentrate containing recoverable gold, cobalt, bismuth and copper will be produced at the Project site in the NWT. The bulk concentrate will then be transported by road and rail to Saskatchewan Metals Processing Plant (SMPP) for further treatment, principally by hydrometallurgical techniques, to produce separate gold, cobalt, bismuth and copper products.

The NICO Project mineral processing plant is designed for the treatment of a bismuth-cobalt-gold-copper sulphide ore from the NICO deposit, at an average design throughput rate of 4,645 t/d for 365 days per year. The processing plant at the NICO Project site will produce, on average, 167.4 dry t/d of bulk concentrate containing an average of 3.55% Bi, 3.23% Co, 25.19 g/t Au, 1.03% Cu and 13.52% S. This concentrate will be filtered using a pressure filter to approximately 8% moisture, packaged and shipped to the h ........