Overview
Stage | Preliminary Economic Assessment |
Mine Type | Open Pit & Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Block caving
|
Mine Life | 15 years (as of Jan 1, 2017) |
The Stardust deposit forms a key part of the Kwanika-Stardust project as outlined in the recent PEA, the results of which were released on January 5, 2023. |
Source:
On September 7, 2022, NorthWest Copper Corp. completed the third issuance of Consideration Shares (“Tranche 3”) to POSCO International Corporation (“POSCO”) pursuant to the previously announced agreement whereby NorthWest agreed to purchase POSCO’s approximately 31% interest in Kwanika Copper Corporation (“KCC”) for total consideration of C$11 million (the “Transaction”), payable in shares of NorthWest (the “Consideration Shares”). KCC is a British Columbia corporation which owns 100% of the Kwanika project. Following the completion of the issuance of all Consideration Shares, KCC has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of NorthWest, and NorthWest now owns a 100% interest in the Kwanika project.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Porphyry
- Vein / narrow vein
Summary:
The Kwanika Project consists of two mineralized areas: Central Zone and South Zone. In the Central Zone the most economically significant intrusive body is a north-northeast trending monzonite stock that dips shallowly to steeply to the west. The intrusion has a strike length of nearly 1.3km and a thickness of 50m to 350m. The high-grade copper- gold mineralization (>0.6% copper equivalent (CuEq) in the Central Zone is dominantly hosted within, and immediately adjacent to, the monzonite intrusive. Monzonite has also been intersected at depth in the western and southwestern parts of the Central Zone and is thought to connect to the sill-like body in the central part of the deposit, suggesting the possibility of deep Central Zone mineralization.
The South Zone occurs within a fault bounded sequence of strongly altered intrusive rocks of alkalic to intermediate composition. The host lithologies occur within a north-south trending structural corridor. This structural corridor is bounded by the West Fault to the west and by a similar fault zone termed the East Fault along the eastern boundary of the corridor. Coincident chargeability and resistivity anomalies form a geophysical domain that represents the fault- bounded South Zone corridor. This variably mineralized domain is 2,900m long and up to 500m wide.
Copper and gold mineralization in the Central Zone at Kwanika occurs primarily in potassically and albitically altered lithologies. Alteration and minera ........

Mining Methods
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Block caving
Summary:
A production schedule based on a 15,000t/d mill feed rate has been developed for the Kwanika Project. The mine production is based on both Open Pit and underground Block Cave mining methods. The Life of Mine (LoM) plan starts mining two open pit phases in Central Zone while access and level development are established for the Block Cave beneath the open pit in the Central Zone. The final stage of mining is from 3 open pit phases in South Zone.
This is a contractor-operated Open Pit mining fleet and underground development mining fleet with an owner’s fleet planned for underground mucking and hauling. Contractor mining operating costs have been included. Capital costs for the contractor fleets are included in the operating cost. The purchase cost of the underground loaders and trucks are included as a capital expense.
Mining dilution for the open pit is based on whole block dilution from the grade interpolation with 2% additional dilution on ore/waste boundaries. In dilution material, the grade is conservatively set at zero. In future studies and during operations, the dilution will be assigned grades marginally below the cut-off grade at the cut-off boundary.
An allowance for a mining loss of 5% has been used to account for material lost at the ore/waste boundary, misdirected loads, and spillage during hauling.
The pit delineated resources are calculated from the 3DBM within the detailed pit designs using an NSR cut-off of $11.30/to ........

Flow Sheet:
Summary:

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Projected Production:
Commodity | Units | Avg. Annual | LOM |
Copper
|
k lbs
| 40,042 | 600,635 |
Gold
|
koz
| ......  | ......  |
Silver
|
koz
| ......  | ......  |
All production numbers are expressed as metal in concentrate.
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | |
Daily ore mining rate
| 15,000 t * |
Daily milling rate
| 15,000 t * |
Annual milling rate
| 5,401 kt * |
Stripping / waste ratio
| 1.7 * |
Ore tonnes mined, LOM
| 78,855 kt * |
Tonnes milled, LOM
| 78,855 kt * |
* According to 2017 study.
Reserves at December 14, 2018:
Pit-Constrained Sensitivity Analysis at Various Cut-Off Grades. Underground Sensitivity Analysis within 0.40% CuEq Confining Shape. The cut-offs are based on prices of US$3.25/lb of copper, US$1,350/oz of gold, US$17/oz of silver and assumed recoveries of 91% for copper, 75% for gold, 75% for silver.
Category | OreType | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Measured
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
24.2 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.34 %
|
179 M lbs
|
Measured
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
18.7 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.36 %
|
151 M lbs
|
Measured
|
Total
|
42.9 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.35 %
|
330 M lbs
|
Measured
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
24.2 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.33 g/t
|
254 koz
|
Measured
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
18.7 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.4 g/t
|
239 koz
|
Measured
|
Total
|
42.9 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.36 g/t
|
493 koz
|
Measured
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
24.2 Mt
|
Silver
|
1.07 g/t
|
833 koz
|
Measured
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
18.7 Mt
|
Silver
|
1.15 g/t
|
692 koz
|
Measured
|
Total
|
42.9 Mt
|
Silver
|
1.1 g/t
|
1,525 koz
|
Measured
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
24.2 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.51 %
|
|
Measured
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
18.7 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.58 %
|
|
Measured
|
Total
|
42.9 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.54 %
|
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
80.4 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.2 %
|
360 M lbs
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
100.2 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.29 %
|
634 M lbs
|
Indicated
|
Total
|
180.6 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.25 %
|
994 M lbs
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
80.4 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.18 g/t
|
454 koz
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
100.2 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.27 g/t
|
884 koz
|
Indicated
|
Total
|
180.6 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.23 g/t
|
1,338 koz
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
80.4 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.69 g/t
|
1,784 koz
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
100.2 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.92 g/t
|
2,964 koz
|
Indicated
|
Total
|
180.6 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.82 g/t
|
4,748 koz
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
80.4 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.3 %
|
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
100.2 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.44 %
|
|
Indicated
|
Total
|
180.6 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.38 %
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
104.6 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.23 %
|
540 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
118.9 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.3 %
|
784 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
Total
|
223.6 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.27 %
|
1,324 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
104.6 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.21 %
|
708 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
118.9 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.29 g/t
|
1,123 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
Total
|
223.6 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.25 g/t
|
1,831 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
104.6 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.78 g/t
|
2,617 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
118.9 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.96 g/t
|
3,656 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
Total
|
223.6 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.87 g/t
|
6,273 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
104.6 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.35 %
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
118.9 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.46 %
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
Total
|
223.6 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.41 %
|
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
5.7 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.16 %
|
20 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
84.7 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.17 %
|
319 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
Total
|
90.4 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.17 %
|
339 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
5.7 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.13 g/t
|
25 koz
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
84.7 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.18 g/t
|
480 koz
|
Inferred
|
Total
|
90.4 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.17 g/t
|
504 koz
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
5.7 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.65 g/t
|
119 koz
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
84.7 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.6 g/t
|
1,634 koz
|
Inferred
|
Total
|
90.4 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.6 g/t
|
1,753 koz
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
5.7 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.23 %
|
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
84.7 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.27 %
|
|
Inferred
|
Total
|
90.4 Mt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.26 %
|
|
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