Leeward Capital Exploring Nithi Mountain, May 2011
Long/Short Equity
Seeking Alpha Analyst Since 2009
Leeward Capital on track with world’s next major molybdenum deposit in central British Columbia.
Click HERE to watch video
Leeward Capital (TSX.V: LWC) is exploring for the world’s next major molybdenum deposit.
The company’s cornerstone project is the Nithi Mountain primary molybdenum project located in central British Columbia about 150 km west of Prince George.
Nithi Mountain lies adjacent to Canada’s largest and oldest producing molybdenum mine, Endako, which began production in 1965 and will have an extended mine life of another 12 to 14 years at the end of 2011 at 50,000 tonnes per day.
Leeward’s Nithi Mountain project is situated along a major transportation corridor consisting of a highway and CN rail line. BC hydroelectric and gas transmission lines are located at the base of the mountain.Leeward’s work to date includes a collection of more than 8,000 geochemical soil samples, electromagnetic, gradiometer and radiometric geophysical surveys, as well as 217 drill holes. The vast majority of drill holes to date have hit molybdenum mineralization.
The target area at Nithi Mountain extends 5km by 4km, or approximately the same size as the Endako mine footprint.
Drilling at Nithi Mountain commenced in 2005. As airborne geophysical surveys outlined new targets, the company expanded drilling. Soon five discrete deposit zones had been defined: Gamma West, Gamma, Delta, Sigma and Theta.
The exploration target is for a large porphyry molybdenite deposit of greater than a half a billion tonnes grading 0.05% molybdenum that would be mined by low cost open pit methods.
In 2008, drill data from the Gamma and Delta zones were combined into a preliminary 43-101 resource estimate of 95 million pounds inferred and 35 million pounds indicated molybdenum. This resource is based on an ore body measuring overall 165 million tonnes inferred grading 0.026% Mo, and 56 million tonnes indicated grading 0.029% Mo.
Importantly, the 2008 drill program turned up several very high grade drill holes in the north part of the Delta zone, including 96 meters (315 ft) grading 0.1% molybdenum and 168 meters (551 ft) grading 0.065% Mo (D-08-22).
The discovery of this new high-grade zone is an exciting development for Leeward Capital.
Preliminary results indicate that the zone is open to the north and east, trending towards the Theta zone, which returned some of the highest grade moly anomalies at Nithi Mountain.
Increasingly, it appears that Nithi’s five zones may become one very large molybdenum deposit with numerous high grade cores.
Leeward has commenced a 2011 drill program with clear goals: To expand the limits of the existing resource and to define additional high grade reserves. Ultimately the company will seek a strategic partner or buyer for the project.
With molybdenum forecast by CPM Group to reach $25/lb in 2011, and more drilling imminent, Leeward is well prepared to advance Nithi Mountain to the next stage of development.
Click HERE to evaluate the Nithi Mountain project and do more due diligence on Leeward Capital Corp. at RI Analytics.
Disclosure: No Positions
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.