Mayaniquel Overview
The Mayaniquel project is comprised of 21 mineral exploration licences totalling approximately 80,000 hectares located within the nickel laterite belt that surrounds Lake Izabal in northeastern Guatemala. The town of El Estor located on the northern shore of Lake Izabal serves as the central location point to the district. The project is located approximately 120km from Guatemala City and approximately 100km east from the port city of Puerto Santo located on the Caribbean Sea.
Anfield Nickel Corp acquired the project through the acquisition of a 100% interest in Mayaniquel, S.A., a Guatemalan company, from BHP Billiton in May 2009 for US$2.5 million and the issuance of a 1.5% Net Smelter Royalty.
The nickel laterite deposits in the district were first identified in the 1950s. In 1958, a joint venture company, Eximbal, between Hanna Mining and Inco was formed. That company over the course of the following 20 years delineated a significant nickel laterite resource that was developed into a mining and pyrometallurgical operation that processed saprolitic laterite ore between 1997 and 1980 into a nickel-matte product that was shipped to Inco's refineries in Canada for refining into various nickel products. The operation was placed on care and maintenance in 1980 due to the rapid increase in worldwide oil prices and a correlating decline in the nickel price. The operation relied upon an onsite oil fired power plant to provide power to the processing plant.
In December 2004, Eximbal was acquired by Skye Resources Inc., a Canadian based company that sought to restart the operation. In September 2008, Skye Resources was acquired by HudBay Minerals Inc. in a transaction valued at approximately C$560 million.
Exploration in the Mayaniquel project area began in the late 1960s and over the course of the next 30 years various companies conducted exploration on the different licenses. In 1998, Jaguar Nickel entered into an agreement with Intrepid Minerals Corporation to jointly explore the Sechol license area. By 2002, Jaguar was the sole owner of the Sechol exploration license as well as others within the district and the company focused its exploration efforts on delineating a nickel laterite resource within the license area. In 2005, the company completed a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate on the Sechol deposit.
In early 2006, BHP Billiton acquired Jaguar Nickel and initiated a more wide spread exploration program to evaluate and delineate additional nickel resources on the other exploration license areas. Between 2006 and 2008, BHP Billiton completed 28,324m of drilling in 857 holes and defined additional resources on 2 other licences (Chatala and El Tunico) within 3 distinct nickel laterite deposits (Chatala, Chiis and Tunico).
Based upon the previous drilling by both Jaguar Nickel and BHP Billiton, Anfield has completed NI 43-101 compliant interim mineral resource estimates for the Sechol, Chiis, Chatala and Tunico laterite deposits.
Project Maps
Technical Reports
Mineral Resource Estimate for the Mayaniquel Project, Guatemala
The Mayaniquel project is comprised of 21 mineral exploration licences totalling approximately 80,000 hectares located within the nickel laterite belt that surrounds Lake Izabal in northeastern Guatemala. The town of El Estor located on the northern shore of Lake Izabal serves as the central location point to the district. The project is located approximately 120km from Guatemala City and approximately 100km east from the port city of Puerto Santo located on the Caribbean Sea.
Anfield Nickel Corp acquired the project through the acquisition of a 100% interest in Mayaniquel, S.A., a Guatemalan company, from BHP Billiton in May 2009 for US$2.5 million and the issuance of a 1.5% Net Smelter Royalty.
The nickel laterite deposits in the district were first identified in the 1950s. In 1958, a joint venture company, Eximbal, between Hanna Mining and Inco was formed. That company over the course of the following 20 years delineated a significant nickel laterite resource that was developed into a mining and pyrometallurgical operation that processed saprolitic laterite ore between 1997 and 1980 into a nickel-matte product that was shipped to Inco's refineries in Canada for refining into various nickel products. The operation was placed on care and maintenance in 1980 due to the rapid increase in worldwide oil prices and a correlating decline in the nickel price. The operation relied upon an onsite oil fired power plant to provide power to the processing plant.
In December 2004, Eximbal was acquired by Skye Resources Inc., a Canadian based company that sought to restart the operation. In September 2008, Skye Resources was acquired by HudBay Minerals Inc. in a transaction valued at approximately C$560 million.
Exploration in the Mayaniquel project area began in the late 1960s and over the course of the next 30 years various companies conducted exploration on the different licenses. In 1998, Jaguar Nickel entered into an agreement with Intrepid Minerals Corporation to jointly explore the Sechol license area. By 2002, Jaguar was the sole owner of the Sechol exploration license as well as others within the district and the company focused its exploration efforts on delineating a nickel laterite resource within the license area. In 2005, the company completed a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate on the Sechol deposit.
In early 2006, BHP Billiton acquired Jaguar Nickel and initiated a more wide spread exploration program to evaluate and delineate additional nickel resources on the other exploration license areas. Between 2006 and 2008, BHP Billiton completed 28,324m of drilling in 857 holes and defined additional resources on 2 other licences (Chatala and El Tunico) within 3 distinct nickel laterite deposits (Chatala, Chiis and Tunico).
Based upon the previous drilling by both Jaguar Nickel and BHP Billiton, Anfield has completed NI 43-101 compliant interim mineral resource estimates for the Sechol, Chiis, Chatala and Tunico laterite deposits.
Project Maps
Technical Reports
Mineral Resource Estimate for the Mayaniquel Project, Guatemala
May 5 2009
NI 43-101 Technical Report
