Samapleu Nickel Copper Project, Ivory Coast
Overview
The Sampleu Nickel-Copper project is located in the Ivory Coast, west Africa. Mineralization occurs in ultramafic and mafic rock and in the overlying laterite soils.
Regional Geology
Archean aged (~2.8 billion years old) high grade metamorphic rocks dominate the region. This archean basement rock is largely overlain by tropical laterite soils. A series of later ultramafic to mafic intrusions are the source of the mineralization.
Project Geology

The ultramafic and mafic intrusions that host the nickel, copper and minor PGM mineralization occur in lenses intruded into existing metamorphic rock. Mineralization occurs as both disseminated (dispersed) and massive (solid) sulfides. The nickel occurs primarily as the nickel-iron sulfide, pentlandite, while the copper occurs as the copper-iron sulfide chalcopyrite. Laterite soils overlying the mineralized intrusions are also mineralized as ultramafic and mafic ore rocks are generally more prone to erosion and weathering.
Discussion
Despite the well known political instability of many African nations, the lure of vast untapped resources and cheap labour is hard to resist. The main criticism that might be leveled against the company at this point is the very low cut-off grade of 0.1% nickel used in their technical report. While a 0.1% cut-off is not without precedent, similar mines using these cut-off grades are currently on “care and maintenance”. That said, the Samapleu project hosts some respectably high grade nickel, copper and PGM zones with lots of room for further extension of the identified resources.
Further Reading
Sama Resources Press Release Reviews
Sama Resources (Corporate Site)
SODEMI (Corporate Site)
Technical Report on the Samapleu Nickel and Copper Deposits (43-101)
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