VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 22, 2021 /CNW/ - FPX Nickel Corp. (TSXV:
FPX) ("FPX" or the "Company") is pleased to
report that it will be participating in Renmark Financial
Communications Inc.'s live Virtual Non-Deal Roadshow Series to
provide a Company overview and discuss its 2021 plans on
Wednesday, February 24th
at 4:00 pm Eastern time (1:00 pm Pacific time). FPX welcomes
stakeholders, investors, and other individual followers to register
and attend this live event using the following registration link:
https://talk-deck.com/info/live-register/?292!ut9dx30v1dy
FPX is focused on the advancement of the Baptiste Project
("Baptiste" or the "Project") at its wholly-owned
Decar Nickel District in central British Columbia. A recent
Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for Baptiste
demonstrates the potential for establishing a greenfield open-pit
mine and an on-site magnetic separation and flotation processing
plant, using conventional technology and equipment.
At the PEA base case of US$7.75/lb
nickel, the Project is expected to generate an after-tax net
present value ("NPV") (8%) of US$1.7
billion and internal rate of return ("IRR") of
18.3%. Based on the sensitivity analysis performed for the
PEA, at a nickel price of US$8.52/lb
(10% higher than the base case of US$7.75/lb), the Project is expected to generate
an after-tax NPV of US$2.2 billion
and IRR of 20.7%. At the close of trading on February 19, 2021, the LME nickel spot price was
US$8.84/lb.
A summary of the PEA highlights is provided in Table 1.
Table 1 – Baptiste Project PEA Results and Assumptions (all
in US$)
Results
|
Pre-tax NPV (8%
discount rate)
|
$2.93
billion
|
Pre-tax
IRR
|
22.5%
|
Payback period
(pre-tax)
|
3.5 years
|
After-tax NPV (8%
discount rate)
|
$1.72
billion
|
After-tax
IRR
|
18.3%
|
Payback period
(after-tax)
|
4.0 years
|
Net cash flows
(after-tax, undiscounted)
|
$8.73
billion
|
C1 operating costs
1
|
$2.74/lb
nickel
|
AISC costs
2
|
$3.12/lb
nickel
|
Assumptions
|
Processing
throughput
|
120,000 tonnes per
day
|
Mine life
|
35 years
|
Life-of-mine
stripping ratio (tonnes:tonnes)
|
0.40:1
|
Life-of-mine average
annual nickel production
|
99 million
lbs.
|
Nickel price
3
|
$7.75/lb
|
Baptiste product
payability (% of nickel price)
|
98%
|
Pre-production
capital expenditures
|
$1.67
billion
|
Sustaining capital
expenditures
|
$1.11
billion
|
Exchange
rate
|
0.76
US$/C$
|
1.
|
C1 operating costs
are the costs of mining, milling and concentrating, on-site
administration and general expenses, metal product treatment
charges, and freight and marketing costs less the net value of
by-product credits, if any. These are expressed on the basis of per
unit nickel content of the sold product.
|
2.
|
AISC of all-in
sustaining costs comprise the sum of C1 costs, sustaining capital,
royalties and closure expenses. These are expressed on the basis of
per unit nickel content of the sold product.
|
3.
|
Nickel price is
based on the average of six long-term analyst forecast
prices.
|
The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral
resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have
the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them
to be categorized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources are
not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic
viability. There is no certainty that the conclusions or
results as reported in the PEA will be realized.
The PEA was produced by a team of independent consultants who
possess extensive expertise in their respective fields.
Further details on the contributors can be found in the Qualified
Persons section of the Company's news release dated September 9, 2020.
About the Decar Nickel District
The Company's Decar Nickel District claims cover 245 square
kilometres of the Mount Sidney Williams ultramafic/ophiolite
complex, 90 km northwest of Fort St.
James in central British
Columbia. The District is a two-hour drive from Fort St. James on a high-speed logging
road.
Decar hosts a greenfield discovery of nickel mineralization in
the form of a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy called
awaruite, which is amenable to bulk-tonnage, open-pit mining.
Awaruite mineralization has been identified in four target areas
within this ophiolite complex, being the Baptiste Deposit, the B
target, the Sid target and Van target, as confirmed by drilling in
the first three plus petrographic examination, electron probe
analyses and outcrop sampling on all four. Since 2010,
approximately US $24 million has been
spent on the exploration and development of Decar.
Of the four targets in the Decar Nickel District, the Baptiste
Deposit, which was initially the most accessible and had the
biggest known surface footprint, has been the main focus of diamond
drilling since 2010, with a total of 82 holes and over 31,000
metres of drilling completed. The Sid target was tested with
two holes in 2010 and the B target had a single hole drilled into
it in 2011; all three holes intersected nickel-iron alloy
mineralization over wide intervals with DTR nickel grades
comparable to the Baptiste Deposit. The Van target was not
drill-tested at that time as rock exposure was very poor prior to
logging activity by forestry companies.
As reported in the current NI 43-101 resource estimate, having
an effective date of September 9,
2020, the Baptiste Deposit contains 1.996 billion tonnes of
indicated resources at an average grade of 0.122% DTR nickel,
containing to 2.4 million tonnes of nickel, plus 593 million tonnes
of inferred resources with an average grade of 0.114% DTR nickel,
containing 0.7 million tonnes of nickel, both reported at a cut-off
grade of 0.06% DTR nickel. Mineral resources are not mineral
reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
About FPX Nickel Corp.
FPX Nickel Corp. is focused on the exploration
and development of the Decar Nickel District, located in central
British Columbia, and other
occurrences of the same unique style of naturally occurring
nickel-iron alloy mineralization known as awaruite. For more
information, please view the Company's website at www.fpxnickel.com
or contact Martin Turenne, President
and CEO, at (604) 681-8600 or ceo@fpxnickel.com.
On behalf of FPX Nickel Corp.
"Martin Turenne"
Martin Turenne, President, CEO and
Director
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the
statements made and information contained herein is considered
"forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable
Canadian securities laws. These statements address future events
and conditions and so involve inherent risks and uncertainties, as
disclosed in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian
securities regulators. Actual results could differ from those
currently projected. The Company does not assume the obligation to
update any forward-looking statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
SOURCE FPX Nickel Corp.