VANCOUVER, BC, May 10, 2021 /CNW/ - FPX Nickel Corp. (TSXV:
FPX) ("FPX" or the "Company") is pleased to
provide an overview of planned exploration drilling programs
starting in June at the Company's Decar Nickel District
("Decar") in central British Columbia. This will mark
the most active campaign at Decar since 2012, with a dual focus on
resource confirmation and expansion at the Baptiste Deposit
("Baptiste") plus an initial drill campaign at the Van
Target, located 6 kilometres north of Baptiste.
Highlights
- Maiden drilling at the Van Target, which is defined by surface
rock samples with an area extent and nickel grades similar to
Baptiste
- Drilling at Baptiste to convert Inferred resources into the
Indicated category to support an eventual Preliminary Feasibility
Study ("PFS")
"Having demonstrated the potential for the development of a
low-cost, large-scale operation at Baptiste with last year's
Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA"), we now look forward
to assessing the potential for a new discovery with a maiden
drilling program at Van this summer," commented Martin Turenne, FPX's President and CEO.
"Previous work, after logging activity exposed a number of
outcrops, confirmed that the Van Target has outcropping bedrock
with nickel grades very comparable to those initially encountered
at Baptiste. Van is hosted in the same ophiolite host rocks
and with similar apparent structural controls as Baptiste, making
it a very promising drill-ready target."
Van Target – Maiden Drilling
An initial nine-hole, 3,000-metre drill program is planned at
the Van Target, which is located 6 kilometres north of Baptiste at
similar elevations, and accessible via logging roads. The Van
Target's bedrock samples occur in a previously unexplored area due
to ground cover which was more recently exposed by logging
activity.
Davis Tube magnetically-recovered ("DTR") nickel analysis
of 54 bedrock samples, taken at intervals of 50 to 350 meters at
the Van Target, has defined an area of approximately 2.9 square
kilometers (see Figure 1). This compares very favorably with
the area defined by outcrop sampling and subsequent drilling at
Baptiste, which is3.2 kilometres along strike with widths of 150 to
1,080 metres.
Table 1 provides a summary of the DTR nickel assays of 54
bedrock samples from the Van Target (Figure 2). As elsewhere
in the Decar District, the mineralization is coincident with
sheared peridotite while numerous samples from the massive
peridotite are very largely unmineralized or low grade. These
results are notable for the high proportion of samples grading over
0.06% DTR nickel, the cut-off grade employed in the 2020 National
Instrument ("NI") 43-101 resource estimate for the Baptiste
deposit. The 10 samples over 0.14% DTR nickel are some of the
highest-grade surface samples ever taken at the Decar District.
Figure 1: Decar Nickel District
Figure 2: Map of Bedrock Surface Sampling at Van
Target
Table 1: Results of Bedrock Samples in Van Target
Area
DTR Ni
(%)
|
Number of
samples
|
< 0.06
|
10
|
> 0.06 to
0.08
|
10
|
> 0.08 to
0.10
|
6
|
> 0.10 to
0.12
|
7
|
> 0.12 to
0.14
|
11
|
> 0.14 to
0.16
|
8
|
>
0.16
|
2
|
Total
|
54
|
Prior to the start of drilling, the Company will conduct a
ground-based magnetic survey to further refine the drill-collar
locations for this summer's program. Drilling at Van is expected to
begin in June and will take approximately 8 weeks to complete.
Baptiste Deposit – Infill Drilling
A ten-hole, 2,700 metre infill drilling program is planned at
the Baptiste Deposit. The mine plan in the Baptiste PEA
envisaged the mining of a total of approximately 1.5 billion tonnes
of material for processing over the Project's 35-year mine life,
with approximately 89% of this mineralization classified in the
indicated category and 11% in the inferred category. This
summer's drilling program is expected to convert the indicated
resources to the indicated category to support an eventual Baptiste
PFS.
The majority of the inferred resources in the Baptiste mine plan
are located along the margins of the open pit, with some of the
resource blocks occurring near-surface in higher-grade areas of the
deposit (see Figure 3 below). The Company has developed a
three-dimensional drill-hole spacing model where spacing exceeds
the 200-metre spacing requirement for categorization of indicated
resources. Drilling at Baptiste is expected to begin in June
and will take approximately 8 weeks to complete.
Figure 3: Plan View of Baptiste Deposit Resource
Classification
Dr. Peter Bradshaw, P. Eng., FPX
Nickel's Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and
approved the technical content of this news release.
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.