Class 1 Nickel and Technologies Ltd. (CSE: NICO | OTCQB: NICLF)
("Class 1 Nickel" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that
Caracle Creek Chile SpA (“Caracle”) and their strategic partner
Atticus Geoscience Consulting Ltd. (“Atticus”) (together the
“Consultants”) have completed the first stage of a comprehensive
independent review of both the Alexo-Dundonald and Somanike nickel
projects. Work is near-complete on the delivery of an updated
Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) for the Alexo South Nickel
Deposit, one of 4 nickel deposits on the Alexo-Dundonald Project
(the “Project”), located about 45 km northeast of the City of
Timmins, Ontario and covering approximately 1,895 hectares (18.95
km2). Updates to the other 3 nickel mineral resources contained
within the Project will be completed over the coming months.
To date, the Consultants have made significant
progress with the Alexo-Dundonald Project:
- Geological
database compilation (>120,000 m of drilling), review, and
validation program.
- Completion of
the Company’s first comprehensive 3D geological model (lithology,
mineralization, structure, alteration and metal domains) and
detailed interpretation at Alexo South.
- Targeting for
resource expansion at Alexo South as part of the updated MRE.
- Targeting for
resource expansion at Alexo North initiated.
- Updated mineral
resource estimate for Alexo South, inclusive of results from the
2021 diamond drilling program, pending release.
- Design and
optimization of a new pit shell at Alexo South, forming part of the
updated MRE.
- Environmental
and permitting requirements, initially focusing on Alexo South and
Alexo North, are being reviewed with an aim toward evaluating the
return to small-scale nickel production.
- Updated mineral
resource estimates for Alexo North, Dundonald South and Dundonald
North are underway.
- Targeting and
planning for next drilling programs at Alexo South, Alexo North,
Dundonald South and Dundonald North.
- Property-wide
target generation and drill hole planning outside of the four known
deposit areas.
- Drill hole
planning to target and develop large-tonnage, low-grade nickel
deposits (“Crawford-type” deposits) on the Project.
A summary of the work completed on the Class 1
nickel sulphide projects can be found in the 13 December 2023 news
release.
David Fitch, CEO of Class 1 Nickel, commented:
“We are very pleased to now have a completely updated and third
party verified database of our existing resources. The Company now
looks forward to publishing the new Mineral Resource Estimates for
each of the 4 deposits from the Alexo Dundonald Project, starting
with Alexo South.”
The primary objectives of the Company are to
expand known mineralization and resources at its 4 existing
magmatic nickel sulphide deposits within the Alexo-Dundonald Nickel
Project. Furthermore, the Company will be launching an exploration
program to examine the as yet underexplored areas of the Project
including the numerous nickel sulphide occurrences that exist
outside of the known deposit areas. Much of this exploration will
be guided by recently completed airborne geophysics and historical
drilling, with new ground geophysics and remote sensing surveys
being planned.
In addition to the high-grade nickel sulphide
(>1.0% Ni) potential we see at Alexo-Dundonald, immense
potential exists to target and develop large tonnage, low-grade
komatiite-hosted deposits such as those being developed in the
Timmins area by Canada Nickel Company (Crawford Project), EV Nickel
Inc. (CarLang A Deposit) and Aston Minerals Limited (Boomerang
Project). The Company is currently planning a targeted diamond
drilling program to outline this deposit type within the
Alexo-Dundonald Project.
This two-pronged approach – develop
“traditional” high-grade nickel sulphide resources and in parallel
large-tonnage, low grade nickel deposits – brings together the best
of both nickel deposit types which are actively and aggressively
being explored for and developed within the Timmins Mining
Camp.
Alexo-Dundonald Nickel
Project
The Alexo-Dundonald Nickel Project (“A-D
Project”), is located about 45 km northeast of the City of Timmins,
Ontario, covers an area of approximately 1,895 hectares (18.95
km2), and was acquired by the Company in September 2018. The A-D
Project includes four foundation nickel deposits (Alexo North and
South and Dundonald North and South) of which the Alexo North and
Alexo South (aka Kelex) were small-scale past producers of nickel
(i.e., 1957; 2004-2005). The deposits are located on a
near-continuous folded komatiite-ultramafic rock sequence that
extends for at least 14 km within the Property. The four mineral
resources (Tables 1 and 2) are open at depth and along strike and
could increase in size with additional drilling.
The current Mineral Resource Estimates (Tables 1
and 2) were prepared by Yungang Wu (P.Geo.) and Eugene Puritch
(P.Eng., FEC, CET) of P&E Mining Consultants Inc, both
Independent Qualified Persons as defined by NI 43-101 Standards of
Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
For more information, please refer to the
current NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimates
on the Alexo-Dundonald Nickel Project (Stone et al., 2020) posted
to the Company’s SEDAR+ profile on 17 December 2020.
Table 1. Summary of 2020 Alexo-Dundonald Mineral Resource
Estimates as combined from the 4 deposits.
ALEXO-DUNDONALD GLOBAL MINERAL RESOURCE
ESTIMATE(1-9) |
Classification |
Tonnes (M) |
Ni (%) |
Cu (%) |
Co (%) |
Contained Ni Mlb |
Contained Cu Mlb |
Contained Co Mlb |
Pit-Constrained & Out-of-Pit Indicated |
1.25 |
0.99 |
0.04 |
0.02 |
27.35 |
1.00 |
0.66 |
Out-of-Pit Inferred |
2.01 |
1.01 |
0.03 |
0.02 |
44.51 |
1.29 |
0.89 |
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Table 2. Pit-Constrained and Out-of-Pit (Underground) Mineral
Resource Estimates from the 4 deposits (2020).
ALEXO-DUNDONALD MINERAL RESOURCE
ESTIMATE(1-9) |
Scenario |
Classification |
Cut-off NSR (C$/t) |
Tonnes (k) |
Ni(%) |
Ni (Mlb) |
Cu(%) |
Cu (Mlb) |
Co (%) |
CO(Mlb) |
Pit-Constrained |
Indicated |
30 |
593.4 |
0.78 |
10.22 |
0.04 |
0.53 |
0.03 |
0.34 |
Out-of-Pit |
Indicated |
90 |
661.0 |
1.18 |
17.13 |
0.03 |
0.47 |
0.02 |
0.32 |
Inferred |
90 |
2,007.5 |
1.01 |
44.51 |
0.03 |
1.29 |
0.02 |
0.89 |
Total: |
Indicated |
30+90 |
1,254.4 |
0.99 |
27.35 |
0.04 |
1.00 |
0.02 |
0.66 |
Inferred |
90 |
2,007.5 |
1.01 |
44.51 |
0.03 |
1.29 |
0.02 |
0.89 |
|
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|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
Notes to Table 1 and Table 2 (Stone et al.,
2020):(1) Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not
have demonstrated economic viability.(2) The estimate of Mineral
Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting,
legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other
relevant issues.(3) The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate
has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated
Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It
is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral
Resource could be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with
continued exploration.(4) The Mineral Resources were estimated
following the 2019 CIM Estimation of Mineral Resources &
Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines prepared by the CIM
Mineral Resource & Mineral Reserve Committee and the 2014 CIM
Definition Standards for Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves
prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions.(5)
The historical open pit mined areas were removed from the MRE.(6)
US$ metal prices of $7.35/lb NI, $3/lb Cu, $20/lb Co, $1,500/oz Au,
$900/oz Pt and $1,650/oz Pd were used in the NSR calculation with
respective process recoveries of 89%, 90%, 40%, 50%, 50% and
50%.(7) Pit constrained Mineral Resource NSR cut-off considers ore
crushing, transport, processing and general and administration
(G&A) costs that respectively combine for a total of ($2 + $6 +
$20 + $2) = CAD$30/tonne processed.(8) Out-of-pit Mineral Resource
NSR cut-off considers ore mining, crushing, transport, processing
and G&A costs that respectively combine for a total of ($58 +
$2 + $6 + $20 + $4) = CAD$90/tonne processed.(9) The out-of-pit
Mineral Resource grade blocks were quantified above the $90/t
cut-off, below the constraining pit shell and within the
constraining mineralized wireframes. Additionally, only groups of
blocks that exhibited continuity and reasonable potential stope
geometry were included. All orphaned blocks and narrow strings of
blocks were excluded. The long-hole stoping with backfill mining
method was assumed for the out-of-pit (underground) Mineral
Resource Estimate calculation.
About Class 1 Nickel
Class 1 Nickel and Technologies Limited (CSE:
NICO | OTCQB: NICLF) is a Mineral Resources Company focused on the
exploration and development of its 100% owned komatiite-hosted
nickel sulphide projects: the Alexo-Dundonald Project, neat
Timmins, Ontario (4 nickel sulphide deposits) and the Somanike
Project, near Val-d’Or, Quebec (includes the historical Marbridge
Ni-Cu Mine). Both projects comprise extensive property packages
covering past-producing nickel mines, offering near-term production
opportunity and excellent exploration upside.
Class 1’s current focus is to advance the
Alexo-Dundonald Project back into production and at the same time
continue brownfield and greenfield exploration on its large
property package to aggregate additional nickel resources. The A-D
Project sits on a 14+ km strike-length, folded komatiite unit
containing several nickel-copper-cobalt and PGE Mineral Resources
plus numerous underexplored sulphide occurrences. Decades of
successful capital expenditure and investment into the Project has
resulted in the discovery and delineation of four main nickel
Mineral Resources that occur along the folded komatiite unit. The
A-D Project was previously mined (ca. 2005) via a direct shipping
model, and the Company will soon commence a Preliminary Economic
Assessment (PEA) study to determine the best path forward.
In addition, the Company also holds 100%
interest in its River Valley PGE Project located about 65 km
northeast of the City of Sudbury, the world’s largest and longest
operating nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE mining camp. See the Company’s
13 December 2023 new release for additional information.
Qualified Person
Technical information and data in this news
release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Scott Jobin-Bevans
(P.Geo., PGO #0183), a geological consultant to the Company, and a
Qualified Person under the definitions established by National
Instrument 43‐101.
About Class 1 Nickel
Class 1 Nickel and Technologies Limited
(CSE: NICO | OTCQB: NICLF) is a Mineral Resources Company
focused on the exploration and development of its 100% owned
komatiite-hosted Somanike Ni-Cu Sulphide Project in Quebec, which
includes the historical Marbridge Ni-Cu Mine. The Company also owns
the Alexo-Dundonald Ni-Cu-Co Sulphide Project, a portfolio of
komatiite-hosted magmatic sulphide deposits located near Timmins,
Ontario.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. David Fitch, President & CEOT: +61.400.631.608E:
info@class1nickel.com
For additional information please visit our website
at www.class1nickel.com and our Twitter
feed: @Class1Nickel.
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release.
This news release contains forward-looking
information which is not comprised of historical facts.
Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as
“plan”, “expect”, “project”, “intend”, “believe”, “anticipate”,
“estimate” and other similar words, or statements that certain
events or conditions “may” or “will” occur. Forward-looking
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could cause actual events, results, and opportunities to differ
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materially from such forward-looking information include, but are
not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets,
fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required
regulatory or governmental approvals, and other risks involved in
the mineral exploration and development industry, including those
risks set out in the Company’s management’s discussion and analysis
as filed under the Company’s profile at www.sedarplus.ca.
Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the
opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of
the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and
regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected.
Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used
in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release
are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such
information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as
required by applicable securities laws.