Canada Nickel Company Inc. (TSXV: CNC) (OTCQX: CNIKF) today reported that assay results from its final 11 drill holes at its Texmont Project have confirmed continued high-grade, near-surface mineralization. These results represent the final assays from the 39-drill-hole program undertaken at Texmont in the winter of 2022-2023.
Highlights
- Assay results from final 11 drillholes confirm continued high-grade near-surface mineralization within thick mineralized sections
- Seven of 11 holes intersected nickel grades > 1% and all 11 holes intersected nickel grades >0.5%
- Hole TXT23-39 intersected 3.0 metres of 2.31% nickel within 15.0 metres of 0.83% nickel within 90.0 metres of 0.34% nickel starting at 12 metres
- Hole TXT23-36 intersected 3.0 metres of 2.34% nickel within 12.0 metres of 1.06% nickel within 96.5 metres of 0.36% nickel starting at 4.5 metres
Latest Drill Results
The drill results further confirm the interpretation of the Texmont deposit, as displaying zoning in its mineralization, with a higher-grade core >1.0% nickel ranging between 2 to 8 metres thick, encompassed by moderate-high grade mineralization of 0.6-1.0% nickel between 12 to 25 metres thick and surrounded by lower grade mineralization of 0.25% and higher, with widths up to 150 metres (see Tables 1 and 2). Mineralization has been drilled to a vertical depth of 444 metres and remains open at depth.
Canada Nickel expects to produce a mineral resource estimate on the Texmont Project later this year using the 28,884 metres of drilling completed during the previous 2006 -2008 drill program and 9,726 metres in the current 2022-2023 program. This resource will form part of a PEA expected by the end of 2023.
Table 1: Texmont exploration drilling results – high grade highlights
Figure 1: Plan View of Texmont – Drill results Overlain on TMI (Black rectangle is southern area)
Figure 2: Texmont Property – Southern Area
Table 2: Texmont exploration drilling results – downhole average
**Hole ended in mineralization
Table 3: Texmont Drillhole Orientation
From the 11 drillholes in this release, five were drilled in the southern half of the property close to the past producing Texmont mine. The remaining six drillholes were drilled in the northern half of the property, testing the strike length extent of the mineralization.
Drillholes TXT23-24, TXT23-29, TXT23-30, TXT23-31 and TXT23-33 in the southern half of the property all intersected varying degrees of mineralization predominantly hosted in peridotites and to a lesser extent in adjacent mineralized komatiites. All drillholes cut across the interpreted low to moderate to high grade shells, with the best intersection in hole TXT23-30 at 1.34% Ni over 8.5 metres within a moderate-high grade shell of 0.83% Ni over 19.5 metres, within a low grade shell of 0.22% Ni over 127.4 metres. Holes TXT23-29 and TXT23-30 were drilled sub-parallel to strike to test the presence of inferred cross cutting faults, as well as to confirm the continuity of the mineralized shells (low, moderate and high) across geologic sections in an area of the mineralization where existing underground infrastructure makes it difficult to drill on-section.
The six remaining holes drilled in the north section of the property (Figure 2) all intersected varying degrees of nickel mineralization, with holes TXT23-32 and TXT23-35 having the best results, intersecting high grade nickel very close to surface, with overburden less than 5.5 metres in TXT23-35. TXT23-35 intersected 9.0 metres of 1.03 % nickel, within a larger section of 25.5 metres of 0.72% nickel, within an overall mineralized envelope of 174.5 metres grading 0.30% nickel.
Assays, Quality Assurance/Quality Control and Drilling and Assay
Edwin Escarraga, MSc, P.Geo., a “qualified person” as defined by National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the on-going drilling and sampling program, including quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). The core is collected from the drill in sealed core trays and transported to the core logging facility. The core is marked and sampled at 1.5 metre lengths and cut with a diamond blade saw. One set of samples is transported in secured bags directly from the Canada Nickel core shack to Actlabs Timmins, while a second set of samples is securely shipped to SGS Lakefield for preparation, with analysis performed at SGS Burnaby or SGS Callao (Peru). All are ISO/IEC 17025 accredited labs. Analysis for precious metals (gold, platinum, and palladium) are completed by Fire Assay while analysis for nickel, cobalt, sulphur and other elements are performed using a peroxide fusion and ICP-OES analysis. Certified standards and blanks are inserted at a rate of 3 QA/QC samples per 20 core samples making a batch of 60 samples that are submitted for analysis.
Qualified Person and Data Verification
Stephen J. Balch P.Geo. (ON), VP Exploration of Canada Nickel and a “qualified person” as is defined by National Instrument 43-101, has verified the data disclosed in this news release, and has otherwise reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release on behalf of Canada Nickel Company Inc.
The magnetic images shown in this press release were created from Canada Nickel’s interpretation of datasets provided by the Ontario Geological Survey.
