Québec Nickel Corp. (CSE: QNI) (OTCQB: QNICF) has announced it has added a third diamond drill rig to the Ducros Project, located approximately 80 kilometres northeast of Val-d’Or, Québec. Following their recent success at the Fortin Still Zone, including an 8.43-metre-long intersection assaying 1.85 Ni, 1.65% Cu (3.50% Ni + Cu), 576 ppm Co and 3.27 g/t Pt-Pd-Au in hole QDG-2-29 (see August 30,2022), a third drill rig was recently mobilized to the project and is being used to speed up the current and ongoing 20,000-metre drilling program.
The focus of the work for the third machine is to the advance the understanding of the size and geometry of the Fortin Sill Zone. The first drill continues to systematically test in the interpreted strike extents of the Ni-Cu-PGE-mineralized body as well as other geophysical and geological targets in the area that are interpreted to be potential continuations of the Fortin Sill Zone and/or new mineralized intrusions.
As announced in the firms’ September 20, 2022 News Release, a second drill was mobilized to the property in September to begin a 3,000 metre program at the Ducros Ultramafic Sill Complex (DUSC) target area (see below). To date, just over 50% of the planned drilling at the DUSC target area has been completed. The DUSC drilling program is paused during the fall moose hunt and will resume later in October.
Fortin Sill Ni-Cu-PGE Zone Drilling Summary & General Exploration Update
The Phase II drilling program began this past April at the Fortin Sill Ni-Cu-PGE showing and started with the collaring of hole QDG-22-09, which was designed to verify the results returned historical hole GCF-08-07, which intersected 0.82% Ni + Cu and 0.65 g/t Pt-Pd-Au over a core length of 20.7 meters at a downhole depth of 4.50 meters.
Assay results from QDG-22-09 improved upon the historical drill intercept in terms of both overall grade and core length. Two additional holes were completed from the same set-up as QDG-22-09, namely QDG-22-10 & 11, to test for the continuity of the Ni-Cu-Co-PGE-Au mineralized zone at Fortin Sill on section to the southwest.
Considering these strong results, several step-out holes were collared to the southeast of the Fortin Sill Zone discovery outcrop, including drill holes QDG-22-28 and QDG-22-29. See the previously reported assay results summarized below:
Ducros Property Exploration Update
The company initiated multiple work programs during the summer to support the ongoing 20,000-meter drilling campaign. The work programs have either been completed or are in the final stages of completion and include:
Channel Sampling:
An additional 17 channel samples spanning a continuous 16.98 meters were collected from the Fortin Sill Zone discovery outcrop (Channel 6). Assay results have been received and can be viewed in QNI’s corporate presentation at www.quebecnickel.com
Property-wide Biogeochemistry Survey:
A black spruce bark sampling program, which covers the majority of the >15,000-hectare Ducros property was completed during the summer. The final data set will comprise multi element analyses from almost 900 samples and includes data from more than 100 samples collected from a tightly spaced orientation survey grid over the greater Fortin Sill target area (25 m x 25 m sample spacing).
High-Resolution Satellite Imagery
The collection of 50 cm resolution satellite imagery over the entire Ducros project area was completed in September. The final processing of the data is in progress.
Fixed-wing Gravity Survey
A fixed-wing airborne gravity survey covering the entire Ducros project area has also been completed. The data are currently going through final QAQC checks and processing. These data will be incorporated into the project database and used to aid in the interpretation of the overall geology and structure of the Ducros property.
High Resolution Drone Magnetic Surveys over Specific Targets
In addition to completing 260 line-kilometers over the Fortin Sill area, an additional 3,000 line-kilometers of high-resolution drone magnetic surveys were completed over specific target areas across the Ducros claims at 25-to-35-meter line spacing. The results from these surveys have been received and are currently being processed and merged/integrated with the other datasets and have great helped in the refining of current and future drill targets.
