David’s Talking, We’re Listening
We took a look at a recent presentation at the Grizzle Battery Metals CON from David Patterson, CEO of Québec Nickel Corp. (CSE: QNI) (OTCQB: QNICF). There was some interesting points about nickel, an underappreciated metals in the mix of the more popular battery metals (i.e. copper, lithium, cobalt, vanadium etc.). So what’s the skinny with Québec Nickel? Let’s look at their projects and what they’ve been up to.
What’s a Québec Nickel?
Québec Nickel Corp. is a Canuck company, lazer-focused on searching for high-grade nickel-copper-platinum group element deposits in the mining-friendly jurisdiction of Québec. They’re starting with their 100%-owned Ducros property located in the eastern Abitibi Greenstone Belt.
The Opportunity in the Abitibi Region
There’s nickel in the Abitibi. The really good kind of nickel. David shared that the site won’t produce nickel alone. They site can extract elevated nickel, copper platinum and palladium. Often only 20 meters down.
The Abitibi region is very popular amongst miners; a lot of companies have sites in the Abitibi due to its mineral richness. However, other firms can only extract their nickel which is tied up in silicates. Québec Nickel was really looking for the Class 1 grade of nickel that is found in sulfites. The company found a good clue; they identified chalcopyrite in the nickel – the same panelodyte which is in nickel sulfite.
This gives the company a unique advantage with their particular find of anomalous nickel, with the potential of producing several dollars of nickel per lbs of rock. They made an announcement in August regarding their drilling hole 28 and 29. They reported 1.44 percent nickel (other companies have reported .1, .2).
As mentioned, alongside the nickel, they also are extracting 1.5 percent copper, almost 3 grams of platinum, palladium, and gold. They have the best drill core for economics in the region when it comes to critical metals.
The site is very economical – road, rail, airports, and power are all within 200 meters off the property.
The Potential of a Nickel Supercycle
There has been a decade of underinvestment in nickel. There hasn’t been a discovery of Class 1 nickel in Canada in 80 years, which make the Québec Nickel find a unicorn in the industry. Canada has fantastic regions for mining in Sudbury, Ragland, Thompson and now potentially, the Abitibi. To incentive more production, higher prices are required, which is positive for miners.
Operations & Catalysts
Drill program started in March; they have explored less than 1% of the property – we’re talking about 150 square kilometers of sulfur bearing rocks. There was been fantastic results at the Fortin, and the company is poised to capitalize on this momentum. The company has added 3 drills that are working 24/7.
Québec Nickel has grown in a short time – from one part-time geologist to a crew of a dozen comprising their Geotech team with all staff working locally. The company believes that Quebec is the best location for battery metals, with the requisite governmental support (e.g. ease of licensing) and infrastructure build (there are three battery metals plants currently being built).
