Canada Nickel Company claims it’s made a major discovery at its Reid Property, north of Timmins, that rivals the size of the company's nearby flagship Crawford deposit.
CEO Mark Selby said in a news release that the "large-scale discovery" is “90 per cent of the size of Crawford,” ranking it as “the world’s fifth largest nickel sulphide resource” based on the raft of assay results the company hosted this week posted from an ongoing drilling program.
Reid is 37 kilometres northwest of Timmins and 16 kilometres southwest of Crawford where a federal impact assessment is underway to review the proposed open-pit mine. It contains a measured and indicated resource of 1.43-billion tonnes of nickel at 0.24 per cent.
Back in May, the company started reporting the first nickel drill hits at Reid as part of a regional exploration program of its various properties around the Timmins camp.
By June, assay results started rolling in from Reid drilling indicating a low-grade, high-volume nickel resource. One drill hole yielded 0.24 per cent nickel over 354 metres.
The company said Reid exhibits the same mineralogy as Crawford but it’s geophysical footprint is larger. Of the 16 holes drilled so far at Reid, all have shown nickel mineralized within dunite rock with thicknesses larger than what’s been found at Crawford.
The company is also pleased with the results at its other properties from a summer of exploration drilling.
A low-grade but significant nickel discovery was made at its Deloro property, nine kilometres southeast of the city, that the company continues to build. One drill core from Deloro revealed 0.26 per cent nickel extending over 394 metres.
Other positive nickel results are coming out its Reaume property, 20 kilometres northeast of Crawford, with 33 of 345 holes hitting nickel mineralization.
This year, Canada Nickel has been expanding its base of properties in northeastern Ontario through acquisition and earn-in agreements, picking up ground around Timmins, Cochrane, Iroquois Falls and Matachewan, and promoting the area as a new nickel district.
Canada Nickel also announced this week that it’s secured a US$10-million loan from merchant banker Auramet. The deal closes Oct. 14 at which time Auramet will receive 325,000 1-year warrants with a strike price of $1.52 per share.
The money is earmarked for Canada Nickel to work on its permitting and detailed engineering for Crawford throughout the winter.
