Only days after its start of trading on the TSX-Venture Exchange, Canada Nickel Company posted the first resource calculation for its sole property in northeastern Ontario.
The Toronto base metal explorer claims it's sitting on the 12th largest resource of nickel sulphide in the world.
The company released a “maiden resource” of the higher grade core from its Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide project, 40 kilometres north of Timmins, on Feb. 28.
Crawford contains a measured and indicated nickel resource of 600 million tonnes, grading 0.25 per cent nickel, with inferred resources of 310 million tonnes, grading 0.23 per cent.
A cut-off grade of 0.15 per cent nickel was used for the low-grade drill core and 0.25 per cent for the higher grade core.
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The calculation was based on 24 drill holes and more than 13,000 metres of drilling.
Canada Nickel is a project-specific spinoff of Noble Mineral Exploration, the focus being to bring the Crawford nickel sulphide project into production.
There are two types of nickel deposits – laterites and sulphides – and each have their pros and cons.
Sulphide deposits are generally found deep underground but are more expensive to find and mine than laterites, which are usually found at surface but are more expensive to process.
Crawford sits within a larger 78,000-hectare multi-mineral land package, held by Noble Minerals, covering14 townships. Noble made the initial nickel discovery early last year.
The property has good genetics as it's next to the Kidd Creek copper-zinc mine, the world's deepest base metal operation, which went into production in 1966.
Since exploration began at Crawford last fall, they’ve outlined a mineralized area that’s 1.7 kilometres along strike length, 225 to 425 metres wide, and up to 650 metres deep. The company said mineralization is open along strike to the northwest, north, south, and at depth.
Like most nickel miners today, Canada Nickel sees its future aligned with the electric vehicle battery market.
"We believe the results of this initial campaign and resource are a clear demonstration of Crawford's potential scale,” said Canada Nickel CEO Mark Selby in a news release.
“With exploration activities and mineralogy work well underway, we expect a steady stream of news flow that will underpin an exciting inaugural year for the company. As the global demand for electric vehicle battery components shifts into high gear, the timing is ideal for the launch of this new pure play nickel-cobalt company in one of the world's best mining jurisdictions."
