FPX Nickel Commences Drilling Programs at Decar Nickel District in Central British Columbia

FPX Nickel Corp. (TSXV: FPX) (" FPX " or the " Company ") is pleased to announce that drilling programs have started at the Company's Decar Nickel District (" Decar ") in central British Columbia.  This marks the commencement of the most active campaign at Decar since 2012, with a focus on resource confirmation and expansion at the Baptiste Deposit (" Baptiste ") plus an initial drill campaign at the Van Target, located 6 kilometres north of Baptiste.

Highlights

  • Maiden drilling at the Van Target, which is defined by surface rock samples with an area extent and nickel grades similar to Baptiste
  • Drilling at Baptiste to convert Inferred resources into the Indicated category to support an eventual Preliminary Feasibility Study (" PFS ")

"We are very excited to assess the potential for a new discovery with a maiden, widely-spaced drilling program at Van this summer," commented Martin Turenne , FPX's President and CEO. "In addition to the drilling at Van and Baptiste, we will also conduct additional exploration around the Sid and B targets, plus regional exploration at five other under-explored areas at Decar, as described in our May 26 news release."

Van Target – Maiden Drilling

An initial nine-hole, 3,000-metre drill program has begun at the Van Target, which is located 6 kilometres north of Baptiste at similar elevations, and accessible via logging roads.  The Van Target's bedrock samples occur in a previously unexplored area due to ground cover which was more recently exposed by logging activity.

Davis Tube magnetically-recovered (" DTR ") nickel analysis of 54 bedrock samples, taken at intervals of 50 to 350 meters at the Van Target, has defined an area of approximately 2.9 square kilometers (see Figure 1).  This compares very favorably with the area defined by outcrop sampling and subsequent drilling at Baptiste, which is 3.2 kilometres along strike with widths of 150 to 1,080 metres.

Prior to the start of drilling, the Company completed a ground-based magnetic survey to refine the drill-collar locations for the drilling program, which will take approximately 8 weeks to complete.

Figure 1: Decar Nickel District

Figure 1: Decar Nickel District (CNW Group/FPX Nickel Corp.)

Figure 2: Map of Bedrock Surface Sampling at Van Target

Figure 2: Map of Bedrock Surface Sampling at Van Target (CNW Group/FPX Nickel Corp.)

Baptiste Deposit – Infill Drilling

A ten-hole, 2,700 metre infill drilling program has begun at the Baptiste Deposit.  The mine plan in the Baptiste PEA envisaged the mining of a total of approximately 1.5 billion tonnes of material for processing over the Project's 35-year mine life, with approximately 89% of this mineralization classified in the indicated category and 11% in the inferred category.  This summer's drilling program, which will take approximately 8 weeks to complete, is expected to convert the indicated resources to the indicated category to support an eventual Baptiste PFS.

The majority of the inferred resources in the Baptiste mine plan are located along the margins of the open pit, with some of the resource blocks occurring near-surface in higher-grade areas of the deposit (see Figure 3 below).  The Company has developed a three-dimensional drill-hole spacing model where spacing exceeds the 200-metre spacing requirement for categorization of indicated resources.

Figure 3: Plan View of Baptiste Deposit Resource Classification

Figure 3: Plan View of Baptiste Deposit Resource Classification (CNW Group/FPX Nickel Corp.)

Dr. Peter Bradshaw , P. Eng., FPX Nickel's Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

About the Decar Nickel District

The Company's Decar Nickel District claims cover 245 km 2 of the Mount Sidney Williams ultramafic/ophiolite complex, 90 km northwest of Fort St. James in central British Columbia . The District is a two-hour drive from Fort St. James on a high-speed logging road.

Decar hosts a greenfield discovery of nickel mineralization in the form of a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy called awaruite (Ni 3 Fe), which is amenable to bulk-tonnage, open-pit mining. Awaruite mineralization has been identified in four target areas within this ophiolite complex, being the Baptiste Deposit, and the B, Sid and Van targets, as confirmed by drilling in the first three plus petrographic examination, electron probe analyses and outcrop sampling on all four.  Since 2010, approximately US $24 million has been spent on the exploration and development of Decar.

Of the four targets in the Decar Nickel District, the Baptiste Deposit, which was initially the most accessible and had the biggest known surface footprint, has been the focus of diamond drilling since 2010, with a total of 82 holes and over 31,000 metres of drilling completed.  The Sid target was tested with two holes in 2010 and the B target had a single hole drilled  in 2011; all three holes intersected nickel-iron alloy mineralization over wide intervals with DTR nickel grades comparable to the Baptiste Deposit.  The Van target was not drill-tested at that time as rock exposure was very poor prior to more recent logging activity.

As reported in the current NI 43-101 resource estimate, having an effective date of September 9, 2020 , the Baptiste Deposit contains 1.996 billion tonnes of indicated resources at an average grade of 0.122% DTR nickel, containing 2.4 million tonnes of nickel, plus 593 million tonnes of inferred resources with an average grade of 0.114% DTR nickel, containing 0.7 million tonnes of nickel, both reported at a cut-off grade of 0.06% DTR nickel.  Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

About FPX Nickel Corp.

FPX Nickel Corp. is focused on the exploration and development of the Decar Nickel District, located in central British Columbia , and other occurrences of the same unique style of naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy mineralization known as awaruite. For more information, please view the Company's website at www.fpxnickel.com or contact Martin Turenne , President and CEO, at (604) 681-8600 or ceo@fpxnickel.com .

On behalf of FPX Nickel Corp.

"Martin Turenne"
Martin Turenne , President, CEO and Director

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is considered "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These statements address future events and conditions and so involve inherent risks and uncertainties, as disclosed in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Actual results could differ from those currently projected. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE FPX Nickel Corp.

Cision View original content to download multimedia: https://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2021/29/c5105.html

News Provided by Canada Newswire via QuoteMedia

FPX Nickel

FPX Nickel Investor Kit

  • Corporate info
  • Insights
  • Growth strategies
  • Upcoming projects

GET YOUR FREE INVESTOR KIT

The Conversation (0)
FPX Nickel (TSXV:FPX)

FPX Nickel


Keep reading...Show less

Exploring and developing the high-margin Baptiste nickel project in Canada

A lithium-ion battery in the foreground with a line of batteries in the background, all surrounded by blue swirls.

ASX Cobalt Stocks: 4 Biggest Companies in 2025

After spending much of the last two years trending downwards, the cobalt price is spiking in 2025.

About 75 percent of global cobalt output comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). While electric vehicle (EV) demand has remained positive, cobalt oversupply has weighed on markets and hurt efforts to build supply chains outside of the DRC.

However, the country banned exports of cobalt in February in an effort to increase the metal's falling price. By mid-March, cobalt had spiked to US$36,170 per tonne, up more than 65 percent from its record-low price of US$21,550 hit in late January.

Increasing electric vehicle (EV) and lithium-ion battery demand is expected to be supportive for key battery raw materials in the coming years. This means that as demand for EVs increases, so too will demand for cobalt — and, as one of the top four cobalt-producing countries in the world, Australia finds itself in a position to capitalise on this demand.

Keep reading...Show less
Electric car charging, wind turbine and cityscape double exposure.

Cobalt Market Update: Q1 2025 in Review

Cobalt metal prices fell to a nine year low in February after another year of oversupply, but rebounded sharply after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) instituted a four month export pause for the critical metal.

After starting the year at US$24,495 per metric ton, cobalt ended the three month period at US$34,040.40, a strong 39 percent increase from January’s value. The price spread between cobalt’s first quarter low of US$21,467.70 on January 29 and its Q1 high of US$36,262 on March 17 is even more impressive at 69 percent.

The drop to US$21,467.70 marked the battery metal's lowest level since February 2016.

Keep reading...Show less
A Canada flag on a compass pointing towards the word "invest."

Electra Secures Federal Support for North America’s Only Cobalt Sulfate Refinery

Electra Battery Materials (TSXV:ELBM,NASDAQ:ELBM) announced on March 21 that it has received a letter of intent from the Canadian government for C$20 million in proposed funding.

The money would support the construction and commissioning of North America’s first battery-grade cobalt refinery, a critical step toward strengthening the region’s electric vehicle (EV) supply chain.

The refinery, located in Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, is set to produce 6,500 metric tons of cobalt sulfate annually, enabling domestic production of up to 1 million EVs per year. According to Electra, it would be a key step in reducing North America's dependence on China, which currently refines approximately 90 percent of the world’s cobalt.

Keep reading...Show less
The cobalt periodic symbol with a rainbow in the background.

Top 5 Canadian Cobalt Stocks in 2025

Cobalt prices have been in a steady state of decline for much of the past few years as the market has remained constrained by excess supply and eroding demand.

The sluggish market conditions were attributed to reduced demand from the battery sector and oversupply of material. As a result, prices remained under pressure, with limited signs of improvement expected in the near term.

Cobalt prices continued to face many headwinds at the beginning of 2025. The multi-year supply glut and the growing transition to cobalt-free electric vehicle battery chemistries pulled the value of the battery metal down to US$21,550 per metric ton on February 10, a low not seen for more than a decade.

However, the world's leading cobalt producing country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) placed a four-month ban on cobalt exports on February 22 in an effort to boost prices. As the DRC is responsible for more than 70 percent of global cobalt production, this of course sent prices for the battery metal soaring to a yearly high of US$36,170 per metric ton as of March 17.

Keep reading...Show less
FPX Nickel

FPX Nickel Investor Kit

  • Corporate info
  • Insights
  • Growth strategies
  • Upcoming projects

GET YOUR FREE INVESTOR KIT

Latest Press Releases

Related News

×