Canada Nickel Company (TSXV: CNC; US-OTC: CNIKF) has released assay results confirming the Reid property as a major discovery with a target footprint larger than its flagship Crawford nickel-cobalt discovery in Ontario’s Timmins-Cochrane mining camp.
Reid is located 16 km southwest of Crawford and 37 km northwest of Timmins and contains an ultramafic body with a target geophysical footprint of 3.9 km2, compared to just 1.6 km2 for Crawford.
The results include an additional nine holes on top of the seven holes reported in early December, when the Reid property’s exploration upside was first highlighted.
The new holes generally returned 100 to 470 metres of predominantly nickel sulphide mineralization with grades ranging from 0.2% to 0.31% nickel. Two holes had mineralization of over 500 metres width – approximately 50% wider than the Crawford Main Zone and more than 100% wider than the Crawford East Zone.
All 16 drill holes completed on the Reid property have now intersected multi-hundred-metre intervals of nickel mineralization. To date, the broader intervals have yielded weighted average grades of 0.22% nickel over an average interval of 272 metres.
According to Canada Nickel’s CEO Mark Selby, the grades and mineralization at Reid are consistent with what the company has observed at the the East Zone deposit at Crawford.
“The success of this initial drilling, targeted solely with our team’s proprietary approach using provincial geophysical data, highlights the significant potential of our total regional land package with over 42 km2 of target geophysical footprint, which is more than 20 times larger than our flagship Crawford project,” Selby stated in a news release.
With the drilling confirmation, the Reid project now represents another bulk-tonnage discovery anchored by Crawford, which is said to contain the fifth-largest nickel sulphide resource. A preliminary economic assessment for the Crawford project based on prior resource estimates outlined a 25-year operation capable of producing 842,000 tonnes of nickel metal.
The company updated the project’s resource in July outlining measured and indicated resources of 1.4 billion tonnes grading 0.24% nickel and another 670 million inferred tonnes averaging 0.23% nickel.
In addition to the new drill results, Canada Nickel has also extended the repayment of its US$10 million loan with Auramet to Mar. 3. The extension “allows us to advance various financing initiatives, which we expect to complete during this timeframe,” Selby said.
At presstime in Toronto shares of Canada Nickel were trading at $1.65 within a 52-week trading range of $1.18 and $4.01 per share. The company has about 113.2 million common shares outstanding for a market cap of roughly $187 million.
Echelon Capital Markets is maintaining a “Spec Buy” rating and $6.00 per share price target based on the longer-term positive view of Crawford’s potential resource base, along with its alignment with global climate goals.