Nickel North Retains Consultants to Update Mineral Resource Estimate and NI 43-101 Technical Report on Hawk Ridge Nickel-Copper-PGE-Cobalt Project in Quebec
2022-05-09 13:03 ET - News Release
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 9, 2022) - Nickel North Exploration Corp. (TSXV: NNX) (the "Company" or "Nickel North") is pleased to announce that the Company has retained the services of consultants P&E Mining Consultants Inc ("P&E") based in Toronto ( www.peconsulting.ca) to update the Mineral Resource Estimate and prepare an NI43-101 Technical Report on its 100% owned flagship Hawk Ridge Nickel-Copper-PGE-Cobalt project at Ungava Bay, Northern Quebec.
P&E has prepared an initial NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for three deposits (Hopes Advance, Gamma and Falco 7) on the Hawk Ridge project in March 12, 2014. The Pit Constrained Inferred Mineral Resources at a US$25/tonne net smelter return ("NSR") cut-off were estimated at 19,636,000 tonnes at average grades of 0.58% Cu, 0.22% Ni, 0.01% Co, 0.05 g/t Pt, 0.21 g/t Pd and 0.11 g/t Au. Metal prices for the 2014 estimate were US$3.67/lb Cu, US$8.51/lb Ni, US$1,596/oz Pt, US$702/oz Pd, US$1,554/oz Au and US$15/lb Co based on a three-year trailing average as of November 30, 2013.
Since this initial Mineral Resource Estimate in 2014, all major metal prices, especially Nickel, Palladium and Cobalt, have increased by 100-300%. For example, average Nickel prices in 2014 was $7.63/lb Ni ($16,893/tonne USD), $810/oz Pd Palladium, and $6.81/lb Co Cobalt ($15,000/tonne USD). Comparatively, the prices of Nickel, Palladium and Cobalt on May 3, 2022 on LME were up to US$14.71/lb Ni, US$2,250/oz Pd and US$36.97/lb Co.
Nickel North has intercepted a 7.01m high-grade massive nickel sulfide mineralized zone grading 2.11% Ni, 2.73% Cu and 0.62 g/t PGE from Hole RH-2014-50 at the Gamma Zone. This hole was drilled after the initial Mineral Resource Estimate in 2014 and now will be integrated into the updated Mineral Resource Estimate.
P&E will re-estimate the NSR cut-off based on consensus economics forecast metal prices, metal recoveries and a US exchange rate at 0.78 to update the Mineral Resource Estimate. The updated NI43-101 Technical Report will be prepared and used as the basis for future drilling program planning and project financing.