The trend is toward mining lower-grade, big-tonnage deposits Thirteen hundred metres of drilling later, Canada Nickel posted Crawford's maiden resource estimate in February with 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.
The company is currently running an infill drilling program on its Main and East Zones at Crawford in anticipation of posting a resource update by the end of this month.
Finding deep nickel sulphide deposits are exceedingly rare, said Selby, maybe with one or two found per decade, Vale's Voisey's Bay mine in Labrador being one.
"You don't find good, big ones very often."
High-grade nickel sulphide deposits are fairly small, and companies can burn through a lot of capital going after them.
"No one's finding multi-million-tonne, high-grade nickel deposits anymore," Selby said. The trend is toward mining lower-grade, big-tonnage deposits, which can be very profitable.