Mr. Darin Wagner reports
BALMORAL COMMENCES SUMMER FIELD PROGRAM, DETOUR GOLD TREND PROJECT, QUEBEC
Balmoral Resources Ltd.'s summer 2018 field program is under way on its Detour Gold Trend Project in Quebec. The program will feature a minimum of 7,500 metres of diamond drilling, as well as a series of ground-based geophysical, geological and geochemical surveys on properties throughout the company's holdings along the Detour gold trend. The program will also feature the company's return to active exploration of its nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE (platinum group element) assets.
The nickel market has staged a strong recovery in 2018 on the back of rapidly declining inventories, similar to what has occurred over the last 18 months throughout the base metal complex. Add to that the fact that the near- and long-term outlook for nickel sulphide deposits is very favourable, due in part to the burgeoning demand for electric vehicles, and it is an ideal time for a renewed focus on nickel exploration.
Balmoral has 100-per-cent ownership of the Grasset nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE deposit and numerous other nickel sulphide discoveries hosted within the Grasset ultramafic complex (GUC) on the company's Grasset and Fenelon properties. The Grasset Ni-Cu-Co-PGE deposit is open to depth and along strike to the northwest, and hosts a high-grade indicated resource of 3.45 million tonnes at 1.56 per cent nickel, 0.17 per cent copper, 0.03 per cent cobalt, 0.34 gram per tonne platinum and 0.84 g/t palladium (see news release dated March 7, 2016) within a greater-than-15-million-tonne open-ended nickel sulphide body.
Drilling of the Grasset deposit was suspended in 2015 following a sharp downturn in the price of nickel which saw it fall from a high of over $9/pound in mid-2014, to low of under $4/pound in late 2015. Recently, however, the nickel ($6.69/pound versus $6.58/pound), copper ($3.04/pound versus $2.97/pound), cobalt ($35.83/pound versus $13/pound) and palladium ($956/ounce versus $737/ounce) prices have all recovered and now exceed the pricing used in the company's 2016 resource estimate for the Grasset deposit (see news release dated March 7, 2016).
During the last drill campaign on the Grasset deposit in 2015, Balmoral discovered a very high-grade footwall vein breccia beneath the main H3 zone which returned an intercept of 10.50 per cent Ni, 0.74 per cent Cu, 0.13 per cent Co, 1.87 g/t Pt and 4.87 g/t Pd over 7.50metres (see news release dated Nov. 16, 2015). Drilling was suspended before this new discovery could be followed up and thus it, and the deposit as a whole, remains open for expansion.
Over the last three years Balmoral has also identified a series of additional nickel exploration targets within its central Quebec property portfolio, and several of them will be targeted for drill testing during the summer/fall or upcoming winter drill seasons.
2018 summer work program
Fieldwork is initially focusing on the recently identified Nicolet ultramafic intrusion on the company's Martiniere property. Winter geophysical work identified a series of chargeability anomalies -- typically associated with disseminated sulphide mineralization such as that observed at Grasset -- located along the length of the 2,500-metre-long Nicolet intrusion (see news release dated May 24, 2018). Initial geochemical sampling indicates strong similarities between the Nicolet intrusion and the rocks of the GUC and thus the company believes it to be prospective for the discovery of Ni-Cu-Co-PGE mineralization. The Nicolet ultramafic intrusion has very shallow overburden cover over much of its length and has never been drill tested.
Once this phase of work is completed it is anticipated that the focus of work will shift to the Grasset ultramafic complex. Drill testing of a number of new targets and follow-up testing of nickel sulphide discoveries made in 2015 by the company within the central segment of the GUC, where ground conditions are typical drier earlier in the season, will be followed by expansion drilling on the Grasset Ni-Cu-Co-PGE deposit.
"With global nickel inventories falling rapidly and burgeoning growth in demand for Class 1 nickel to supply the expanding electric vehicle battery market, Balmoral is very well positioned with a three-year head start on what we feel will soon be a frenetic global search for nickel sulphide supply by nickel miners, explorers, chemical and battery manufacturers, and even auto manufacturers. Balmoral holds the distinct advantage of already owning a significant, metallurgically simple, logistically well-located nickel sulphide deposit which is open for expansion, a number of recent, sparsely tested, near-surface nickel sulphide discoveries, and the potential for additional discoveries throughout our large landholdings in the Abitibi," said John Foulkes, vice-president of corporate development for Balmoral. "Our patience is about to be rewarded."
Additional details regarding the summer/fall exploration program will be forthcoming over the weeks ahead as the program progresses.
Quality control
Darin Wagner (PGeo -- British Columbia, Ontario, res. permit Quebec), president and chief executive officer of the company, is the non-independent qualified person for the technical disclosure contained in this news release. Mr. Wagner has supervised the work programs on the Detour gold trend project since inception, visited the properties mentioned herein on multiple occasions and has reviewed the third party data contained in today's release.
About Balmoral Resources Ltd.
Balmoral is a well-financed, Canada-based exploration company. Balmoral's 1,000-square-kilometre Detour gold trend project is home to the resource-stage Bug and Martiniere West gold and Grasset Ni-Cu-Co-PGE deposits, and several other gold and base metal discoveries.
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