A day after its shares started trading on the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada Nickel Company (TSXV: CNC) released a maiden resource estimate for the wholly-owned Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide project near Timmins, Ontario.
The resource features 600.4 million tonnes in the measured and indicated category grading 0.25% nickel and 0.013% cobalt for a total of 1.53 million tonnes nickel and 78,000 tonnes cobalt. Additional inferred resources stand at 310.5 million tonnes grading 0.23% nickel and 0.013% cobalt.
The resource features a higher-grade core of 262.8 million tonnes in the measured and indicated category at 0.31% nickel and 0.013% cobalt, containing 807,000 tonnes nickel and 34,000 tonnes cobalt. The higher-grade inferred portion of the resource is made up of 66.4 million tonnes at 0.29% nickel and 0.013% cobalt.
"We believe the results of this initial campaign and resource are a clear demonstration of Crawford's potential scale," Mark Selby, the company's CEO and chairman, said in a press release. "The Canada Nickel team will continue to leverage the project's excellent location and infrastructure, and our team's extensive project, industry and capital markets experience to explore and advance this large-scale nickel-cobalt project. With exploration activities and mineralogy work well underway, we expect a steady stream of news flow that will underpin an exciting inaugural year for the company."
According to the company, based on metrics from Wood MacKenzie and SNL, Crawford nickel project is the twelfth-largest nickel project worldwide when ranked using measured and indicated resources.
The current resource is based on 13,042 metres of drilling within 24 holes. Drilling to date has traced the mineralized structure at the project over a strike length of 1.7 km, over a width of 225 metres to 425 metres and down to a depth of up to 650 metres. The high-grade core is contained within an area that is 1.6 km long and up to 650 metres deep. The mineralization sits within a host ultramafic body and is open for expansion; drilling to date has tested only 20% of the Crawford structure.
Drilling at the project restarted in the fourth quarter and will continue this year to test for extensions, new zones and continuity of the mineralization. In addition, mineralogical studies are ongoing, as part of a first-phase metallurgical testing program.
On Feb. 26, Canada Nickel announced that its shares were approved for listing on the TSX Venture Exchange. At the end of November, the company entered into an agreement with Noble Mineral Exploration (TSXV: NOB) to acquire the Crawford project for a total of $2 million in cash and 32 million in shares.
Canada Nickel Company has 57 million shares outstanding for a $34.2-million market capitalization.