FPX Nickel rock sampling at Mich Project, Yukon, posts favourable grades comparable to flagship Baptiste Nickel Project
FPX Nickel Corp. [TSXV: FPX; OTCQB: FPOCF] reported the results of a grid-based rock sampling program at the 100%-owned Mich property, Yukon Territory. This program has both expanded the footprint of known awaruite mineralization and identified new areas of awaruite mineralization beyond the previous claim boundary. Based on the expanded database of Mich rock sampling results, the grade profile of surface rock samples at Mich is now considered comparable with similar samples at FPX’s flagship Baptiste Nickel Project in British Columbia.
Highlights: The Mich Central Zone, as defined by surface rock sample results, has been increased to 2.2 km in length by up to 575 metres in width.
Within the Central Zone, results ranged from below detection to 0.16% Davis Tube Recoverable (DTR) nickel, with 44% of samples greater than 0.10% DTR nickel and 83% of samples greater than 0.06% DTR nickel, and total nickel values range from 0.19 to 0.31%.
Rock sampling in previously unexplored areas has returned DTR nickel values of up to 0.11%, leading the Company to expand the Mich claims package from 87 km2 to 105 km2.
“We are pleased the 2024 Mich program has successfully expanded the footprint of Mich’s known awaruite zone with grades comparable to Baptiste, as well as identified new areas of awaruite mineralization beyond the previous claims boundary,” commented Andrew Osterloh, FPX’s Senior Vice-President of Projects and Operations. “When considered alongside FPX’s continued development of Baptiste and our ongoing generative exploration joint venture with JOGMEC, the exploration success at Mich continues to position awaruite as a disruptive new source of low-carbon, low-cost, nickel for both the stainless and EV battery supply chains.”
The Mich claims are underlain by serpentinized ultramafic rocks of the Cache Creek Terrane, the same belt of rocks that host the awaruite mineralization at FPX’s flagship Baptiste Nickel Project in central British Columbia. The Mich property is located 50 km southeast of Whitehorse, 18 km off the Alaska Highway. The Mich mineral claims are located on the territories of the Ta’an Kwach’an Council, the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, and the Carcross/Tagish First Nation.
As announced June 10, 2024, the Mich claims package was expanded from 19 to 87 km2 in the first half of 2024, and a surface sampling program was planned with the objective of advancing the project to a drill-ready state. This surface sampling program is now concluded and results are reported herein.
2024 Field Program Results: Grid-based sampling was conducted at 100 m by 200 m spacing within and around the Mich Central Zone, and 400 m by 400 m spacing within previously unexplored areas in the new claims. In total, 363 rock samples from an area of approximately 25 km2 were collected in 2024, complementing the company’s historic DTR nickel database which included 181 surface samples collected from 2012 to 2014 and two drillholes completed in 2014. Both holes were drilled from the same collar location at the southern end of the known mineralized zone, and both holes identified long intercepts of near-surface awaruite mineralization, including 0.087% DTR nickel over 454 metres. Mineralization remains open in all directions.
Within the Mich Central Zone, 175 rock samples define the expanded mineralized footprint, which now measures 2.2 km in length by up to 575 metres in width. This mineralized footprint is defined by DTR nickel grades generally in excess of 0.06%, the Baptiste cut-off grade. Within this footprint, values ranged from below detection up to 0.16% DTR nickel with 44% of samples returning values greater than 0.10% DTR nickel, and 83% of samples returning values greater than 0.06% DTR nickel. This grade profile is comparable to Baptiste, where 37% of historic surface samples within the preliminary feasibility study (PFS) pit footprint measure greater than 0.10% DTR nickel and 79% of samples measure greater than 0.06% DTR nickel.
Ultramafic rocks sampled at Mich have returned total nickel values ranging from 0.19% to 0.31% nickel. While the range of total nickel content at Mich is typical of background nickel values from ultramafic rocks sampled worldwide, the high DTR nickel values at Mich indicate that Mich’s nickel is primarily contained in awaruite with grain sizes coarse enough for metallurgical recovery.
In samples with low to below detection limit DTR nickel, the total nickel value generally represents nickel contained within silicate minerals (primarily olivine) or ultrafine awaruite, both of which are not metallurgically recoverable.
In previously unexplored areas within newly staked areas to the southeast of the previous claims boundary, wider-spaced sampling returned two significant samples, including 0.11% and 0.10% DTR nickel, respectively. In response, additional follow-up sampling is planned for the next field campaign, and the company has newly staked a further 18 km2 in this area, bringing the total Mich claims package to 105 km2.