FPX Nickel outlines 2025 plans for Baptiste Nickel Project, British Columbia
FPX Nickel Corp. [TSXV: FPX; OTCQB: FPOCF] provided plans for advancement of the Baptiste Nickel Project, British Columbia, in 2025. Following the completion of the robust 2023 preliminary feasibility study (PFS), the company’s 2025 activities will build on strong progress made in 2024, prioritizing the advancement of further engineering studies, baseline environmental data collection, and continued positive engagement with First Nations and the Provincial and Federal governments in preparation for anticipated entry into the environmental assessment (EA) process in the second half of 2025.
“In 2025, FPX is focused on completing the key workstreams to initiate the EA process, which is the key critical path activity for the overall development of the Baptiste Nickel Project,” commented Martin Turenne, President and CEO. “We are committed to working in partnership with the multiple First Nations communities connected to the project, including the proposed mine site and associated off-site infrastructure such as the powerline and access road. This collaborative approach has resulted in targeting a later entry into the EA process than originally planned, in recognition of the desire by the company, First Nations and the Provincial and Federal governments to align on the scope and design of the regulatory process in advance of initiating the EA.”
In September 2024, FPX announced that the Province of British Columbia identified the Baptiste Nickel Project as the first project to be included in the province’s new Critical Minerals Office (CMO) concierge service initiative, a provincial strategy action to enable the prioritization of critical minerals projects in B.C.
The company has established a CMO working group with provincial officials; this working group meets on a regular basis, with the CMO providing concierge service for the Baptiste Project with support for EA readiness, funding opportunities and regulatory processes; project management support on pre-permitting and pre-regulatory processes, including federal processes; and dedicated government resources to assist in the establishment of agreements with First Nations.
The company has begun early engagement with Federal agencies in preparation of entering the EA process in a similar manner to that with B.C. through the CMO.
In 2025, the company will seek to continue to establish agreements with all potential participating Indigenous nations, which per the BC Environmental Assessment process, refers to all Indigenous nations that will participate in the environmental assessment process of a proposed project, including both on- and off-site facilities.
FPX established a community office in 2024 in Fort St. James, located approximately 90 km from the Baptiste project.
Cultural and environmental baseline studies have been ongoing for the Baptiste Nickel Project since early 2022 and include surface water hydrology and water quality, wildlife, vegetation, fisheries and aquatics, and archeology programs. Ongoing and expanded programs were completed in 2024 in preparation for the EA process. The 2025 program will continue to study the Project area, and includes ongoing wildlife, climate, hydrology, water quality and hydrogeology work.
The cultural and environmental studies for the project are being conducted by local Indigenous-owned and affiliated businesses in the Project area. This approach targets the integration of Indigenous perspectives into the scoping and execution of these studies and provides a strong collaborative basis for eventual consultation activities associated with the EA process.
It is anticipated that the Company will have collected sufficient cultural and environmental baseline data to initiate the EA process by the second half of 2025.
In 2024, FPX established a variety of Feasibility Study (FS) initiatives, including the establishment of a Technical Advisory Committee with representatives from FPX’s three strategic investors, the completion of a mineral processing pilot plant and the completion of a comprehensive Value Engineering program which tangibly improved both project value and definition.
The FS metallurgy program commenced in 2024, with key efforts including completion of a confirmatory, large-scale pilot testwork program for the concentrator, completion of pilot-scale hydrometallurgical testwork for the off-site refinery, and advancement of ancillary testwork programs to bolster FS design criteria.
In 2025, FPX will continue with the FS metallurgy program, with key focus areas to include variability testwork, flotation optimization testwork, and further ancillary testwork to support FS definition.
Results to date from the FS metallurgy program, as previously reported, either validate or improve on the metallurgy basis as presented in the PFS. The FS testwork program is expected to run through to the first half of 2026, with material findings to be released as appropriate.
In connection with the environmental and cultural baseline study works ongoing at Baptiste since 2022, FPX will conduct the first phase of FS engineering field investigations in the summer of 2025. This year’s program will focus on long-lead data collection that will support the EA process, as well as improved engineering definition within the open-pit footprint.
Approximately 2,800 metres of geomechanical drilling, hydrogeological drilling, and condemnation drilling is planned around the project site in 2025, with most of the meterage focused within the open-pit footprint. The second phase of the FS engineering field investigation program will be undertaken in 2026 and will include resource in-fill drilling, further geomechanical drilling, further hydrogeological drilling, and ex-pit geotechnical drilling.
Following the completion of the second phase of engineering field investigations, the Feasibility Study is expected to be completed in 2027.
The Baptiste Nickel Project represents a large-scale greenfield discovery of nickel mineralization in the form of a sulphur-free, nickel-iron mineral called awaruite (Ni3Fe) hosted in an ultramafic/ophiolite complex. The Baptiste mineral claims cover an area of 408 km2 west of Middle River and north of Trembleur Lake, in central British Columbia.
In addition to the Baptiste Deposit itself, awaruite mineralization has been confirmed through drilling at several target areas within the same claims package, most notably at the Van Target located 6 km north of the Baptiste Deposit. Since 2010, approximately US $55 million has been spent on the exploration and development of Baptiste.