Power Nickel encouraged by Quebec drill results
Power Nickel Inc. [PNPN-TSXV, CMETF-OTCQB] on Monday said initial results from drilling at its Nisk nickel sulphate project near James Bay, Quebec have confirmed the presence of high-grade nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group element (PGE) mineralization in the Main zone.
It said results have also extended the mineralization by an additional 150 metres at depth and to the east, and below the central portion.
The announcement comes just days after the company said it planned to step up drilling at Nisk after raising $4.2 million from an over-subscribed non brokered private placement of 13.7 million flow-through units priced at 20 cents per unit and 14.4 million non-flow-through units priced at 10 cents each.
“With the new financing, we have expanded our drill program and now plan to keep drilling through mid-December and start-up again in mid-January,’’ said Power Nickel CEO Terry Lynch.
“We had planned to drill 5,000 metres and will now add an additional 7,500 to 10,000 metres as we continue to like wheat we see with our drilling program,’’ he said.
On Monday, the company said it had completed 11 holes for this second phase of drilling, but assay results covering the mineralized area are available for two holes.
Drilling highlights include drill hole PN-22-009, which returned an interval length of 25.86 metres grading 1.17% nickel, 0.80% copper, 0.08% cobalt, 1.46 g/t palladium and 0.23 g/t platinum.
“The initial assays of our fall program are very encouraging for Power Nickel shareholders,’’ the company said in a press release. “These holes are drilled in an area where no resource was modelled and as a result, will not only help us to better understand our deposit, but also of course add substantial tonnage to our model,’’ the company said.
Back in February, 2021, Power Nickel (then called Chilean Metals) completed the acquisition of its option to acquire up to 80% of the Nisk project from Critical Elements Lithium Corp. [CRE-TSXV, CRECF-OTCQX, F12-FSE].
The Nisk property consists of a large land position (20 kilometres of strike length) with numerous high-grade intercepts. The project is located in the southern portion of the James Bay territory. Nisk is a known nickel-PGE occurrence where historical work, including preliminary metallurgical test work, led to an evaluation of the resource potential of the Nisk-1 Main zone.
The Nisk-1 deposit is estimated to host a “historic” measured resource of 1.25 million tonnes of grade 1.09% nickel, 0.56% copper, 0.07% cobalt, 1.11 g/t palladium and 0.20 g/t platinum. However, more work is required to bring the “historic resource” within NI 43-101 standards of compliance.
Since the completion of the option, Power Nickel said a 2,400-metre drill program was completed in December, 2021, and reported in March of 2022.
On Monday, the company said core logging has confirmed the presence of sulphide mineralization in the areas defined as targets. Such visual observation indicates that the mineralization extends to a minimum of 150 metres below the deepest known intercepts, the company said.