Vancouver, September 13, 2022 – FPX Nickel Corp. (TSX-V: FPX, OTCQB: FPOCF) (“FPX” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the completion of this year’s Van Target (“Van”) step-out drilling program at the Company’s Decar Nickel District (“Decar”) in central British Columbia. This year’s drilling was focused on expansion of mineralization at Van, where an initial drilling program in 2021 confirmed a major new discovery and suggested the potential for Van to host a large-scale, standalone nickel deposit which could rival the deposit already delineated at Decar’s neighboring PEA-stage Baptiste Deposit.
During this year’s step-out program, a total of 2,504 metres of drilling in ten widely-spaced diamond drill holes was completed at Van. The completed holes stepped out aggressively from the initial discovery area, testing the potential for nickel mineralization up to 1 km west of the holes drilled in 2021.
Figure 1: Van Target – Summary of Drillhole Locations for 2021 and 2022 Programs
This year’s Van drilling program was executed safely, on-schedule, under-budget, and with strong participation from the local workforce and community businesses. Assays from the program are pending, and first results are expected to be reported by the Company in November.
In 2021, the Company executed a maiden nine-hole, 2,688 metre drill program at the Van Target, which is located 6 km north of Baptiste at a similar elevation, and accessible via active logging roads. Maiden drilling at Van tested the sub-surface potential for mineralization below and adjacent to prospective mineralized outcrop, which had defined a target area of approximately 2.5 km2. The size of the Van Target as defined by this outcrop sampling is comparable to the Baptiste deposit, which measures 3 km along strike with widths of up to 1 km. For a complete description of 2021’s successful maiden exploration drilling program at the Van Target, see the Company’s news release dated January 6th, 2022.
Erin Wilson, P. Geo., FPX Nickel’s Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.
About the Decar Nickel District
The Company’s Decar Nickel District claims cover 245 km2 of the Mount Sidney Williams ultramafic/ophiolite complex, 90 km northwest of Fort St. James in central British Columbia. The district is a two-hour drive from Fort St. James on a high-speed logging road.
Decar hosts a greenfield discovery of nickel mineralization in the form of a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy called awaruite (Ni3Fe), which is amenable to bulk-tonnage, open-pit mining. Awaruite mineralization has been identified in four target areas within this ophiolite complex, being the Baptiste Deposit, and the B, Sid, and Van targets, as confirmed by drilling, petrographic examination, electron probe analyses and outcrop sampling on all four targets. Since 2010, approximately US $28 million has been spent on the exploration and development of Decar.
Of the four targets in the Decar Nickel District, the Baptiste Deposit, which was initially the most accessible and had the biggest known surface footprint, has been the focus of diamond drilling since 2010, with a total of 99 holes and 33,700 m of drilling completed. The Sid target was tested with two holes in 2010 and the B target had a single hole drilled in 2011; all three holes intersected nickel-iron alloy mineralization over wide intervals with DTR nickel grades comparable to the Baptiste Deposit. In 2021, the Company executed a maiden drilling program at Van, which has returned promising results comparable with the strongest results at Baptiste.
About FPX Nickel Corp.
FPX Nickel Corp. is focused on the exploration and development of the Decar Nickel District, located in central British Columbia, and other occurrences of the same unique style of naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy mineralization known as awaruite. For more information, please view the Company’s website at www.fpxnickel.com or contact Martin Turenne, President and CEO, at (604) 681-8600 or [email protected].
On behalf of FPX Nickel Corp.
“Martin Turenne”
Martin Turenne, President, CEO and Director
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is considered “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These statements address future events and conditions and so involve inherent risks and uncertainties, as disclosed in the Company’s periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Actual results could differ from those currently projected. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.