Baptiste Zone Drilling
During the 2012 program at Decar, three drill rigs were used to further test the Baptiste zone with 27 resource defintion core holes totalling 15,205 metres. In addition, eight holes comprising 1,473 metres of core were completed as part of a hydrological drilling program. Four of the hydrological holes were drilled in the mineralized zone and were tested for DTR nickel.
The main objectives of the 2012 program were to test the lateral and deeper limits of higher grade zones by stepping out in the southeast and northwest areas of the Baptiste deposit, and to upgrade the mineral resource estimate. Fifteen of the holes reached a targeted down-hole length of 600 metres, which is double the depth of all previous drilling with the exception of a single deep hole drilled in 2011 that extended the nickel-iron alloy mineralization to at least 430 metres vertically. A drill hole location map can be viewed below.
Baptiste 2012 Drill Hole Location Map
The 2012 drilling successfully expanded a near-surface higher-grade zone in the southeastern area of the Baptiste deposit by extending the nickel-iron alloy mineralization a further 400 metres to the southeast. The drilling also extended the Baptiste deposit by 580 metres along strike to the northwest.
The 2012 drill results, presented in the table below, are for the 27 resource definition holes and four hydrological holes completed in the Baptiste zone. The 2012 drill NQ core was sawn in half and sampled every four metres down-hole unless there was a change in rock type. Larger diameter HQ core was quartered for the sampling in the same fashion.
2012 Baptiste Drill Hole Results
| Southeastern Area | ||||||
| Hole # |
Intersections (m) | DTR Nickel (%) |
Comments | |||
| From | To | Intercept | ||||
| 12BAP-36 | 31.1 | 600.1 | 563.0 | 0.156 | Excludes 5.7m dyke | |
| 12BAP-37 | 64.0 | 600.0 | 494.9 | 0.147 | Excludes 8.2m & 33m dyke sequence | |
| 12BAP-39 | 38.2 | 594.1 | 552.7 | 0.153 | Excludes 3.1m dyke | |
| 12BAP-40 | 33.0 | 588.0 | 549.9 | 0.153 | Excludes 5.1m dyke | |
| 12BAP-42 | 154.0 | 234.0 | 80.0 | 0.120 | Abandoned at 301m, rods stuck | |
| 12BAP-43 | 33.2 | 600.0 | 508.1 | 0.151 | Excludes 22.3m, 9m, 14.2m, 3.2m & 9.9m dykes + minor wall rock | |
| 12BAP-44 | 240.0 | 579.0 | 319.9 | 0.153 | Excludes 3.4m &15.7m dykes + minor wall rock | |
| 12BAP-46 | 28.6 | 600.1 | 487.4 | 0.150 | Excludes 20m, 20m, 8m, 13.6m, 12m & 10.6m dykes + <0.1% DTR Ni intervals | |
| 12BAP-50 | 34.5 | 229.0 | 194.5 | 0.147 | ||
| 12BAP-52 | 283.0 | 600.1 | 317.1 | 0.156 | ||
| 12BAP-55 | 106.0 | 569.7 | 456.2 | 0.158 | Excludes 7.4m dyke | |
| 12BAP-58 | 484.0 | 600.1 | 116.1 | 0.163 | ||
| HG-04 | 48.0 | 501.0 | 357.0 | 0.134 | Hydrological hole. Excludes 9.9m dyke & 136.5m <0.1% DTR Ni intervals | |
| Northwest Extension | ||||||
| 12BAP-51 | 116.3 | 374.0 | 220.5 | 0.121 | Excludes 29.4m & 4.9m dykes + <0.1% DTR Ni intervals | |
| 12BAP-54 | 169.2 | 600.0 | 418.6 | 0.143 | Excludes 12.2m dyke | |
| 12BAP-57 | 20.0 | 542.0 | 491.8 | 0.116 | Excludes 16.2m & 14m dykes + <0.1% DTR Ni intervals | |
| 12BAP-59 | 3.7 | 383.0 | 375.2 | 0.148 | ||
| 12BAP-60 | 160.0 | 400.0 | 240.0 | 0.152 | ||
| 12BAP-61 | 335.5 | 488.0 | 152.5 | 0.129 | ||
| 12BAP-62 | No significant results | Drilled beyond the south margin | ||||
| Northwestern Area – Infill | ||||||
| 12BAP-41 | 10.0 | 551.3 | 533.6 | 0.140 | Excludes 6m & 1.7m dykes | |
| 12BAP-45 | 6.0 | 487.0 | 465.8 | 0.143 | Excludes 4m & 10.3m dykes + <0.1% DTR Ni intervals | |
| 12BAP-47 | 150.0 | 600.0 | 442.0 | 0.145 | Excludes 8m dyke + minor wall rock | |
| 12BAP-56 | 77.9 | 600.0 | 512.5 | 0.142 | Excludes 3.7m & 5.9m dykes | |
| 12HG-02 | 20.0 | 300.0 | 280.0 | 0.131 | Hydrological hole | |
| 12HG-03 | 5.3 | 287.0 | 281.7 | 0.134 | Hydrological hole | |
| North Boundary & High Wall | ||||||
| 12BAP-38 | 6.0 | 114.0 | 108.0 | 0.114 | ||
| 12BAP-48 | 4.0 | 91.3 | 87.3 | 0.099 | ||
| 12BAP-49 | 482.0 | 600.0 | 118.0 | 0.119 | ||
| 12BAP-53 | 486.0 | 600.0 | 114.0 | 0.115 | ||
| Northeast Extension | ||||||
| HG-09 | 10.2 | 75.0 | 64.8 | 0.121 | Hydrological hole | |
The reported nickel grades are weighted averages of significant intercepts ≥ 0.1% DTR nickel. Intercepts of non-mineralized dykes less than 1 metre wide are included in the averaged mineralized intercepts.
The Baptiste deposit continues to remain open, including along strike in both directions, to the southeast in the higher-grade central area and at depth over the entire system.
Southeastern area
The higher-grade, southeastern area of the Baptiste deposit was tested and expanded with a total of 12 holes drilled 100 to 200 metres apart. The holes were inclined at minus 50 degrees to the north, with the exception of hole 43, which was steepened to minus 60 degrees, and hole 50, which was drilled in the opposite direction to the south. Eleven of the holes reached a down-hole depth of 525 metres or greater, while hole 42 was abandoned at 301 metres after the drill rods became stuck. All bottomed in mineralization, with the exception of hole 42.
The southeastern area, which remains open to the east, is completely masked by alluvial overburden, however surface mapping and airborne geophysical magnetic results helped guide drill hole locations The top of the drill holes intersected overburden, or non-mineralized sediments, volcanics, dykes or ultramafics, before entering the Baptiste southeastern mineralized zone. The zone’s south boundary is interpreted to be sub-vertical or dips steeply to the north at 80 degrees. The mineralized peridotite body is cut in places by a number of non-mineralized dykes, which range in thickness from 3 to 30 metres down-hole.
The southeasternmost hole drilled to date, hole 43, intersected 508.1 metres averaging 0.151% DTR nickel (excluding five non-mineralized dykes totalling 58.6 metres in length), beneath 33.2 metres of overburden.
Northwestern Area
A total of eight resource definition holes were collared in the northwestern area of the deposit. A number of the holes (41, 45, 47 and 56) were originally designed as infill holes to test the continuity of mineralization for mineral resource purposes. The others (holes 38, 48, 49 and 53) were positioned to locate and define the dip of the mineralized body and to provide geotechnical data to characterize the proposed pit high north wall.
Most of the holes completed in 2010 and 2011 were drilled at an angle of minus 50 degrees and oriented in either a northeasterly or northwesterly direction. Six of the 2012 infill holes were drilled in the opposite direction to the southwest at varying angles of minus 50 to 70 degrees for geostatistical and geotechnical purposes.
Northwest Extension
The 2012 drilling of seven holes on the northwest end of Baptiste added 580 metres to the mineralized system’s strike length, which narrows to 150 metres wide at the very northwest end and is still open. The drilling intersected significant grades ranging from 0.116% to 0.152% DTR nickel over lengths of 220 to 492 metres. The northwesternmost hole drilled to date, hole 60, intersected 240 metres averaging 0.152% DTR nickel, starting from 160 metres down-hole. Like other areas of the deposit, the deeper 2012 holes confirm the nickel-iron alloy mineralization extends to at least 460 metres depth to the bottom of the holes in the northwest extension.
Northeast Extension
Hydrological hole HG-09, vertically drilled to 75 metres depth, extended the northeast boundary of Baptiste by intersecting 64.8 metres of 0.121% DTR nickel to the bottom of the hole. HG-09 was collared 240 metres north of 2011 hole 24, which cut 114.4 metres of 0.116%, followed further down-hole by 36 metres of 0.121% and 64 metres of 0.131% DTR nickel.
In addition to the resource definition drilling, an eight-hole hydrological drilling program totalling 1,473 metres was completed, allowing water quality sampling and flow testing of the hydrological monitoring wells to be done. A geotechnical program was partially completed in 2012 including the geotechnical logging of four 2012 resource definition holes and four hydrological holes, as well as point load testing and laboratory testing of selected drill core samples. Environmental baseline studies continued to assess surface and ground water quality, archeological significance, vegetation, fish and wildlife habitats.
FPX Nickel is actively engaged in the community with all stakeholders to provide social and economic benefits from responsible mineral exploration and mining in a way that also safeguards the health of people and the local environment. A Memorandum of Understanding regarding exploration activities at the Decar Nickel District was signed in June 2012 with the Tl’atz’en First Nation, which formalizes protocols for continuing the working relationship between FPX Nickel and the Tl’atz’en and Keyoh families. During the exploration phase, the focus has been on local training, in partnership with the College of New Caledonia, to maximize future employment opportunities.
The above technical information and all the other technical information on this website pertaining to geology and drill hole data was prepared under the supervision of FPX Nickel’s Chairman Dr. Peter Bradshaw., P. Eng., a Qualified Person as defined in National Instruments 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.