The 2021 drilling campaign at Baptiste was designed to convert near-surface inferred resources to the indicated classification to support an eventual preliminary feasibility study. The mine plan, as shown in the 2020 preliminary economic assessment (PEA), envisaged the mining of a total of approximately 1.5 billion tonnes of indicated and inferred material averaging 0.120% Davis tube magnetically recoverable (DTR) nickel over a 35-year mine life. Approximately 89% of this mineralization was classified in the indicated category and 11% in the inferred category.
The new drill results are highlighted by hole 21BAP073, which returned the third-highest grading broad interval of near-surface nickel mineralization in the project’s history at 254.9 metres grading 0.151% DTR nickel from 48.1 metres downhole, including 157.3 metres grading 0.154% DTR nickel.
Other notable intersections include: 153 metres grading 0.128% DTR nickel from 47 metres downhole, including 79 metres grading 0.139% DTR nickel; 282 metres grading 0.128% DTR nickel from 39 metres downhole, including 119.8 metrees grading 0.146% DTR nickel; and 317.2 metres grading 0.135% DTR nickel from 33.8 metres downhole, including 114 metres grading 0.159 % DTR nickel.
According to FPX, these results validated the PEA block model and potentially expanded higher-grade, near-surface DTR nickel mineralization at the Baptiste deposit.
“We are very pleased to see that the 2021 drill results validated the 2020 PEA block model, while continuing to showcase very strong, near-surface DTR nickel grades in the Baptiste starter pit area,” Martin Turenne, FPX’s president and CEO, said. “We expect these results will confirm the conversion of inferred mineralization to the indicated category for a mineral resource estimate in support of a preliminary feasibility study at Baptiste, which stands as the world’s third largest undeveloped nickel deposit.”
Assays from the 2021 Baptiste drill campaign follow up on promising results earlier this year from FPX’s initial drilling at the Van target, which defined a zone of strong awaruite nickel mineralization approximately 400 to 750 metres wide and up to 750 metres long, to downhole depths of up to 350 metres. FPX believes the zone has the potential to also host a large-scale, standalone nickel deposit similar to Baptiste.
More information is available at www.fpxnickel.com.
