FPX Nickel Establishes Subsidiary Company CO2 Lock Corp. to Pursue Large-Scale, Low-Cost and Permanent Carbon Capture and Storage
Suite 320 – 1155 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC Canada V6E 2P4
Tel: 604.681.8600
e-mail: [email protected]
FPX Nickel Establishes Subsidiary Company CO2 Lock Corp. to
Pursue Large-Scale, Low-Cost and Permanent Carbon Capture and
Storage
Vancouver, March 30, 2022 – FPX Nickel Corp. (TSX-V: FPX, OTCQB: FPOCF ) (“FPX” or the
“Company”) is pleased to announce that i t has established a new subsidiary company, CO 2 Lock Corp.
(“CO2 Lock”), to pursue opportunities in large-scale, low-cost and permanent carbon capture and storage
(“CCS”). CO2 Lock has raised $1.7 million in a seed round financing, leaving FPX Nickel with an
approximately 76% ownership interest (fully diluted) in CO 2 Lock, which will proceed wit h an
independent management team in developing carbon sequestration operations in geological settings
worldwide with similarities to FPX’s Decar Nickel District (“Decar”).
Highlights
• FPX establishes an approximate 76% ownership interest (fully diluted) in CO2 Lock, which has a
cash balance of $1.7 million and a fully diluted post-money valuation of $16.8 million
• CO2 Lock will build on five years of laboratory and field research conduc ted with partners
including the Un iversity of British Columbia (“UBC”) and N atural Resour ces Canada in
understanding the controls for carbon sequestration in the serpentinized peridotites at Decar
• CO2 Lock will operate as a standalone entit y from FPX, and will establish ownership interests in
prospective mineral tenure s, license or advance projects to commercial production and develop
intellectual property associated with the operation of carbon sequestration sites worldwide
• FPX will retain 100% of the carbon credits associated with CCS on its own properties, and will
retain a right to use , free o f charge, any intellectual property developed by CO2 Lock for the
benefit of FPX’s own properties
“Since 2016, FPX has played a leading role in applying fundamental science to evaluate the potential for
large-scale permanent CCS in brucite-rich serpe ntinized peridotites, a nd we expect the launch of CO 2
Lock to greatly accelerate those efforts going forward,” commented Martin Turenne, FPX’s President and
CEO. “The establishment of CO 2 Lock provides immediate value for FPX shareholders and launches a
platform for CO 2 Lock’s independent management team to aggressively pursue the economic and
environmental benefits of large-scale permanent CCS on a global scale . Importantly, FPX will have the
right to use any intellectual property devel oped by CO 2 Lock, fu rther raising the potential for
development of a low- or zero-carbon nickel mining operation at Decar.”
Background
Since 2016, FPX has led research on technologies that maximize the reaction between CO2 and brucite (a
highly CO 2-reactive m ineral form of ma gnesium hydroxide) present in the host rock at the Company’s
Decar Nickel District, and at its secondary properties in British Columbia and the Yukon. In a natural
process called carbon mineralization, CO 2 reacts with brucite, and t o a mu ch less extent with serpentine
minerals, in the tailings and waste rock, binding the CO2 in a benign, solid magnesium carbonate which is
stable on a geological time scale.
Previous laboratory and field tests conducted by researchers from UBC have confirmed the ability of
FPX’s tailings m aterial to minerali ze CO 2 both when exposed (a) to air , and (b) to a point source of
concentrated CO2 gas (see the Company ’s news releases dated February 16, June 9, and N ovember 2,
2021). Through this work, FPX h as become an industry leader in advancing the understand ing of the
controlling chemistry and mi neralogy of carbon capture and the sequestration potential of the hos t
serpentinized peridotite rock.
Ongoing and future test work conducted by both FPX and CO2 Lock will underpin FPX’s efforts to
optimize CCS parameters in the Decar d evelopment plan, including the pot ential to leverage CCS to
advance Decar as an industry-leading low- or zero-carbon nickel operation.
CO2 Lock Corp.
FPX has established CO2 Lock as a standalone entity with a sole focus on pursuing the commercialization
of profitable carbon sequestration operations in brucite-rich serpentinized per idotites. In ret urn fo r its
approximate 76% ownership interest (fully diluted) in CO 2 Lock, FPX will provide the new company
with various intangible assets, including research data and samples from previous laboratory and field
tests on FPX’s properties, and access to the Company’s extensive global database on locations with
similar geology, thereby greatly facilitating CO 2 Lock’s pu rsuit of mine ral tenures in favourable
geological settings worldwide. FPX will hold an initial approximate 76% ownership interest (fully
diluted) in CO2 Lock and will have the right to use all intellectual property developed by CO2 Lock for
the benefit of FPX’s own properties , free of any royalti es or other payments to CO 2 Lock for such use.
Each of FPX and CO 2 Lock wi ll retain 100% of the car bon credits associated with their respective
properties.
CO2 Lock will operate as a standalone private entity, establishing ownership intere sts in prospe ctive
mineral tenures and advancing intellectual property associated with the opera tion of carbon sequestration
sites worldwide. CO2 Lock’s v ision is to commerc ialize the CCS potential o f ultramafic brucite-rich
serpentinized peridotite host rocks, with a mission to license or construct and ope rate commercial CCS
projects capable of permanently and profitabl y locking away millions of t onnes of CO2 per year. In
pursuit of this objective, CO2 Lock will execute exploration and engineering a ctivities to advance the
development of large-scale carbon operations capable of mineralizing carbon dioxide in these rocks and
associated carbon -depleted w aters both at -surface ( ex-situ mineralization) an d undergr ound (in-situ
mineralization). CO2 Lock’s website is accessible at www.co2lockcorp.com.
CO2 Lock has raised $1.7 million in a seed round financing and has a fully diluted post-money valuation
of $16.8 million. Certain insiders of FPX participated in this financing on the same terms as arm’s length
investors. FPX has not and does not intend to make any financial contributions to the future development
of CO2 Lock.
About the Decar Nickel District
The Company’s Decar Nickel District claims cover 245 km 2 of the Mount Sidney Williams
ultramafic/ophiolite complex, 90 km northwest of Fort St. James in centr al British Columbia. The district
is a two-hour drive from Fort St. James on a high-speed logging road.
Decar hosts a greenfield disc overy of nickel mine ralization in the form of a naturally occurring nickel -
iron alloy called awaruite (Ni 3Fe), which is am enable to bulk -tonnage, open -pit mining. Awaruit e
mineralization has been id entified in four target areas within this ophiolite comple x, being the Baptist e
Deposit, and the B, Sid and Van targets, as confirmed by drilling , petrographic examination, electro n
probe analyses and outcrop samp ling on all four targets. Since 2010, appr oximately 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 s urface footprint, has been t he 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 singl e hole drilled in 2011; all three holes intersected nickel-iron
alloy mineralization over wide intervals with DTR nickel grades comparable to the Baptiste Deposit. The
Van target was not drill -tested at that time as bedrock exposures in the area were very poor prior to more
recent logging activity. In 2021, the Company executed a maiden drilling pr ogram at Van, which has
returned promising results comparable with the strongest results at Baptiste.
About FPX Nickel Corp.
FPX Nickel Corp. is focused on t he exploration and development of the Decar Nickel District, located in
central British Columbia , and other occurrences of the same un ique style of natura lly occurring nickel-
iron alloy mineralization known as awaruite. For more information, please view th e Company’s website
at www.fpxnickel.com or contact Mar tin Tu renne, Pr esident and CEO, at (60 4) 681 -8600 or
On behalf of FPX Nickel Corp.
"Martin Turenne"
Martin Turenne, President, CEO and Director
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the statem ents m ade and i nformation contained he rein is considered “ forward-looking
information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These statements address future
events and cond itions and so i nvolve inherent risks and un certainties, as disc losed in the Co mpany's
periodic filing s with Canadian secu rities regulators. Actual results could differ from those currently
projected. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Neither the TS X Venture Exchange n or its Regulation Services Provider ac cepts responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.