FPX Nickel Testing Demonstrates Second Method for Enhanced Carbon Mineralization at Baptiste Nickel Project
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FPX Nickel Testing Demonstrates Second Method for Enhanced
Carbon Mineralization at Baptiste Nickel Project
Vancouver, November 2, 2021 – FPX Nickel Corp. (FPX-TSX.V) (“FPX” or the “Company”) is pleased
to report the results of new testing which demonstrates the potential for enhanced carbon capture and storage
(“CCS”) in tailings and waste rock at its Baptiste Project (the “Project”) in the Decar Nickel District in
central British Columbia. These laboratory tests, conducted by researchers from the University of British
Columbia (“UBC”) funded by FPX and the Government of Canada, demonstrate that the injection of
carbon dioxide (“CO2”) as simulated flue gas (10% CO2) can be expected to increase the ability of Baptiste
tailings and waste rock to sequester CO2 into a permanent mineralized form, thereby boosting the Project’s
potential to become the nickel industry’s first carbon-neutral or carbon-negative operation.
Highlights
• The positive results of these CO2 injection tests are complementary to the positive results of the
direct air-capture tests described in the Company’s February 16 and June 9, 2021 news releases ,
and present an additional manner of engineering CO2 mineralization in Baptiste tailings and waste
rock
• Consistent rates of carbon minera lization were achieved in all tests, ranging from 13.3 to 15.3
grams of CO2 sequestered for each kilogram of crushed Baptiste tailings with tests varying between
8 to 18 days in length, and subjected to direct injection of 10% CO2 gas under a variety of conditions
of gas flux and permeability
• Significant rates of carbon mineralization were noted on a continuous basis in all tests, with rates
typically peaking on the first day and declining over the course of the test
• The CO 2 mineralization achieved during the tests is both permanent and verifiable by two
independent measurement methods
• FPX to host live webinar on Wednesday, November 3rd at 12:00 pm Eastern (registration available
at https://www.renmarkfinancial.com/live-registration/renmark-virtual-non-deal-roadshow-tsx-v-
fpx-2021-11-03-120000)
Cautionary St atement: The test results described herein are preliminary in nature and may not be
representative of conditions or results in an operating environment, particularly as it pertains to the
representativeness of mineralization, moisture content , changes in w eather conditions, process water
chemistry and tailings emplacement configuration , including the rate at which tailings are covered with
fresh material, among other parameters. There is no certainty that the results reported herein will be
realized in an operating environment. Further studies are recommended to expand the scale of testing to
better understand the potential for carbon sequestration to be realized in an operating environment.
“FPX is very proud to be playing a leading role in applying fundamental science to evaluate the potential
for large-scale permanent carbon capture and storage in the mining industry,” commented Martin Turenne,
FPX’s President and CEO. “With previous lab and field tests having demonstrated the capacity of our
Baptiste tailings to sequester significant amounts of CO2 from direct air capture, these new results enhance
the ability to accelerate the rate of carbon mineralization when injecting the material with CO 2 gas. This
opens up the possibility of even larger-scale CCS at the Project, further raising the potential for development
of a carbon-neutral or carbon-negative nickel mining operation at Baptiste. It is important to note that the
2020 Baptiste preliminary economic assessment did not include the benefit of any potential carbon
sequestration; going forward, we will be examining the incorporation of this potential into the ultimate
design plan for the Project.”
These laboratory tests build on more than a decade of research on technologies that maximize the reaction
between CO 2 and brucite (a highly CO 2-reactive mineral form of magnesium hydroxide) present in the
Baptiste mine tailings. In a natural process called carbon mineralization, CO2 reacts with brucite, and to a
much 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 UBC researchers has confirmed the ability of Baptiste
tailings material to mineralize CO2 when exposed to air (see the Company’s news releases dated February
16 and June 9, 2021). The primary rate-limiting factor on the pace and amount of carbon sequestration is
the delivery of CO2 to the carbon -reactive mineral s (principally brucite) in the t ailings. Carbon
mineralization rates and magnitude can be enhanced by increasing the supply rate of CO2 via the injection
of concentrated CO2 sources, such as diesel flue gas, into the tailings material.
The laboratory-scale tests summarized herein were designed by UBC to assess the effects of grain size and
permeability, among other variables, on the sequestration potential of Baptiste material . Injection
experiments were prepared by using a combination of coarse- and fine-grained material in pipes which were
injected with simulated flue gas containing 10% CO2 over periods ranging from 8 to 18 days. The
experiments were conducted on Baptiste drill core pulps in batches weighing 0.5 to 1.9 kilograms, with
brucite content of the fine-grained material of 12.8%, as compared to the estimated 1.5% average brucite
content of the Baptiste deposit.
In nine tests conducted during this round of research, the coarse material (P80 3,500µm) and fine-grained
material (P80 250 µm) were combined at a 3:1 ratio of coarse to fine, thereby enhancing both (a) permeability
(with the coarse material allowing circulation of CO2 within the tailings); and (b) reactivity (with the fine
material presenting a greater surface of liberated brucite to increase the reaction with the CO2).
The key findings of the experiment are as follows:
• Consistent rates of carbon mineralization were achieved in all tests, ranging from 13.3 to 15.3
grams of CO2 sequestered for each kilogram of crushed Baptiste tailings with tests varying between
8 to 18 days in length and subjected to direct injection of 10% CO2 gas under a variety of conditions
of gas flux and permeability
• Significant rates of carbon mineralization were noted on a continuous basis in all tests, with rates
typically peaking on the first day and declining over the course of the test
• Over 50% of the CO 2 was mineralized in the first 2 -to-4 days based on measurements of CO 2
concentrations at the inlet and the outlet
• The CO 2 mineralization achieved during the tests is both permanent and verifiable by two
independent measurement methods (see note on Verification Methodology below)
The positive findings of this experiment provide the basis for additional testing to expand the understanding
and optimization of several key parameters affecting carbon mineralization in tailings, including the
impacts of scale, grain size, porosity, permeability, moisture content, temperature, CO2 concentration in the
injected gas, and reactivity over longer time periods. Future test work will underpin the Company’s efforts
to optimize these parameters in the Baptiste development plan, including the potential to utilize some
combination of direct air capture and CO2 injection to advance Baptiste as the nickel industry’s first carbon-
neutral or carbon-negative operation. These results also open the possibility of mineralizing CO2 ex-situ in
waste rock, or in-situ by injection of CO2 into brucite-rich portions of the host rocks throughout the Decar
Nickel District.
Verification Methodology
Two methodologies were employed to confirm the amount of carbon sequestered during the test program.
Samples of the test material were submitted for analysis of total inorganic carbon (“TIC”) at the beginning
and the end of the experiments, with the increase in TIC representing the amount of CO2 captured during
the experiment. A mass balance on the sequestered CO2 was also determined on a daily basis by subtracting
the effluent mass of CO2 from the injected mass. Comparison of total captured CO2 shows good agreement
between the mass balance and TIC measurement methodologies and provides greater assurance regarding
the measured rate of carbon capture and the use of TIC as a verification method.
Next Steps
As previously disclosed, the Company is expanding the size and scope of carbon sequestration testing, with
the recent initiation of two direct air capture experiments in the third quarter of 2021:
1) Six-month experiment at a location in Vancouver on approximately 2.4 tonnes of tailings material,
or approximately eight times the scale of the 2020 experiment (see the Company’s news release
dated June 9, 2021).
2) 1-year experiment at a location in central British Columbia on approximately 300 kg of tailings
material, designed to better understanding the longer -term carbon sequestration potential of
undisturbed tailings in the Project region.
The Company will report the results of these experiments upon the conclusion of testing in 2022.
Dr. Peter Bradshaw, P. Eng., FPX’s Qualified Person under NI 43 -101, has reviewed and approved the
technical content of this news release.
Webcast
The Company is pleased to report that it will be participating in Renmark Financial Communications Inc.’s
live Virtual Non -Deal Roadshow Series to provide a Company overview and discuss its future plans on
Wednesday, November 3rd at 12:00 pm Eastern time (9:00 am Pacific time). FPX welcomes stakeholders,
investors, and other individual followers to register and attend this live event using the following
registration link: https://www.renmarkfinancial.com/live-registration/renmark-virtual-non-deal-roadshow-
tsx-v-fpx-2021-11-03-120000
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 in the first three pl us petrographic examination, electron
probe analyses and outcrop sampling on all four. Since 2010, approximately US $24 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 82 holes and over 31,000 metres 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. The Van target was not
drill-tested at that time as rock exposure was very poor prior to more recent logging activity.
As reported in the current NI 43-101 resource estimate, having an effective date of September 9, 2020, the
Baptiste Deposit contains 1.996 billion tonnes of indicated resources at an averag e grade of 0.122% DTR
nickel, containing 2.4 million tonnes of nickel, plus 593 million tonnes of inferred resources with an average
grade of 0.114% DTR nickel, containing 0.7 million tonnes of nickel, both reported at a cut -off grade of
0.06% DTR nickel. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic
viability.
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 Turen ne, President and CEO, at (604) 681 -8600 or
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, a s 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 Exch ange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.