FPX Nickel to Prepare Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for Baptiste Nickel Project with Inclusion of Total Nickel, Cobalt and Iron Grades
Suite 320 – 1155 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC Canada V6E 2P4
Tel: 604.681.8600
e-mail: [email protected]
FPX Nickel to Prepare Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for
Baptiste Nickel Project with Inclusion of Total Nickel, Cobalt and
Iron Grades
Vancouver, September 20, 2022 – FPX Nickel Corp. (TSX-V: FPX, OTCQB: FPOCF) (“FPX” or the
“Company”) is pleased to report that it is has engaged Next Mine Consulting Ltd. to prepare an updated
mineral resource estimate for the Baptiste Project (“Baptiste” or the “Project”) at the Decar Nickel District
(“Decar”) in central British Columbia, incorporating results from 2021’s successful in-fill drilling program.
The mineral resource estimate, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022, will be
based on an improved modelling approach including both geological domaining and grade shell modelling,
and will be expanded to report the mineral content of total nickel and potential by -product elements
including iron and cobalt.
Highlights
• New Baptiste Deposit Mineral Resource Estimate, with the following improvements:
o Inclusion of results from the successful 2021 in -fill drilling program and con firming of
indicated resources
o Incorporation of an improved modelling approach including both geological domaining
and grade shell modelling, which is expected to better define internal depos it variability
and yield an improvement in average Davis Tube Recoverable (“DTR”) nickel grade
o Expansion of the reported mineral content to include estimated grades of total nickel, DTR
cobalt, and DTR iron, all representing potential new streams of value for the Project
“The new mineral resource estimate will represent another important de-risking step in the ongoing
development of Baptiste as a large-scale, low-cost and low-carbon nickel project,” noted Martin Turenne,
FPX’s President and CEO. “We are particularly excited by the potential for a new modelling approach to
yield a more robust, higher-grade DTR nickel resource, and by the inclusion, for the first time in the
Project’s history, of grade reporting for total nickel and the potentially significant by-product elements of
cobalt and iron.”
Work is currently underway to produce an updated Baptiste resource model incorporating results from
2021’s successful in-fill drilling program (see the Company’s News Release dated March 14, 2022). The
new approach to preparing the updated resource model includes both geological domaining and grade shell
modelling, as compared to the previous approach applied in the 2020 Preliminary Economic Assessment
(“PEA”) which solely used geological domaining. The grade shell domaining methodology includes
classification of material into low, medium, and high -grade shells (0.06-0.10% DTR nickel, 0.10 -0.14%
DTR nickel, and >0.14% DTR nickel, respectively).
The development of the new interburden model is informed by the previous dike model and altered zones
adjacent to dike-host contacts. The model is further refined by the results of the 2021 in-fill drilling program
and structural measurements obtained from directional drilling . This represents a shift away from the
previous block model which saw a 3% removal of rock mass to account for waste or dike sections within
the deposit. In conjunction with the new modelling approach, this interburden model will allow for better
understanding and segregation of internal waste for mine design purposes.
Initial block modelling results appear favourable with the following potential outcomes:
• An anticipated increase in DTR nickel grade in both the indicated and inferred categories with an
expected minor reduction in overall tonnage
• Inclusion of new 2021 drilling results supporting the classification of resources in the indicated
category
Further, the scope of the updated resource model will be expanded to include grade estimations of total
nickel, DTR cobalt, and DTR iron to support process flowsheet opportunities currently being evaluated by
the Company, including:
• Total Nickel: potential to produce a secondary nickel product consisting of nickel sulphide
minerals and/or very fine grained awaruite which currently does not report as DTR nickel
• DTR Cobalt: potential to produce a cobalt product (such as mixed hydroxide precipitate (“MHP”))
as a secondary product from a hydrometallurgical operation producing nickel sulphate for the
electric vehicle (“EV”) battery industry
• DTR Iron: potential to upgrade flotation circuit tails to produce an iron ore concentrate
Further refinements to the classification, variography, and estimators are currently in progress, in addition
to an independent third-party review by SLR Consulting (formerly Rosco Postle Associates, or “RPA”) of
the new modelling and estimation approach.
The Company expects to release results of the updated Baptiste mineral resource estimate in the third
quarter of 2022, and to publish complete results in the Project’s next National Instrument (“NI”) 43-101
technical report, which is currently forecast for the third quarter of 2023.
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 km 2 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 $2 8 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. At the Van target, the Company
followed up 2021’s highly successful maiden drilling program with an aggressive step-out program in the
summer of 2022, with results forecast for release in the fourth quarter of 2022.
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
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.