Grid Metals Completes 14 Drill Holes at Makwa Nickel Deposit, Manitoba Canada Intersects Nickel Bearing Massive Sulphides Underneath the Past-Producing Dumbarton Nickel Deposit
GRID METALS COMPLETES 14 DRILL HOLES AT MAKWA NICKEL DEPOSIT, MANITOBA CANADA
INTERSECTS NICKEL BEARING MASSIVE SULPHIDES UNDERNEATH THE PAST-PRODUCING
DUMBARTON NICKEL DEPOSIT
Toronto, Ontario, April 13, 2022 – Grid Metals Corp. (the "Company") (TSXV:GRDM)(OTCQB:MSMGF)
today provided a drill update on its Makwa Nickel Property. Makwa which is part of the Makwa
Mayville Ni-Cu-PGM Project located in southeastern Manitoba – where the Company has just
completed 14 exploration drill holes. The current Makwa drill program focused on four geophysical
targets (MK02-MK05) all located close to the 2014 pit-constrained Makwa Ni-Cu-PGM resource.
Results from the first drill hole at the MK02 target intersected two separate intervals of <1 metre of
massive sulfide mineralization with nickel grades greater than 1.5% within a broader mineralized
package including 15 metres of 0.64% and 3.5 metres of 1.14% nickel equivalent grade. Drilling at
Makwa is ongoing. Drilling is also continuing at the Company’s Donner Lake Lithium Project located 35
km north.
Drill hole MK22-02 was drilled underneath the former producing Dumbarton Mine horizon at the
Makwa Property. Assays successfully confirm that there is nickel copper cobalt sulfide mineralization
remaining below the former mine workings. The geophysical anomaly (MK02) that was targeted has a
minimum strike length of 400 meters and extends at least 300 metres below the mined out part of the
Dumbarton deposit. Six additional drill holes have been completed on the MK02 target with results
pending. Initial results from MK22-02 are tabulated below.
Hole
ID
From
(m)
To
(m)
Length
(m)
Ni
(%)
Cu
(%)
Co
(%)
Pd
(g/t)
Pt
(g/t)
Au
(g/t)
NiEq*
(%)
MAK22-02 174.76 190.02 15.26 0.39 0.29 0.04 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.64
inc. 181.00 189.00 8.00 0.50 0.36 0.04 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.81
and inc. 183.00 186.55 3.55 0.79 0.28 0.07 0.02 0.01 0.01 1.14
and inc. 184.53 186.55 2.02 0.97 0.24 0.08 0.02 0.02 0.01 1.34
with 184.53 185.11 0.58 1.63 0.12 0.12 0.02 0.01 0.01 2.07
and with 186.19 186.55 0.36 1.53 0.12 0.12 0.03 0.03 0.01 1.97
Above: Highlights for MAK22-02, Dumbarton Zone, Makwa nickel property. NiEq (%) = the nickel
equivalent grade that was calculated using the equation: NiEq (%) = Ni (%) + 0.469 * Cu (%) + 3.125 Co
(%) + 0.319 Pd (g/t) + 0.21 * Pt (g/t) + 0.319 Au (g/t). The metal price assumptions in $US used to
determine the equivalency factors are: Ni - $8.00/lb; Cu - $3.75/lb; Co - $25.00/lb; Pd - $1,750/oz; Pt -
$1,150/oz; Au - $1,750/oz. na = not analyzed. The true thickness of the Dumbarton Zone intercepts
reported here is estimated to be 60-70% of the reported interval lengths.
Above: Plan view map of MK02 EM conductor plates and Grid Metal’s 2022 drilling locations. The
modeled plates have a near vertical orientation. The Dumbarton Zone was underground mined between
1970 and 1973 to a depth of ~ 150m ( source Manitoba Mineral Inventory File No.999 ) The Grid 2022
drill holes intersected the Dumbarton Zone below the historical mine workings. Historical drill hole
MM09-139 (far left) intersected 3m @ 0.85% nickel and 0.23% copper from 141m depth. The B series
holes (1953) shown on this map were drilled by Falconbridge Ltd. in the area that was mined out or just
below the historical underground mine workings. They include historical intersections of the Dumbarton
Zone as reported by Falconbridge Ltd. (internal company drill report) of 18.3m of 1.05% Ni including
11.0m of 1.52% Ni in hole B50 and 7.6m of 1.16% Ni in hole B46.
Makwa Nickel Project – Overview and Current Drill Program
• The Makwa Nickel Deposit was the subject of a standalone positive feasibility study completed
in 2007 (Micon International) for the mining and production of nickel concentrate for sale to a
smelter. National Instrument 43-101 resources at Makwa included in the 2014 PEA ( RPA Inc)
are 7.2Mt grading 0.61% nickel; 0.13% copper 0.36 g/t Pd and 0.10 g/t Pt in the Indicated
category – all open pit constrained. The Makwa resource does not include any material from
the Dumbarton Zone.
• The Makwa Deposit was incorporated into a 2014 PEA (RPA Inc.) combining the Makwa Deposit
and the Mayville Cu-Ni-PGM Deposit located ~35 km to the north of Makwa. The Mayville NI
43-101 resource is a pit constrained 26.6 Mt grading 0.44% Cu; 0.18%Ni; 0.14 Pd - Indicated.
• The last drilling at Makwa was in 2010.
• The current exploration drilling program is partially guided by an extensive 2018 ground EM
survey at Makwa which defined many new exploration targets
• The 14 drill holes completed this winter have tested four of the identified geophysical targets in
close proximity to the Makwa open pit resource.
• The main targets are 1) MK04 - the deeper extension of the main mineralized zone underneath
the resource pit shell; 2 and 3) MK02 and MK03, both of which are associated with the along
strike extension of the Dumbarton Zone ; and 4) the MK05 target, which may represent a
southern offset of the main Makwa Ni-Cu-PGM deposit. MK-05 is currently being drill tested
from the south.
Above: Location of the 14 diamond drill holes completed at the Makwa nickel property in January and
February. Also shown are the EM conductor plate targets discussed above and relevant historical drill
hole ( red line traces ) that intersected the edges of these plates. Drilling is continuing at the MK05 Plate
target.
EM plate targets were generated from the Company’s 2018 ground EM survey. Most of these EM
conductors have been partially drill tested by limited historical drilling that, combined with the 2022
drilling results, will give a sense of their resource potential. Hole specifications for each of the 14 holes
completed this winter are provided in the Appendix.
Makwa Mayville Ni-Cu-PGM-Co Project
The project has many key attributes including defined NI 43-101 resources, the project location in
southeastern Manitoba serviced with renewable power and all season roads, extensive metallurgical
work and previous economic studies, e.g., the 2007 PFS authored by Micon International and the 2014
PEA on the combined Makwa and Mayville deposits in 2014 authored by RPA Inc. Importantly the
Company has an exploration agreement in place with the Sagkeeng First Nation on whose traditional
lands the projects are situated. Additional information about exploration results and a project
development schedule will be released in the coming weeks
Dr. Dave Peck, the Company’s Vice President of Exploration and Business Development stated: “The
resumption of activity at our Makwa nickel project is ideally timed to rising nickel prices and heightened
investor and end user interest in nickel sulfide projects with strong ESG credentials located in Tier 1
mining jurisdictions. The new drilling at Makwa was designed to test prominent geophysical targets
associated with known trends of nickel-copper sulfide +/- PGM mineralization that sit outside the current
pit constrained mineral resources.”
Donner Lake Lithium Project – Drilling Continuing
Drilling is also ongoing at the Company’s 75% owned Donner Lake lithium project, located directly south
of the Mayville Cu-Ni-PGM deposit in the northern part of the Bird River greenstone belt – see location
map, below. The new drilling is targeting spodumene-bearing granitic pegmatite dykes that are part of
the world class Winnipeg River pegmatite field, which hosts Canada’s only current spodumene producer
– the Tanco Mine, which has been producing cesium and/or tantalum +/- lithium from the Bernic Lake
pegmatite deposit since 1968. The first two drill results from Donner Lake were announced on April 5,
2022 by the Company. Additional drilling results will be released over the coming weeks.
Above: Location of Grid Metals’ Makwa and Mayville Ni-Cu-PGM properties and Donner Lake lithium
property in the Bird River greenstone belt, southeastern Manitoba.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Grid Metals applies best practice quality assurance and quality control ("QAQC") protocols on all of its
exploration programs. For the Makwa drilling program, core was logged and sampled at the Company’s
core facility located on the Makwa Property. Standard 1.0 metre sample lengths were used. Samples
were bagged and tagged and then transported by secure carrier to the Actlabs (Thunder Bay) laboratory
for sample preparation and analysis for nickel, copper, cobalt and selected major and trace element
abundances using a multi-acid digestion method followed by ICP-OES analysis. Samples were also
analyzed for Pd, Pt and Au using a lead collection 30 g fire assay method followed by ICP-OES analysis.
The Company is using two certified reference materials ("CRMs") and one analytical blank for the
Makwa program to monitor analytical accuracy and check for cross contamination between samples.
The analytical results for the two CRMs and the blank for MAK22-02 results reported here did not show
any significant bias compared to the certified values and the fell within the acceptable limits of
variability.
Dave Peck, P.Geo., has reviewed the contents of this press release and is the qualified person for
purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
About Grid Metals Corp.
Grid Metals Corp. has a portfolio of exploration and development stage properties focused on battery
metals (nickel, copper, platinum group metals, cobalt, palladium and lithium) which are located in the
Provinces of Manitoba and Ontario, Canada. In Manitoba the Company is currently drilling at both its
Makwa Nickel Property and its Donner Lake Lithium Property.
To find out more about Grid Metals Corp., please visit www.gridmetalscorp.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Grid Metals Corp.
Robin Dunbar - President, CEO & Director
Telephone: 647 201 6844 Email: [email protected]
David Black - Investor Relations Email: [email protected] 416 955-4773
Appendix: Specifications for drill holes MAK22-01 to 14, Makwa nickel property. Collar coordinates are
based on a NAD83 UTM Zone 15N projection.
Hole
Number
Target
Plate
Easting
(m)
Northing
(m)
Elevation
(m)
Azimuth
(degrees)
Dip
(degrees)
Length
(m)
MAK22-01 MK05 325927 5593239 298 180 -45 432
MAK22-02 MK02 326699 5593745 310 180 -45 446
MAK22-03 MK05 325927 5593239 298 160 -45 356
MAK22-04 MK02 326699 5593745 310 180 -60 371
MAK22-05 Met Test 325391 5592980 287 360 -60 224
MAK22-06 MK02 326699 5593745 310 205 -55 404
MAK22-07 MK04 325470 5592913 287 295 -62 329
MAK22-08 MK02 326699 5593745 310 155 -55 398
MAK22-09 MK04 325470 5592913 287 275 -52 302
MAK22-10 MK04 325470 5592913 287 16 -61 338
MAK22-11 MK02 325470 5592913 287 135 -52 302
MAK22-12 MK03 325927 5593239 298 322 -45 299
MAK22-13 MK02 326579 5593652 309 160 -45 130
MAK22-14 MK02 326579 5593652 309 210 -60 260