Fathom Nickel Inc (CSE:FNI, OTCQB:FNICF) announced that it has received a new exploration permit for its Gochager Lake nickel project in Saskatchewan and field crews have already mobilized to the site to conduct field exploration activities.
The company said the exploration permit allows it to drill up to 60 drill holes, construct an all-season camp for 25 people, and utilize temporary “fly camps” during the summer and fall field season to carry out site-specific, airborne geophysical anomaly follow-up, mapping and prospecting, soil geochemistry, and site-specific geophysical surveys.
Further, the permit allows it to complete line-cutting ahead of surface geophysical surveys and prepare ground and ice trails to facilitate the movement of drilling equipment.
The permit is valued for two years, expiring on July 31, 2026.
"We are very pleased to now have the exploration permit in hand,” Fathom Nickel CEO and VP exploration Ian Fraser commented.
“Having completed 16 successful drillholes in little more than a year, this two-year permit is the next step in our exploration plan to aggressively drill the historic Gochager Lake deposit and to continue to expand the deposit to depth and along strike. We expect that camp construction will begin in the coming weeks."
Additionally, the company said it has kicked off exploration field activities at the project.
It said field crews were mobilized last week and will be utilizing a temporary fly camp to carry out a soil geochemical survey that aims to define a soil geochemical signature associated with the Gochager Lake deposit. The company plans to use this signature to expand Gochager and find additional Gochager-like deposits.
Field crews will also carry out mapping, prospecting and soil geochemical sampling in areas of conductivity defined through surface time domain electromagnetic surveys in 2023 and 2024, with a focus on identifying and mapping the strike extent of the favourable gabbro host-rock and defining other favourable gabbro rock outside of the historic deposit area.
Additionally, a done-MAG survey with 30-meter line spacing will be flown over the historic Gochanger Lake deposit area, which will provide much higher resolution data when compared to the VTEM survey completed in 2008.
The field program is expected to be completed by the end of June.
CEO Fraser explained that there is “very good” physical evidence that the Gochager Lake deposit is potentially only the first of several magmatic nickel sulphide deposits occurring within the 22,000-hectare Gochager Lake property, with 13 high-priority targets identified through the reinterpretation of a 2008 VTEM survey.
“During the current program, the field crews will systematically map and prospect the deposit area to further enhance our understanding of the geological, structural, geophysical and geochemical signatures of the Gochager Lake deposit,” he said.
“The knowledge gained from this exercise will be invaluable as we progress our exploration efforts outwards from the deposit area and start to assess the 13 other high-priority targets.”