TopTung Ltd (ASX:TTW) has entered a conditional agreement to acquire 100% of Canadian Nickel Corporation Pty Ltd (CNC) which holds three advanced nickel-copper sulphide projects in the same Quebec district as TopTung’s Alotta project.
The acquisition fast-tracks TopTung’s focus on becoming a mining and low-cost toll-milling operation through the acquisition of advanced near-surface, high-grade deposits.
CNC is in conditional agreements to acquire the three projects, with Meteoric Resources NL (ASX:MEI) holding the Midrim and LaForce projects and Globex Mining Enterprises Inc (TSX:GMX) holding the Lac Kelly project.
TopTung will complete the acquisition by issuing 15.75 million fully paid ordinary shares to CNC shareholders.
Under a conditional claim agreement between Meteoric, CNC and TopTung for Midrim and LaForce, TopTung will issue a further 31.25 million shares to Meteoric.
The option to acquire Lac Kelly from Globex Mining will be completed through staged cash payments and share issues to Globex, as well as a C$2 million commitment by TopTung for exploration and development.
CNC will also pay Globex a 2% gross metal royalty on all revenue received from the sale of metal from Lac Kelly.
A further 2.35 million TopTung shares will be issued to GTT Ventures for corporate services relating to the transaction.
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Acquiring CNC’s portfolio will more than double TopTung’s landholding in Quebec’s Belleterre-Angliers greenstone belt.
The project areas contain a number of drill-proven occurrences of nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation with associated platinum group elements (PGE) and cobalt credits.
Midrim is 1.5 kilometres east of where TopTung completed a 9-hole diamond drilling program at its Alotta project and follows its acquisition of the nearby Zeus project from earlier this year.
CNC has commissioned a third-party scoping study to assess the viability and profitability of a simple mining, trucking and toll milling operation based on Midrim.
The study is nearing completion and will allow TopTung to determine what scale of operation and grade of mineralisation is required for its business model to be viable in respect to future projects in the area.
High-grade assay results
Historical intersections from Midrim include 21.2 metres at 1.75% nickel. 2.81% copper and 2.58 g/t PGE from 14 metres; and 4.6 metres at 5.97% nickel, 4.91% copper and 3.38 g/t PGE from 48 metres.
A broad historical intersection of 39.4 metres at 1.91% nickel, 1.85% copper and 2.57 g/t PGE from 30 metres included high-grade intercepts of 4.35 metres at 6.29% nickel, 2.9% copper and 6.21 g/t PGE from 46.65 metres; and 4.3 metres at 6.57% nickel, 5.15% copper and 7.15 g/t PGE from 57.15 metres.
Drilling by Meteoric late last year at Midrim intersected 22.1 metres at 1.64% nickel, 2.38% copper and 2.56 g/t PGE from 28 metres; and 9.4 metres at 3.52% nickel, 4.25% copper and 4.59 g/t PGE from 56 metres, including 5.4 metres at 5.32% nickel, 6.14% copper and 6.46 g/t PGE from 56.6 metres.
Preliminary metallurgical test work at Midrim has produced strong nickel and copper recoveries, with up to 95% copper and 80% nickel recoveries after just 10 minutes of simple flotation.
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Historical drilling at LaForce focused directly around the deposit and a core library containing 35 of 108 historic diamond drill holes, representing 5,438 metres of core, is available for inspection.
Previous work at LaForce drilled broad intercepts including 100 metres at 0.87% nickel and 0.38% copper from 3 metres.
LaForce’s deposit also has a non-JORC historical nickel-copper resource estimate which TopTung plans to disclose under the relevant ASX rules.
Lac Kelly comprises six exploration claims and previous drilling of 98 holes intersected mineralisation to outline a sulphide body about 150 metres long, 10 metres thick and 335 metres deep.
The PGE content was not rigorously studied but intersections up to 7.93 metres at 4.8 g/t PGE were encountered, with most PGE values returned varying between 0.5-1 g/t platinum and palladium.