FPX Nickel Corp (CVE:FPX) (OTCMKTS:FPOCF) (FRA:FP5) has kicked off a summer drilling program at its flagship Decar Nickel District property in central British Columbia.
The 2021 summer drill is described as the most ‘active’ campaign to be conducted at Decar since 2012 and is expected to take eight weeks to complete.
The Vancouver-based company plans to focus on resource confirmation and potential expansion at the Baptiste deposit, as well as an initial drill campaign at the Van Target, 6 kilometers (km) north of Baptiste.
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FPX’s Decar Nickel District claims cover 245 square kilometers of the Mount Sidney Williams ultramafic/ophiolite complex, 90km northwest of Fort St James in central British Columbia. The property 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.
Highlights from the current drill program include maiden drilling at the Van Target, which is defined by surface rock samples with an area extent and nickel grades similar to the Baptiste deposit.
There will also be drilling at Baptiste to convert inferred resources into the indicated category to support a future preliminary feasibility study (PFS).
"We are very excited to assess the potential for a new discovery with a maiden, widely-spaced drilling program at Van this summer," Martin Turenne, President and CEO said in the announcement. "In addition to the drilling at Van and Baptiste, we will also conduct additional exploration around the Sid and B targets, plus regional exploration at five other under-explored areas at Decar, as described in our May 26 news release."
To date, an initial nine-hole, 3,000-metre (m) drill program has begun at the Van Target. Similarly, A ten-hole, 2,700m infill drilling program has also begun at the Baptiste deposit.
Approximately 89% of the mineralization is classified in the indicated category and 11% in the inferred category. The goal of the summer drill is to convert the inferred resources to the indicated category to support an eventual PFS at Baptiste.
Since 2010, around US$24 million has been spent on the exploration and development of Decar.
Contact the writer at georgia@proactiveinvestors.com
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