Talon Metals Corp has outlined next year's exploration plans for its Tamarack joint venture nickel project in Minnesota, US, where it will focus on completing a pre-feasibility study and aim to show that the large land package has "district' scale potential.
The company has developed its own 'in-house' team of drillers and geologists, which, it says, means exploration costs can be 'significantly reduced', and in the first half of 2022, it expects to finish exploration drilling around the margins of the Tamarack zone - the resource area.
More surveying and imaging will also be completed, while after that, drill rigs will test the massive sulphide targets of the larger Tamarack Intrusive Complex.
"Over the last year, our in-house team and drilling assets consistently delivered high-grade nickel-copper mineralization at the Tamarack Nickel Project," the company's vice-president of exploration Brian Goldner told investors in a statement.
"For 2022, we plan to be focused on progressing the Tamarack Nickel Project towards completion of a pre-feasibility study, while continuing to find new nickel rich areas along the Tamarack Intrusive Complex, with the goal of showing that Tamarack has 'district'-scale potential," he added.
READ: Talon Metals reveals another round of high-grade drill results from its Tamarack nickel-copper-cobalt project in Minnesota
There will be three high-priority areas in 2022, where previously high-grade drill assays have been reported, and which all sit within 3 kilometers (km) from the Tamarack Zone (resource area).
These are the 264 Zone, where 0.25 meters (m) of massive sulphide grading 9.95% nickel, 5.74% copper at 539.04m depth was hit; the 221 zone where 9.88m of nickel-copper mineralization grading 2.35% nickel, 1.40% copper was intercepted starting at 693.79m depth. The third area is the 164 zone, where a hole intersected 2.89m of massive sulphide grading 3.67% nickel, 1.97% copper at 473.43m depth.
The Tamarack North project already hosts an NI 43 101 indicated resource of 3.9 million tonnes at 1.91% nickel and 1.02% copper based on just around 750m of strike of around a total 18km of strike of the Tamarack intrusive complex.
Also in today's statement, Talon announced it had established an at-the-market equity program (ATM program) allowing it to issue and sell up to C$25 million of its shares to the public from time to time, providing it with additional capital raising flexibility.
Sean Werger, the president of Talon, said: "The US government and US auto leaders are prioritizing the domestic EV battery supply chain as a matter of national priority.
"In our conversations with US officials and potential customers in the EV battery supply chain, it is clear that there is strong interest in additional domestic supply for battery-grade nickel.
"The Talon exploration team has shown that the Tamarack Intrusive Complex has the potential to be a crucial source of carbon-neutral domestic nickel for US battery manufacturing. Today's announcement that we have established an ATM Program provides us with additional capital raising flexibility to ensure that we have the resources to meet the US battery priority."
Talon is in a joint venture with mining giant Rio Tinto on the high-grade Tamarack project. Talon has an earn-in to acquire up to 60% of the asset.
Contact the writer at giles@proactiveinvestors.com