Murchison Minerals Ltd (TSX-V:MUR, OTCQB:MURMF) has unveiled results from the second hole at the Barre de Fer (BDF) zone at its wholly-owned Haut-Plateau de la Manicouagan (HPM) project in Quebec, which included one of the best nickel-sulphide intersections recently from a pre-resource project anywhere in the world.
Shares in the company raced up 40% in Toronto to stand at C$0.14 each.
The diamond drill hole hit 121.20 metres (m), starting from a depth of 123.8m, at a grade of 1.36% nickel-equivalent (NiEq) or 4.07% copper-equivalent (CuEq), including a length of 21m at 3.21% NiEq, or 9.59% CuEq, starting at 152.5m depth.
READ: Murchison Minerals expands Barre de Fer zone along strike; intersects massive sulphide near surface
This intersection is the best to date at HPM and was drilled 120m along strike to the north of another hole - the previous best hole which hit 52.15m grading 2.04% NiEq.
The latest hole was sunk to 452m depth and encountered two broad zones of nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide bearing mineralization totalling 175.15m of composite thickness.
"Today's results speak for themselves, BDF22-002 is one of the top nickel-sulphide intersections made at a pre-resource project globally over the last several years," noted Murchison CEO Troy Boisjoli.
"These results demonstrate the significance of the BDF Zone and overall potential of the HPM project, which is a clearly one of the few new emerging nickel-sulphide districts globally.
"Our HPM project is developing at a time when worldwide nickel demand is slated to increase significantly over the coming years. The opportunity is compounded for Murchison by the fact there is significant pre-existing infrastructure like a maintained highway, rail, and available hydropower all within kilometers of our site," he added.
"Those fundamentals, along with the fact the Government of Quebec is implementing a vertically integrated critical minerals strategy have us very excited about the future."
The firm's vice-president of exploration John Shmyr said: "The team is eagerly progressing on the maiden resource at the BDF Zone, and today's results will be a substantial contributor to that initial resource estimate."
That initial estimate is due to be released in the first quarter of 2023 and Murchison said it will continue to release assays from the summer drill program as they become available.
The summer program at HPM saw 13 diamond drillholes sunk, comprising 4,316 m, including 10 holes at BDF and a further three at Syrah. The Portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) results for the 10 holes drilled at BDF were previously released and lab assays are pending for the remaining 11 holes.
Murchison Minerals is a Canadian‐based explorer focused on nickel-copper-cobalt exploration at the 100% owned HPM project in Quebec and the exploration and development of the 100% owned Brabant Lake zinc‐copper‐silver project in north‐central Saskatchewan.
It also holds an option to earn 100% interest in the Barraute VMS exploration project also in Quebec, north of Val d'Or.
Contact the writer at giles@proactiveinvestors.com