Canada Nickel Company Inc. announced an initial mineral resource estimate (the "Mineral Resource Estimate" or "MRE") for its Mann West Nickel Sulphide Project ("Mann West") near Timmins, Ontario. Mann West is wholly owned by East Timmins Nickel Ltd. of which Canada Nickel owns 80% and Noble Mineral Exploration Inc. owns 20%. The Mann West Nickel Sulphide Project is located just 21 kilometres east of the Company's Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project ("Crawford") and is more than twice the size of Crawford based on the outline of its geophysical target of 3.4 square kilometres.
The area of the geophysical target covered by the Mann West resource represents approximately 40% of the total target area. The Mann West project is accessible year-round. For the initial Mineral Resource Estimate, a total of 16,833 metres of core drilling in 37 drill holes were utilized to calculate the Mann West Resources in two categories as provided in Table 1. Indicated Resources totalled 406 million tonnes grading 0.23% nickel, for a total of 0.95 million tonnes of contained nickel and Inferred Resources totalled 599 million tonnes grading 0.22% nickel, for a total of 1.31 million tonnes of contained nickel.
The approximate dimensions of the resource are 1.9 kilometres long, 800 metres wide, extending to 500 metres deep and remaining open to the northwest and at depth. An additional 0.5 ? 1.0 billion tonnes grading between 0.20% and 0.22% nickel remain as an Exploration Target, pending further drilling.
This Exploration Target is based on core drilling by the Company, the geophysical survey on the Project, and the understanding and calculation of the current MRE. Within the resource, a PGM Zone containing an Indicated resource of 7.0 million tonnes grading 0.422 g/t palladium + platinum and an Inferred resource of 7.7 million tonnes grading 0.411 g/t palladium + platinum. The Exploration Target was derived by modelling the identified nickel sulphide mineralization within the current estimation envelope but outside of the current Mineral Resource Estimate area.
The volume of the modelled Exploration Target area determines the potential tonnage statement in the Exploration Target. The grade range given in the Exploration Target is determined with consideration to the drill core results within the modelled Exploration Target area, consideration of the geological setting in a well understood nickel deposit type where grades are observed and well understood, and based on the experience of the Company and the Qualified Persons. The potential tonnages and grades are conceptual in nature and are based on drill holes and geophysical results that define the approximate length, thickness, depth and grade of the Exploration Target.
There has been insufficient exploration to define a current mineral resource and the Company cautions that there is a risk that further exploration will not result in the delineation of a current mineral resource.
