NICO Resources Limited announced its maiden high grade production delineation drilling programme for the Central Musgraves Project has commenced. Wingellina high-grade nickel cobalt zones: The Wingellina nickel-cobalt project boasts a JORC 2012 compliant resource base of >200Mt of material grading 0.93% Ni & 0.07% Co and a probable Ore Reserve of 164.8Mt at 0.93% Ni & 0.07% Co for 1.56Mt of contained nickel and 123Kt of contained cobalt. The CMP project area also contains the Claudes Hill project area which contains an additional JORC resource of 33Mt at 0.81% Ni and 0.07% Co. In 2017 Metals X undertook a review of the cobalt inventory of the Wingellina deposit with the aim of investigating higher- grade nickel cobalt domains that could be targeted as a high-grade start-up option. This work resulted in the definition of 15 potential high-grade nickel-cobalt open pits as potential starter pits. Six of these pits were successfully infill-drilled during 2017-18 and a further drilling program was completed on two additional potential starter pits in 2019-2020, successfully confirming the high-grade nickel-cobalt domains. Lewis Calcrete Deposit: The Lewis Calcrete deposit is located within WA, approximately 25km north-west of the Wingellina. The previous Phase 1 Feasibility Study undertaken by Metals X estimated that a total of ~800,000t/year of calcrete/limestone would be required over the life of the Wingellina project for acid neutralisation purposes. The use of calcrete displaces the requirement for lime which will significantly reduce the operating costs as a result of not purchasing nor transporting of lime to site. Initial drill testing of the Lewis Calcrete deposit in 2014 comprised of 89 shallow reconnaissance 100 metre spaced RC holes along a 9km access track with 579 samples submitted for analysis. Test work confirmed good quality calcrete with CaO+MgO+LOI exceeding 70% within 68 of the holes drilled. The calcrete is calcium-rich, with MgO rarely exceeding 2%. The base of the calcrete profile was found to occur at a depth of about 6 metres below surface. Resource definition drilling commenced in late 2020 with the planned program being approximately 50% completed. The program was postponed due to COVID restrictions. Local water sources: Previous drilling by Metals X identified that there is reasonable volumes of water located in the Mann Fault which extends along the Northern boundary of the Wingellina deposit. Water drilling and flow testing conducted in 2015 determined that it was likely that there would be sufficient water available from the Mann fault as minimum to support the construction and commissioning of the process plant. 2022 Exploration RC dilling Programmes: Programme 1: High-Grade Co/Ni delineation - RC Drilling 7,000m: The planned 2022 RC drill programme involves drilling 167 RC holes for approximately 7,000 metres of drilling planned on 177 x 100m spaced infill drill holes. The objective of the 2022 programme is the delineation of a further 8 high-grade Ni-Co pits within the broader Ni-Co deposit to compliment the previous defined high grade pits delineated from 2017-2020 which was interrupted by Covid. All drillholes are located within 5km of the company's exploration base camp. Downhole depths will vary from 12 metres to 102 metres and average about 41 metres. The definition of these high grade pits will provide inputs of the production scheduling into the bankable feasibility study which will result in the processing of much higher grade material within the first 10 years which will enhance the cashflows and further improve the economics. Programme 2: Calcrete Resource delineation ¡ RC Drilling 2,700m: The drill programme at the Lewis Calcrete Deposit comprises of 336 shallow vertical holes for a total of 2,700m of RC drilling. The programme hole depths are mainly of 6m, with each 15th hole to be drilled to 18m depth for environmental sampling and monitoring purposes. The drill holes are spaced 100m apart on drill lines. The proposed programme has the objective of completing the drill-out of the accessible outcrop areas. The initial
preliminary resource estimate is anticipated to meet the project demand requirements estimated to be approximately 800,000tpa. The calcrete will substitute the requirement for lime as a pH modifier in the processing of plant. As lime is required to be purchased and transported to site, the calcrete will significantly reduce the operating costs of processing as can substitute a large amount of the lime requirements. The results of this program are expected to be able to define a calcrete resource and will enable the project to quantify and ascertain the continuity of the best quality calcrete within the deposit for HPAL process requirements. Additional calcrete deposits also occur elsewhere and on the tenement that may also be utilised as a source for haul road construction materials for the project. Programme 3: Mann Fault Paleo valley water delineation ¡ RC Drilling 300m: Two 190mm diameter holes have been planned to be drilled vertically by RC to a depth of up to 150m to be used as water monitoring bores when future water production mud-rotary bore drilling and pump testing takes place at each of the sites. The drilling purpose is to assess for the presence of significant quantities of water by airlifting while providing information regarding vertical profile lithological variations of the palaeo valley being assessed. The target consists of clay and gravel-filled palaeo valley in a significant east-west trending regional structure that is coincident with the Mann Fault. It is located about 10km north of Wingellina and starts from about 40km to the west of Wingellina within the WA border. This has the potential to supply the operations through the construction and commissioning phases at a significantly reduced capital cost to the early development of the Officer basin.