VANCOUVER, BC, March 17, 2021 /CNW/ - FPX Nickel Corp. (TSXV:
FPX) ("FPX" or the "Company") announces
that, further to its news release dated September 9, 2020 and review by the British
Columbia Securities Commission, it has filed an amended preliminary
economic assessment ("PEA") technical report (the
"Amended Report") for the Baptiste Project at its
wholly-owned Decar Nickel District in central British
Columbia. The amendment has not impacted the material
components of the PEA, notably resources, metallurgy, mine plan,
cost estimates, economic analysis and environmental
matters.
The Amended Report dated March 17,
2021 maintains an effective date of September 9, 2020 and can be found under the
Company's SEDAR profile and on the Company's website.
The technical report dated September 9,
2020 has been amended solely to:
- Amend the certificates of certain Qualified Persons who
contributed to the technical report;
- Include customary cautionary statements regarding the economic
analysis included in the technical report;
- Amend language regarding site visits by Qualified Persons and
their reliance on other experts; and
- Remove certain cut-off scenarios from tables providing
sensitivity to various cut-off grades in the technical report.
At the PEA base case of US$7.75/lb
nickel, the Baptiste Project is expected to generate an after-tax
net present value ("NPV") (8%) of US$1.7 billion and an after-tax internal rate of
return ("IRR") of 18.3%. A summary of the PEA
highlights is provided in Table 1.
Table 1 – Baptiste Project PEA Results and Assumptions (all
in US$)
Results
|
Pre-tax NPV (8%
discount rate)
|
$2.93
billion
|
Pre-tax
IRR
|
22.5%
|
Payback period
(pre-tax)
|
3.5 years
|
After-tax NPV (8%
discount rate)
|
$1.72
billion
|
After-tax
IRR
|
18.3%
|
Payback period
(after-tax)
|
4.0 years
|
Net cash flows
(after-tax, undiscounted)
|
$8.73
billion
|
C1 operating costs
1
|
$2.74/lb
nickel
|
AISC costs
2
|
$3.12/lb
nickel
|
Assumptions
|
|
Processing
throughput
|
120,000 tonnes per
day
|
Mine life
|
35 years
|
Life-of-mine
stripping ratio (tonnes:tonnes)
|
0.40:1
|
Life-of-mine average
annual nickel production
|
99 million
lbs.
|
Nickel price
3
|
$7.75/lb
|
Baptiste product
payability (% of nickel price)
|
98%
|
Pre-production
capital expenditures
|
$1.67
billion
|
Sustaining capital
expenditures
|
$1.11
billion
|
Exchange
rate
|
0.76
US$/C$
|
- C1 operating costs are the costs of mining, milling and
concentrating, on-site administration and general expenses, metal
product treatment charges, and freight and marketing costs less the
net value of by-product credits, if any. These are expressed on the
basis of per unit nickel content of the sold product.
- AISC of all-in sustaining costs comprise the sum of C1
costs, sustaining capital, royalties and closure expenses. These
are expressed on the basis of per unit nickel content of the sold
product.
- Nickel price is based on the average of six long-term
analyst forecast prices.
The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral
resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have
the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them
to be categorized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources are
not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic
viability. There is no certainty that the conclusions or
results as reported in the PEA will be realized.
The PEA was produced by a team of independent consultants who
possess extensive expertise in their respective fields.
Further details on the contributors can be found in the Qualified
Persons section of the Company's news release dated September 9, 2020.
About the Decar Nickel District
The Company's Decar Nickel District claims cover 245 square
kilometres of the Mount Sidney Williams ultramafic/ophiolite
complex, 90 km northwest of Fort St.
James in central British
Columbia. The District is a two-hour drive from Fort St. James on a high-speed logging
road.
Decar hosts a greenfield discovery of nickel mineralization in
the form of a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy called
awaruite, which is amenable to bulk-tonnage, open-pit mining.
Awaruite mineralization has been identified in four target areas
within this ophiolite complex, being the Baptiste Deposit, the B
target, the Sid target and Van target, as confirmed by drilling in
the first three plus petrographic examination, electron probe
analyses and outcrop sampling on all four. Since 2010,
approximately US $24 million has been
spent on the exploration and development of Decar.
Of the four targets in the Decar Nickel District, the Baptiste
Deposit, which was initially the most accessible and had the
biggest known surface footprint, has been the main focus of diamond
drilling since 2010, with a total of 82 holes and over 31,000
metres of drilling completed. The Sid target was tested with
two holes in 2010 and the B target had a single hole drilled into
it in 2011; all three holes intersected nickel-iron alloy
mineralization over wide intervals with DTR nickel grades
comparable to the Baptiste Deposit. The Van target was not
drill-tested at that time as rock exposure was very poor prior to
logging activity by forestry companies.
As reported in the current NI 43-101 resource estimate, having
an effective date of September 9,
2020, the Baptiste Deposit contains 1.996 billion tonnes of
indicated resources at an average grade of 0.122% DTR nickel,
containing to 2.4 million tonnes of nickel, plus 593 million tonnes
of inferred resources with an average grade of 0.114% DTR nickel,
containing 0.7 million tonnes of nickel, both reported at a cut-off
grade of 0.06% DTR nickel. Mineral resources are not mineral
reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
About FPX Nickel Corp.
FPX Nickel Corp. is focused on the exploration and development
of the Decar Nickel District, located in central British Columbia, and other occurrences of the
same unique style of naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy
mineralization known as awaruite. For more information, please view
the Company's website at www.fpxnickel.com or contact
Martin Turenne, President and CEO,
at (604) 681-8600 or ceo@fpxnickel.com.
On behalf of FPX Nickel Corp.
"Martin Turenne"
Martin Turenne, President, CEO and
Director
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the
statements made and information contained herein is considered
"forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable
Canadian securities laws. These statements address future events
and conditions and so involve inherent risks and uncertainties, as
disclosed in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian
securities regulators. Actual results could differ from those
currently projected. The Company does not assume the obligation to
update any forward-looking statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
SOURCE FPX Nickel Corp.