Canada Nickel more than doubled the reported measured and indicated nickel resource at its Crawford Nickel Sulfide Project in Ontario following receipt of results from an updated mineral resource estimate, the company said July 6.
Crawford's Ore Reserves and Potential
Crawford's indicated and measured ore now stands at a total of 1.4 billion mt at 0.24% nickel, which could result in around 3.5 million mt of contained nickel, the statement said.
The most recent mineral resource update also estimates an incremental 670 million mt of nickel at 0.23% grade in inferred resource at the project.
Three years of exploration and studies at the site make the new resource estimate potentially position Crawford as the fifth largest nickel sulfide resource in the world, CEO Mark Selby said.
“With the potential for zero carbon production on top of that, Crawford has the potential to be a key source of nickel for EV and stainless-steel producers,” said Selby. "We anticipate the ultimately demonstrated resource reflected in the final feasibility study will lie in support of our target mine plan of 1.3 billion mt to 1.8 billion mt, with further upside from several remaining holes not assayed as of the resource cut-off date."
The Toronto-based mining developer expects a feasibility study at Crawford to be completed by year-end.
Crawford would also be capable of producing iron, chromium, cobalt, palladium, and platinum, the company said.
Minimum 22% nickel content spot battery-grade nickel sulfate with maximum 100 ppb magnetic material was assessed at Yuan 37,500/mt ($5,577 /mt) DDP China July 6, data from the Platts assessment by S&P Global Commodity Insights showed. For the rest of 2020, the assessment remained under Yuan 30,000/mt, before ranging between Yuan 30,000/mt and Yuan 40,000/mt for 2021.
In March, the Platts nickel assessment reached Yuan 56,000/mt.
