TORONTO, March 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Class 1 Nickel and Technologies Ltd. (CSE: NICO | OTCQB: NICLF) ("Class 1 Nickel" or the "Company") is pleased to announce an updated mineral resource estimate (the "MRE”) for the Dundonald North Nickel Sulphide Deposit (the "D-N Deposit”) (Table 1 and Table 2). The D-N Deposit is one of 4 nickel sulphide deposits within the sizeable Alexo-Dundonald Nickel Sulphide Project (the "Project” or "A-D Project”) (Figure 1), covering about 3,093 hectares (30.93 km2) and located about 45 km northeast of the mining centre and City of Timmins, Ontario. Over the past two years, the Company has focused on a comprehensive effort to refine the Project's mineral resource base, underscoring Class 1 Nickel's commitment to build a robust portfolio of nickel sulphide resources in one of Canada's premier mining districts (Class 1 news release 4 December 2024).
Highlights from the Dundonald North Nickel Sulphide Deposit:
- Fully interpreted and robust 3D geological model forms the basis of the updated mineral resource estimate.
- Out-of-Pit* Inferred Resources of 2.5 Mt at 0.75% Ni, 0.03% Cu, 0.02% Co (Table 1 and Table 2).
- Represents a 31.4% increase in total tonnes with 3.5% increase in contained nickel (42 M lbs Ni), 74% increase in contained copper (2.6 M lbs Cu), and 40% increase in contained cobalt (1.2 M lbs Co).
- Total 1.0% Ni Mineral Resources within the 4 A-D nickel deposits, using various %Ni cut-offs: 500 kt at 1.07% Ni Indicated and 1.0 Mt at 1.01% Ni Inferred (Table 3).
- Total Mineral Resources within the 4 A-D nickel deposits using C$52.5/t and C$96.0/t NSR cut-offs: 3.4 Mt at 0.54% Ni Indicated and 6.6 Mt at 0.56% Ni Inferred (Table 4).
- With 100% of the Dundonald North Deposit tonnes in the Inferred category there is excellent exploration upside to expand and upgrade resources through additional drilling.
- Like the other 3 nickel deposits within the Project, the Dundonald North Deposit is open along strike and at depth, with new geological modelling and interpretation providing ample targets for next-stage drilling.
- The Dundonald North and Dundonald South deposits have never been exploited and represent new exploration and development targets within the Alexo-Dundonald Nickel Sulphide Project.
David Fitch, CEO of Class 1 Nickel, commented: "These results from the mineral resource estimate for Dundonald North deposit are extremely positive in confirming the potential of this deposit, which along with the Dundonald South Deposit, give us two new re-interpreted nickel targets for future drilling. In addition to these 4 deposit areas, there are numerous untested airborne EM-Magnetic anomalies and historical nickel sulphide occurrences within the Alexo-Dundonald Project that provide us with abundant targets for future drilling programs.”
The updated MRE for the D-N Deposit was completed by Atticus Geoscience Consulting Ltd. ("Atticus”) and their strategic partner Caracle Creek Chile SpA ("Caracle”) (together the "Consultants”). This MRE replaces the 2020 mineral resource estimate completed by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (Stone et al., 2020) which is filed on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca).
The current MRE for the Dundonald North Nickel Sulphide Deposit was completed in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI-43-101”), and a technical report in support of the MRE will be filed on SEDAR+ within 45 days from the date of this news release.
Table 1. Mineral Resource Statement (I) for the Dundonald North Nickel Sulphide Deposit, C$96/t NSR cut-off.
| Dundonald North Resources | Tonnage
(t) | Grade | Contained Metal | ||||||
| Ni (%) | Cu (%) | Co (%) | NiEq (%) | NSR (C$/t) | Ni (k lbs) | Cu (k lbs) | Co (k lbs) | ||
| Underground (C$96/t NSR COG) | |||||||||
| Inferred | 2,500,000 | 0.75 | 0.05 | 0.02 | 0.80 | 153 | 42,000 | 2,600 | 1,200 |
Notes to Table 1:
(1) The independent Qualified Person for the MRE, as defined by NI 43-101, is Mr. Simon Mortimer (FAIG #7795) of Atticus Geoscience Consulting Ltd., working with Caracle Creek Chile SpA. The effective date of the MRE is 27 March 2025.
(2) Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
(3) The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues.
(4) The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could be upgraded to an Indicated and/or Measured mineral resources with continued exploration.
(5) The Mineral Resources were estimated following the 2019 CIM Estimation of Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines prepared by the CIM Mineral Resource & Mineral Reserve Committee and the 2014 CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions.
(6) Geological and block models for the MRE used core assays (3,960 samples from historical drilling). The drill hole database was validated prior to resource estimation and QA/QC checks were made using industry-standard control charts for blanks, core duplicates and commercial certified reference material inserted into assay batches.
(7) The block model was prepared using Micromine 2020. A 12 m x 12 m x 12 m block model was created, with sub blocks to 1.0 m x 1.0 m x 1.0 m and rotate 60 degrees. Drill composites of 1.0 m intervals were generated within the estimation domains, and subsequent grade estimation was carried out for Ni, Cu and Co using Inverse of Distance Weighting interpolation method.
(8) Grade estimation was validated by comparison of input and output statistics (Nearest Neighbour), swath plot analysis, and by visual inspection of the assay data, block model, and grade shells in cross-sections.
(9) As a reference, the average estimated density value (specific gravity) within the mineralised domain is 2.85 g/cm3 (t/m3).
(10) Estimates have been rounded to 3 significant figures for Indicated resources and 2 significant figures for Inferred sources.
(11) The MRE considers a geological dilution of 5% and a mining recovery of 95%.
(12) US$ metal prices of $8.00/lb Ni, $3.25/lb Cu, $13.00/lb Co were used in the NSR calculation with respective process recoveries of 85%, 70%, and 80%; gold, platinum and palladium are not considered in the current NSR calculation.
(13) Pit-constrained Mineral Resource NSR cut-off considers processing, and G&A costs, applying a factor of 5% for mining dilution, that respectively combine for a total of (($45.00 + $5.00) * (1 + 5%)) = C$52.5/tonne processed.
(14) Underground Mineral Resource NSR cut-off considers ore mining, processing, and G&A costs that respectively combine for a total of ($46.00 + $45.00 + $5.00) = C$96.0/tonne processed.
(15) The Underground grade blocks were quantified above the $96.0/t cut-off, within the constraining mineralized wireframes. Additionally, only groups of blocks that exhibited continuity and reasonable potential stope geometry were included. All orphaned blocks and narrow strings of blocks were excluded. The long-hole stoping with backfill mining method was assumed for the Underground MRE calculation.
(16) The NSR calculation is as follows: NSR C$/t = ((Ni% x 199.89) + (Cu% x 66.87) +(Co% x 305.71)) x 95%.
(17) The NiEq% calculation is as follows: NiEq% = (Ni% x 1) + (Cu% x 0.33) + (Co% x 1.53).
Table 2. Mineral Resource Statement (II) for the Dundonald North Nickel Sulphide Deposit, 0.46% Ni cut-off grade (COG).
| Dundonald North Resources | Tonnage (t) | Grade | Contained Metal | ||||||
| Ni (%) | Cu (%) | Co (%) | NiEq (%) | NSR (C$/t) | Ni (k lbs) | Cu (k lbs) | Co (k lbs) | ||
| Underground (0.46% Ni COG) | |||||||||
| Inferred | 2,600,000 | 0.75 | 0.05 | 0.02 | 0.80 | 150 | 43,000 | 2,100 | 1,200 |
Figure 1. Alexo-Dundonald Nickel Sulphide Project showing the location of the 4 nickel deposits and the optimized pit shell outlines for Alexo North, Alexo South and Dundonald North, overlain on the generalized geology of the Project.
The updated Dundonald North MRE was calculated entirely from historical drilling (22,041.97 m in 64 holes) completed on the D-N Deposit by previous operators.
Plan view and cross-section views of the current MRE are provided in Figure 2, and an isometric view of categorized mineral resources is shown in Figure 3.
Grade-Tonnage curves for mineral resources are provided in Figure 4 (C$/t NSR) and Figure 5 (%Ni) and various views of the Dundonald North Deposit are shown in Figures 6 and 7.
Updates to the mineral resources of the Alexo South, Alexo North, Dundonald South deposits were announced 24 April 2024, 22 May 2024, and 3 October 2024, respectively.
Table 3. Mineral Resources for the 4 Alexo-Dundonald Nickel Sulphide Deposits at 1.0% Ni, using various %Ni cut-offs.
| Deposit | Type | Resource Category | Ni (%) Cut-Off | Ni Grade (%) | Tonnage (t) | Contained Ni Metal (klbs) |
| Alexo South | Pit-Constrained | Indicated | 0.52 | 1.00 | 77,700 | 1,720 |
| Alexo North | Pit-Constrained | Indicated | 0.28 | 1.01 | 33,900 | 791 |
| Dundonald South | Pit-Constrained | Indicated | 0.67 | 1.09 | 388,000 | 9,350 |
| Dundonald North | Underground (no pit) | Inferred | 0.71 | 1.01 | 1,000,000 | 23,000 |
| Total: | Indicated | 1.07 | 499,600 | 11,861 | ||
| Total: | Inferred | 1.01 | 1,000,000 | 23,000 | ||
Table 4. Summary of Mineral Resources for the 4 Alexo-Dundonald Nickel Sulphide Deposits.
| Deposit | Resource Category | NSR Cut-Off | Tonnage (t) | Grade | Contained Metal | ||||||
| Ni (%) | Cu (%) | Co (%) | NiEq (%) | NSR (C$/t) | Ni (klbs) | Cu (klbs) | Co (klbs) | ||||
| Within-Pit | |||||||||||
| Alexo North | Indicated | C$52.5/t | 35,100 | 0.98 | 0.11 | 0.04 | 1.08 | 206 | 759 | 83 | 33 |
| Inferred | C$52.5/t | 470 | 0.32 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.36 | 68 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Alexo South | Indicated | C$52.5/t | 275,000 | 0.58 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.62 | 123 | 3,490 | 133 | 133 |
| Dundonald South | Indicated | C$52.5/t | 2,540,000 | 0.49 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.52 | 103 | 27,400 | 911 | 755 |
| Inferred | C$52.5/t | 3,600,000 | 0.42 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.11 | 88 | 33,000 | 1,100 | 1,100 | |
| Total: | Indicated | 2,850,000 | 0.50 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.53 | 106 | 31,700 | 1,130 | 921 | |
| Total: | Inferred | 3,600,000 | 0.42 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.44 | 88 | 33,000 | 1,100 | 1,100 | |
| Out-of Pit (Underground) | |||||||||||
| Alexo North | Indicated | C$96.0/t | 7,540 | 0.63 | 0.08 | 0.03 | 0.70 | 134 | 105 | 12 | 5 |
| Alexo South | Indicated | C$96.0/t | 297,000 | 0.65 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.69 | 139 | 4,240 | 190 | 157 |
| Inferred | C$96.0/t | 130,000 | 0.54 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.58 | 116 | 1,500 | 75 | 52 | |
| Dundonald North | Inferred | C$96.0/t | 2,500,000 | 0.75 | 0.05 | 0.02 | 0.80 | 152 | 42,000 | 2,600 | 1,200 |
| Dundonald South | Indicated | C$96.0/t | 201,000 | 0.95 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.99 | 198 | 4,210 | 145 | 80 |
| Inferred | C$96.0/t | 390,000 | 0.57 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.60 | 120 | 4,900 | 160 | 120 | |
| Total: | Indicated | 505,000 | 0.77 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.81 | 162 | 8,560 | 347 | 242 | |
| Total: | Inferred | 3,000,000 | 0.72 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.60 | 120 | 48,000 | 2,900 | 1,400 | |
| Combined Within-Pit and Out-of Pit (Underground) Resources | |||||||||||
| Total: | Indicated | 3,350,000 | 0.54 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.58 | 115 | 40,200 | 1,470 | 1,160 | |
| Total: | Inferred | 6,600,000 | 0.56 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.51 | 100 | 81,000 | 4,000 | 2,500 | |
Figure 2. Plan view (left) and cross-sectional views looking east (right) through the Dundonald North Deposit showing the categorized Inferred (green) mineral resources.
Figure 3. Isometric view (looking northeast) of the Dundonald North Nickel Sulphide Deposit showing Inferred (green) resources.
Figure 4. Grade-tonnage curve for the Underground (Out-of-Pit) resources (C$96/t NSR cut-off) in the Dundonald North Nickel Deposit. The C