Québec Nickel Corp. (“QNI” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the Company has resumed exploration at its Ducros Ni-Co-Cu-PGE project, located 85 kilometers northeast of Val-d’Or, Québec, including the start of drilling at the Fortin Sill Ni-Cu-PGE Zone.
On June 6, 2023, the Company announced that due to an emergency order from the Québec Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts (Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests) prohibiting access to lands in the province impacted by forest fires, all field-based exploration activities were temporarily suspended at the Ducros Property (see June 6, 2023 News Release). In addition, all project personnel were relocated from the project’s base of operations in Lebel-sur-Quévillon to Val-d’Or upon receiving an evacuation notice on June 2. The work restriction order has since been lifted and the Company has resumed exploration activities at Ducros.
Richard Dufresne, QNI’s interim CEO and director, notes “Although we are excited to get back to work, we wouldn’t be able to do so without the tireless efforts of the firefighters, first responders and local community members who fought the fires this summer. We’d like to extend our sincere appreciation and gratitude to everyone that helped make our return to work possible.”
Fortin Sill Zone Drilling
During the first half of 2023, exploration drilling by the Company focused on testing targets that require winter conditions to access and drill, notably in the central and western portions of the Ducros claims. Now that the fire related work restrictions have been lifted, exploration has resumed at the highly prospective Fortin Sill Zone where ground conditions allow for year-round access.
New drilling at the Fortin Sill Zone will follow-up on some of the exceptional results achieved in 2022, including from hole QDG-22-29, which returned an 11.80 metre interval containing 1.44% Ni, 1.49% Cu, 461 ppm Co and 2.79 g/t Pt-Pd-Au that includes a higher-grade subinterval assaying 1.85% Ni, 1.65% Cu (3.50% Ni + Cu), 576 ppm Co and 3.27 g/t Pt-Pd-Au over 8.43 metres (see August 30, 2022 News Release for reference). Step-out drilling completed later in 2022 discovered additional nickel-copper-PGE mineralization down-plunge from the main sulphide zone including a 4.90-metre-long intercept averaging 0.77% Ni, 0.56% Cu, 340 ppm Co and 0.80 g/t Pt-Pd-Au which includes a higher grade three-metre-long subinterval of 1.06% Ni, 0.77% Cu, 447 ppm Co and 1.09 g/t Pt-Pd-Au in hole QDG-22-63 (see March 1, 2023 News Release for more information).
The new drilling at Fortin Sill is focused on exploring for additional Ni-Cu-PGE sulphides down plunge and along strike of the main outcropping mineralized zone. Up to 5,000 metres of drilling is planned, which will span more than two kilometers of the strike length of the prospective geology. This work will also test the refined geological model discussed in the Company’s December 15, 2022 news release. Downhole electromagnetic geophysical surveys will be used to vector towards large accumulations of conductive Ni-Cu-PGE sulphides.
Source: https://quebecnickel.com/