May 29 2013
Management of KHALKOS EXPLORATION INC. ("Khalkos") announces that positive metallurgical tests were obtained from representative samples of the McNickel nickel-copper-cobalt deposit in Lac St-Jean, Quebec.
Metallurgical bio-leaching processing tests, undertaken by RPC Science & Engineering from Fredericton in New Brunswick, yielded recovery rates reaching 89.6% for nickel, 62.8% for copper, and 77.5% for cobalt. Current metallurgical tests are now testing the technology on a larger scale.
In parallel to Khalkos' recently announced new business plan, consisting of the development of more advanced gold projects, management of Khalkos agreed to exceptionally continue its work on the Poissons Blancs property. The positive results suggest the possibility of developing the McNickel deposit in the short to medium term.
The McNickel deposit is deemed to contain historical resources of 5.9 million tonnes with grades of 0.21% Ni, 0.11% Cu and 0.03% Co. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources and Khalkos is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources. Although it is a low grade deposit, Khalkos is testing the viability of open pit mining using new metallurgical processing techniques. Moreover, the current data demonstrate an excellent potential to increase the known deposit size by continuing the drilling on another zone that's already known, at the north of the main zone.
Khalkos can acquire 100% of the Poissons Blancs property, host to the McNickel deposit by issuing 2,600,000 shares to the seller over a period of six years (see November 20, 2012 press release). In December 2012, Khalkos completed a seven twin-hole drilling program of HQ caliber, totaling 468 metres. The purpose of the program was to compare with certain previous drill holes and also to get samples for additional metallurgical testing.
The Poissons Blancs property is located 45 km north of the Dolbeau municipality in Lac St-Jean, and is easily accessible with forest roads. Khalkos added an additional 47 claims to the original property for a total of 93 claims, covering 52 km².
This press release was prepared by Dominique Doucet, P. Eng., Chairman of the Board of Khalkos, Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101.
Source: http://www.khalkos.com