New Craigmont Property

NI 43-101 Technical Reporton the Preliminary Copper Resource for the Southern Dump and 3060 Portal Dumps

May 21, 2020

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ALS Report - Bulk Preparation And Testing of Craigmont Samples

May 21, 2020

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PROJECT HISTORY

The historic Craigmont Copper Mine, located 14km from Merritt, British Columbia, operated from 1958 to 1982. Over its operational life, the mine produced more than 36,750,000 tons of ore, which had an average grade of 1.30% copper (Cu). This resulted in approximately 900,000,000 pounds of copper being extracted through both open-pit and underground mining activities, collectively known as ‘Craigmont Central’.[1]

[1] “Annual Report 1982”, Craigmont Mines Ltd. (December 1, 1982)

During the final years of the Craigmont Mine’s operation (1977 to 1979), Craigmont Mines Ltd. undertook a limited exploration program on-site. This program was more focused on a smaller area than the one currently controlled by Nicola. It was based on the conceptual understanding that ore metals originated from the surrounding country rock. These metals were thought to have been mobilized by the heat from the Guichon batholith and subsequently concentrated in skarns formed along reef-margin facies[2]. However, this exploration did not significantly increase the mine’s reserves. The Craigmont Mine ceased operations and was dismantled in 1982, primarily due to low copper prices, which were at $0.60 per pound at the time[3]. Since the early 1980s, the lack of unified ownership has hindered comprehensive mineral exploration efforts on the Craigmont Mine project.

Nicola successfully consolidated the ownership of the mineral claims and mining leases that now form the New Craigmont Project in November 2015. Since then, the company has been actively engaged in exploration activities on the project.

Nicola now owns 10,800+ hectares of mineral claims, a significantly larger land package than held by Craigmont Mines Ltd. It is compliant with the Mines Act and holds a mine permit on site (M-68). Nicola is in the process of extending the mining leases to allow for future development of the New Craigmont Project.

Before the detailed exploration activities, an airborne survey[2] was conducted over the Thule Copper Property in 2012 by SJ Geophysics Ltd., as detailed in their Memorandum from December 20, 2012, titled “Geophysical Interpretation of Airborne Magnetic and Radiometric Data – Craigmont Project, Merritt area, B.C.” [2]” The survey aimed to uncover potential new and untested magnetic anomalies along the extension of the known copper and iron deposits within the New Craigmont Project. Following this survey, a comprehensive technical report titled “Technical Report on the Thule Copper – Iron Property in Southern British Columbia, Canada” was prepared by Jim Cuttle, B.Sc., P. Geo., on May 7, 2013. This report, offering in-depth insights into the mining leases and mineral claims of the Thule Copper Property, was subsequently filed under the company’s profile on SEDAR the next day, May 8, 2013.

[2] Cuttle, J. B.Sc., P. Geo, “Technical Report on the Thule Copper – Iron Property in Southern British Columbia, Canada”, Huldra Silver Inc. (May 7, 2013)
[3] Copper Prices – 45 Year Historical Chart
Surveyor-(Page-2)

 

CURRENT PROJECT

Since taking over the New Craigmont Project, Nicola has launched a comprehensive exploration program on the site. This extensive effort includes conducting 10,498 meters of diamond drilling and 1,869 meters of reverse circular drilling. The company has also carried out widespread soil sampling, along with induced polarization (IP) and ground magnetic surveys, to map the property at scale. Furthermore, Nicola has focused on enhancing copper grades by employing X-Ray Transmission (XRT) sorter technology. Highlighting these efforts, a technical report compliant with the National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects was published on May 21, 2020. This report, which focuses on the historic mine waste terraces, was subsequently filed under the company’s profile on SEDAR  on June 1, 2021, providing a detailed account of the exploration activities and findings.

Through these efforts, exploration results from the 10,913-hectare New Craigmont Project have included several copper high-grade intercepts:

 

On June 29, 2022, the company disclosed its entry into a funding agreement with the University of British Columbia (UBC) and its Mineral Deposit Research Unit (MDRU) to explore the potential and presence of copper porphyry systems. The MDRU represents a collaborative initiative between UBC’s Mineral Deposit Research Unit, Lakehead University, the Universities of Alberta and Calgary, along with 15 partner organizations, including Nicola. This partnership is dedicated to enhancing the efficiency and success rate of discovering porphyry copper deposits, leveraging combined expertise and resources to advance mineral exploration and research in this critical area.

 

On September 13, 2022, Nicola declared that it had successfully completed a comprehensive airborne geophysical survey and the subsequent inversion modeling results across the entirety of the property. This extensive survey aimed to provide valuable data and insights, enhancing the understanding of the geological features and potential mineralization zones within the property, facilitating more targeted and efficient exploration strategies moving forward.

The Z-axis Tipper Electromagnetic (ZTEM) survey has successfully captured the electrical conductivity signature of known mineral occurrences, referred to as “MINFILEs”[4] within the province of British Columbia. Additionally, ZTEM has identified similar conductivity signatures at various locations within the district where the Property is located, indicating the presence of potentially comparable mineral occurrences. These findings are illustrated in Diagram 1, presented below.

[4] MINFILE contains geological, location and economic information on more than 14,750 metallic, industrial mineral and coal mines, deposits, and occurrences in British Columbia

Diagram 1: 2023 Key Exploration Targets from ZTEM Results

 

On November 21, 2022, the Company announced that it has received a multi-year area-based exploration permit, Permit Number MX-4-697 (the “MYAB Permit”), on November 3, 2022.  The MYAB Permit allows Nicola to complete the following key exploration activities:

  • geophysical survey with exposed electrodes;
  • 190 diamond drill holes; and
  • 12 km of trenching/bulk sampling of 12 km [6 ha disturbance].

On May 2, 2023, the Company announced that it had finalized its 2023 diamond drilling exploration planning commenced work towards its MYAB Permit.  The location of the largely unexplored New Craigmont Project is highlighted in Diagram 2, below:

 

Diagram 2: Geological formation of the New Craigmont Project

CURRENT SCOPE AND DEVELOPMENT

Adopting an exploration pipeline approach, the primary objective of Nicola’s exploration efforts on the New Craigmont Project have been to advance the project to discovery while at the same time minimizing risk. Accordingly, Nicola foresees the highest priority exploration targets as those which require verification of historic work.

Figure 1: Exploration Pipeline Approach at New Craigmont Project

KEY EXPLORATION PIPELINE MILESTONES

 

Mineral Inventory Development

In connection with the exploration pipeline above, Nicola has:

  1. Conducted 1,869 meters of reverse circular drilling on the Southern Dumps and 3060 Portal Dumps (see NI-43 101: New Craigmont Project Technical Report);
  2. Developed an inferred mineral resource estimate of 18,669,000 tonnes at 0.13% copper on the historic Mining Terraces (see NI-43 101: New Craigmont Project Technical Report);
  3. Concurrent to the inferred mineral resource, Nicola evaluated the upgrading potential of copper grades through the utilization of XRT sorter technologies (June 15 2020 news release); and
  4. Identified the potential economic contribution from magnetite at low grades (February 19 2019 news release).

 

Target Delimitation

Craigmont Central (near-mine) intercepts:

  • CC-18-02: 152.30 meters grading 0.55% Cu, including 60 meters grading 1.05% Cu and;
  • CC-19-72: 34.0m @ 0.40% CuEq and 44.0m @ 0.56% CuEq.

 

Target Confirmation
  1. Craigmont West (Embayment):

 

Target Development:
  1. Promontory Hills:
  • No significant drill intercepts or anomalies have been found (subsequently downgraded).

 

Target Generation:
  1. Soils:
  • Confirmed anomalous soils around Marb, Cas, Marb 72/Gus, Hank and Tom mineral showings; and
  • Identified three new zones (Zone B, C and F) as having anomalous copper. Zone B is coincident with magnetic high within the Nicola Group and is coincident with “Craigmont style” geophysical anomaly as identified by SJ Geophysics in 2012 (see also Memorandum).
  1. Geophysics:
  • Hogg & Associates completed aeromagnetic survey over majority of Craigmont Mine claims in 2012 Report; and,
  • SJ Geophysics reprocessed these and identified six “Craigmont style” magnetic anomalies, the majority of which have remained untested.

ONGOING AND FUTURE EXPLORATION

Building upon the historical work completed by Nicola, the company intends to:

 

Mineral Inventory Development

Follow-up on the New Craigmont Projects’ inferred mineral resource (as disclosed in the New Craigmont Project Technical Report) by:

  1. Density testing to increase confidence in resource model;
  2. Evaluating mass proportions of fines near surface; and
  3. Evaluating the grade of fine mass fraction.

 

Exploration for In-Situ Mineralization

On approval of the Multi-Year Area Based Permit, Nicola aims to test several areas of prospective mineralization. These include a 2021 plan to test three main areas:

  1. Craigmont Central:
  • East of the open pit and underground workings:
    1. Test two pipe-like magnetic anomalies:
      1. Eastern margin of open pit lobe of magnetic body with copper oxides seen at surface (target depths ~400m), and
      2. 500m East of open pit- bulge on the southern edge of the border phase (target depths ~500m); and
    2. Test west of the Craigmont open pit and east of the Embayment fault for skarn. Prior geophysical targets suggest two lobes totaling 500m in strike length. (Target depth ~550m);

 

  1. Craigmont West (Embayment):
  • Delimitation drilling to follow up on intercepts encountered in THU-002, NC-2018-01 and NC-2018-03 to further delineate previous findings; and
  • CAS showing- short drilling to identify the extent of magnetite-chalcopyrite mineralization within calc-silicate alteration of diorite.

 

  1. MARB:
  • Re-open surface trenching as well as open new trenches over magnetic and soil anomalies.

 

Target Generation Stage Targets
  1. Follow-up mapping on soil anomalies; and
  2. IP and ground magnetic survey across soil anomalies.
Hand held sample
Nicola Mining Craigmont Overview Claims & Lease

Boundary outline of Mineral Claims Tenure

The Craigmont Mining lease lies within the New Craigmont Property over the historic open pit and mine terraces, an area of 347 ha. The Merritt Mill is located on the property and benefits from being connected to the BC power grid.

The New Craigmont Property is accessible by paved road-13 km from the city Merritt, British Columbia. Its excellent infrastructure, comprises of paved and dirt roads through out the property, as well as numerous tracks, allowing easy access to all areas of the property.

Nicola Mining Craigmont Regional Geology

Regional Geological Setting

The New Craigmont Property is located on the eastern margin of the prolific Quesnel Trough island-arc terrane, which hosts a significant number of British Columbia's major copper districts.

The Upper Triassic volcanics and sediments ( Nicola Group) are laterally the most extensive group. These are intruded by Upper Triassic -Lower Jurrasic batholiths, of which the Guichon Creek batholith and Iron Mask batholith are the most important from a metallanogenic perspective. These batholiths host world-class porphyry deposits, namely Teck's Highland Valley Copper Operations and New Gold's New Afton Mine. Lower-Middle Jurassic sediments are seen more distal to these batholiths. A late Cretaceous volcanic belt (Spences Bridge Group), dominates the west of the property. This belt is known to contain epithermal-style gold mineralisation. Large N-S trending faults have considerable displacement, the most significant of which are the Guichon Creek Fault and Lornex Fault, which are east and west of the New Craigmont Property, respectively. Deposition of Eocene volcaniclastics (Princeton/Kingsvale Group) is controlled by paleotopography. More recent (Miocene to Holocene) volcanism is generally of little economic interest.

The historic Craigmont mine partially exploited the copper-magnetite skarn mineralisation located within the contact aureole of the Upper Triassic Guichon Creek batholith with the Upper Triassic Nicola Group volcanics.

Nicola Mining Craigmont Local Geology Alteration

PROPERTY GEOLOGY

The New Craigmont Property is bounded to the east and west by two large faults, the Guichon Creek Fault and Lornex Fault, respectively. Late Cretaceous volcanics (Spences Bridge Group), west of the property, is partially offset along the Lornex Fault. Eocene volcaniclastics (Princeton/Kingsvale Group) overly the contact between the Guichon Creek batholith and southeast of the property. The historic Craigmont mine partially exploited the copper-magnetite skarn mineralisation located within the contact aureole of the Upper Triassic Guichon Creek batholith with the Upper Triassic Nicola Group volcanics.

The property covers the southern intrusive contact of the Guichon Creek batholith and the Nicola Group volcanics and volcaniclastics. The intrusive contact is host to the Craigmont skarn deposit, which is known to have mined and milled between 33-36 million tonnes of high grade ore. During it's production it is estimated to have recovered 887.8 million lbs of copper, 1.4 million kg magnetite and minor amounts of gold and silver.

An additional 13 showings of copper mineralization of both skarn and porphyry-style are located on the property. Review of the historic work has indicated that these showings remain largely underexplored, with limited drilling on 3 of these showings.

Reconnaissance geological mapping conducted in 2016 & 2017 mapped the Guichon Creek batholith around the Titan Queen showing and Nicola Group east of the Betty Lou showing. This was the first broad reconnaissance mapping since mine closure. The most significant outcome was the identification of the extent of the hydrothermal alteration of the Guichon Creek batholith and the Nicola Group.

Nicola Mining Craigmont Aeromagnetic Survey

Airborne Magnetic Survey

An airborne magnetic survey was conducted over 8725 ha of the New Craigmont Property in 2012 to identify large magnetic areas that geophysically resemble these ore bodies. This survey, conducted by Scott Hogg & Associates Ltd., used a Heli-GT system which measures magnetic gradients. The results of this survey produced high resolution and accuracy of magnetic data. Interpretations of this data was conducted by a third party, SJ Geophysics, which identified 6 major magnetic anomalies (A-F), the majority of which remain untested.