Evrima Plc - Investee Update: Premium Nickel Purchase of Selkirk Mine

24 August 2022

Evrima plc

("Evrima" or the "Company")

Investee Update: Premium Nickel Resources Ltd announce Acquisition of The Selkirk Mine & New Corporate Presentation

Evrima is pleased to provide an update on its investee company, Premium Nickel Resources Ltd (“PNRL” or “Premium Nickel”)(TSX-V: PNRL) with respect to the completion of the acquisition of the Selkirk Mine. Evrima currently hold, 1,114,115 shares in PNRL and Evrima investee, Eastport Ventures Inc. (in which Evrima own 6.85% of Eastport Ventures Inc. with share purchase warrants which if exercised would result in 10% of Eastport’s Issued Share Capital) own 2,898,500 shares in PNRL.

Premium Nickel have made available a new corporate presentation that can be downloaded using the link - https://premiumnickelresources.ca/site/assets/files/6624/pnrl_-_investor_presentation_08-18-2022.pdf .

Premium Nickel Resources Ltd. Completes Purchase of Selkirk Mine in Botswana

A copy of the source press release for Premium Nickel, can be found here and is reproduced in full below:.

Toronto, Ontario, August 22, 2022 – Premium Nickel Resources Ltd. (formerly, North American Nickel Inc.) (TSXV:PNRL) ("Premium Nickel" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of its acquisition of the nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum-group elements ("Ni-Cu-Co-PGE") Selkirk Mine in Botswana, together with associated infrastructure and four surrounding prospecting licences formerly operated by Tati Nickel Mining Company ("TNMC"). The acquisition was completed pursuant to the Company's previously-announced asset purchase agreement with the Liquidator of TNMC (see news release dated February 14, 2022). With the acquisition now complete, ownership of the Selkirk Mine has been transferred to the Company.

The Company began comprehensive due diligence programs on the Selkirk Mine in 2020 and has since continued to verify old data and collect new data, including completion of a 'concept-level' metallurgical study. The metallurgical testing carried out at SGS Lakefield, Ontario, Canada, will help to establish the Companies re-development plan to produce separate copper and nickel-cobalt concentrates.

Keith Morrison, CEO, commented: "Completing the transfer of ownership of the Selkirk Mine concludes PNRL's announced asset purchases with the Liquidator of TNMC in Botswana. On a voluntary basis, PNRL will move forward with completing its initial NI 43-101 technical report on Selkirk and the surrounding prospecting licenses. Concurrently, we will prioritize the preparation and exploration requirements that will support our proposed redevelopment plans for new modern operations with state-of-the-art processing and tailings management facilities. The re-development plan will encompass modern best practices, using less power, less water and assuming conservative commodity prices."

The Selkirk Mine is situated 28 kilometres south-east of the town of Francistown, and 75 kilometres north of the 100% owned Selebi Mines. The Selkirk mining license covers approximately 14.6 square kilometres and the four prospecting licenses cover 126.7 square kilometres (figure 1).

Production at the Selkirk Mine took place between 1989 and 2002 with Anglo American mining high grade Ni-Cu massive sulphides and producing 1 million tonnes at 2.6% Ni and 1.5% Cu. Thereafter, in 2006, LionOre Mining International Ltd. ("LionOre") published a technical report in accordance with NI 43-101, which reported a historic indicated mineral resource estimate of 6.0 Mt grading 1.06% Nickel and 0.36% Copper at a cutoff grade of 0.75% Ni.

The technical report entitled "A Preliminary Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis of the Requirements for the Establishment of a Nickel Mining & Processing Facility at the 'Selkirk Project' Situated on the Farms 73NQ and 75 NQ in NE Botswana, Mineral Properties and Prospects Held by LionOre" with an effective date of September 21, 2006 (the "Historic Selkirk MRE") was prepared for LionOre by TMP Consulting (PTY) Ltd. See "Historical Estimate". The former operator acquired Selkirk from Norilsk Nickel through a purchase agreement in October 2014. Norilsk was preparing Selkirk as an open pit operation and had completed Definitive Feasibility Studies in 2012 and 2013 (Norilsk Nickel Annual Reports). Figures may be viewed using the link provided with this news release. 

PNRL intends to complete a technical report, in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), to advance its understanding of the Selkirk property. The technical report is being prepared on a voluntary basis, as the Selkirk property is not a material property of the Company pursuant to NI 43-101. Following the completion of the technical report, the Company currently anticipates that a work plan will be proposed for the Selkirk Mine re-development that will include drilling to better define the existing resources and search for additional resources, develop a 3D geological and structural model, and complete additional metallurgical studies.

Historical Estimate

The Historic Selkirk MRE, completed in 2006, is considered to be historical in nature and should not be relied upon as a current mineral resource estimate. While management believes that the Historic Selkirk MRE could be indicative of the presence of mineralization on the Selkirk Mines property, a qualified person has not completed sufficient work to classify the historical mineral estimate as a current mineral resource estimate and PNRL is not treating the historical mineral estimates as current mineral resource estimate

About PNR

PNRL is an intermediate global nickel-copper-cobalt company with assets in Botswana, Greenland, Canada and Morocco. The Company is currently focusing its efforts on advancing its 100% owned flagship Selebi Mine in Botswana.

The Selebi Mine is located in Botswana and consists of a single mining license covering an area of 11,504 hectares located near the town of Selebi Phikwe, approximately 150 kilometres southeast of the city of Francistown, and 410 kilometres northeast of the national capital Gaborone. The Selebi Mine includes two shafts (Selebi and Selebi North deposits) and related infrastructure (rail, power and water). The Selebi deposit began production in 1980 and the Selebi North deposit began production in 1990. Mining terminated at both operations in 2016 due to a failure in the separate Phikwe processing facility and was subsequently placed under liquidation in 2017. 

Since 2019, the PNRL technical team has been compiling and verifying information. Level plans were digitized, and after significant effort, PNRL now has a 3D model of the Selebi and Selebi North underground infrastructure. The gathering of the geological information to build a 3D model is ongoing. Information from handwritten drill logs were merged into the BCL drill hole database, and as required, historic core is being re-logged.

At the time of liquidation, South African Mineral Resource Committee (SAMREC) compliant Mineral Resources within the Selebi Mines property boundary were reported as in-situ and depleted for mining as of September 30, 2016. These historical measured and indicated mineral resources used a nickel equivalent (NiEq) cut-off grade of 0.4% and were estimated to total 17.83 Mt at grades of 0.87% Ni and 1.42% Cu containing 155,000 tonnes (t) Ni and 253,000 t Cu. Historical inferred mineral resources were estimated to total 15.34 Mt at grades of 0.71% Ni and 0.89% Cu containing 109,000 t Ni and 136,000 t Cu. The NiEq cut-off grade was based on a ratio of nickel and copper prices where NiEq = %Ni + (Cu price/Ni price)*%Cu. Nickel and copper prices used were US$8.00/lb Ni and US$3.00/lb Cu, respectively. This estimate, which has not been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), is considered to be historical in nature and should not be relied upon. However, management believes that it could be indicative of the presence of mineralization on the Selebi Mines property. A qualified person has not completed sufficient work to classify the historical mineral estimate as a current mineral resource estimate and PNRL is not treating the historical mineral estimates as current mineral resource estimate.

The highlight of the historic data compilation at Selebi was the identification of an off-hole borehole EM anomaly in sd140, a 2010 drill hole targeting down-dip of 1992 drill hole sd119 that reported an estimated true thickness interval of 38.5 metres averaging 1.58% Ni and 2.44% Cu, including 21.4 metres of 2.34% Ni and 3.39% Cu (figure 2), which management believes could be indicative of the presence of mineralization on the Selebi Mines property.

The Directors of Evrima accept responsibility for this announcement.

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was inside information as stipulated under Regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310 (as amended).

 Ends -

Enquiries  : 

Company: 
Burns Singh Tennent-Bhohi (CEO & Director): burns@evrimaplc.com
             
Simon Grant-Rennick (Executive Chairman): simon@evrimaplc.com

Novum Securities Limited (AQSE Corporate Adviser):

David Coffman / Lucy Bowden: + 44 (0) 20 7399 9400