Premium Nickel Resources announced that it has executed a definitive asset purchase agreement with the Liquidator of Tati Nickel Mining Company ("TNMC") to acquire the Selkirk nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum-group metals ("Ni-Cu-Co-PGM") Mine and surrounding prospecting licenses and infrastructure formerly operated by TNMC.
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R is targeting the closing of the Selkirk APA, and transfer of ownership of the asset, within 120-days.
The company has been undertaking due diligence work programs on Selkirk since being selected as the preferred bidder in the TNMC liquidation process and entering into a memorandum of understanding ("MOU") providing for a six-month exclusivity period.
During the 120-day closing period, PNR will be preparing to execute a drill program with the ambition to bring the 2016 bankable feasibility study to NI 43-101 compliance.
The legacy underground Selkirk Mine is situated 28 km south-east of the town of Francistown, and 75 km north of the Selebi Mines.
BCL acquired Selkirk from Norilsk Nickel through a purchase agreement that was finalized in October 2014.
Norilsk was preparing Selkirk as an open pit operation and had completed Definitive Feasibility Studies in 2012 and 2013. Selkirk was then advanced to a bankable feasibility in 2016 as an open pit resource, prior to the liquidation of TNMC.
PNR has been diligently collecting new data, including a sampling program of HQ size core from five previously unsampled drill holes. Approximately 288 kgs of representative ore was processed as a metallurgical sample.
The subsequent metallurgical testing, carried out at SGS Lakefield, confirmed the redevelopment plan to produce separate copper and nickel-cobalt concentrates and identified significant value in PGMs.
The proposed work plan for Selkirk includes drilling to better define existing resources, build up a geological model, further update the structural model, exploration for additional resources and additional metallurgical studies.
PNR will focus on bringing the legacy bankable feasibility back to compliance and update the environmental baseline to include a tailings management facility and dedicated processing plant to produce concentrates. ■