This morning, Alaska Energy Metals (TSX-V:AEMC, OTC: AKEMF) announced an updated NI 43-101 resource estimate for its 100% owned Eureka Deposit, Nikolai Nickel Project in Alaska. The results of the updated MRE, along with the rapid pace at which Alaska Energy Metals (“AEMC”) has achieved this key milestone, are impressive.
In less than a year, AEMC has advanced the Nikolai Project from the conceptual exploration stage to identifying a significant deposit containing nickel and other essential metals. The latest mineral resource update has revealed an impressive 180% increase in inferred resources, alongside a considerable addition of indicated resources to the deposit. This enhancement has elevated the nickel content of the deposit to over 8 billion pounds (more than 3.7 million metric tonnes), with only a minor decrease in grade of 0.01% and a significantly reduced strip ratio.
In 2023 drilling, AEMC was able to connect the Eureka east and Eureka West deposits together to create one deposit that is 4.2 km long containing more than 8.1 billion pounds of nickel and more than 10 billion pounds of nickel-equivalent metal (when copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium and gold is included). Grade was very slightly lower than prior, maiden resource calculation. Higher grade core was traced over substantial strike.
The identification of a high-grade core zone within the deposit is a particularly important development. The higher-grade core contains an Indicated resource of 211 million tonnes at a grade of 0.34% NiEq and an Inferred resource of 154 million tonnes at a grade of 0.33% NiEq. This higher grade core within the Nikolai Deposit will continue to be evaluated, and it has the potential to significantly enhance the project’s economic viability.
Another area of improvement at Nikolai are the chrome and iron co-product assays. Chrome and iron have been identified as potentially significant co-products of mineralization at the Nikolai Nickel Project. Data the Company purchased in August 2023 had incomplete iron assay data and analytical methods used to determine the concentration of chrome prevented the assessment of these elements in the 2024 MRE.
The drilling completed by AEMC in 2023 indicated an increase from 0.18% to 0.28% in the mean chrome assays and an increase from 8.2% to 8.8% in the mean iron assays relative to the historical purchased data. AEMC will continue to evaluate the chrome and iron numbers from the 2024 infill drill program, which is currently being planned. AEMC has the objective of integrating these elements in future resource updates.
In 2024, AEMC intends to conduct 15,000 meters of exploration drilling in 26 holes in order to expand the strike extent of the mineralized zone to 5,000 meters. The potential scale of the deposit is at the bottom left of this slide from the presentation:
The keys for AEMC are:
#1. Enormous scale
#2. Attractive suite of metals including multiple critical metals (strategic metals critical to national security)
#3. Located in the US in an excellent state and location for mine permitting (Alaska is a top 10 jurisdiction according to the Fraser Survey)
Nickel is a critical mineral that is in short supply in the United States. Eight billion pounds of nickel in Alaska would make for an attractive deposit.
One of the most notable nickel deposits in the USA is located in the Duluth Complex in Minnesota. This geological formation is one of the largest undeveloped nickel (and copper) resources in the world. The development of these resources has been a subject of environmental concerns and regulatory scrutiny, given the potential impacts on the surrounding ecosystems, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Another significant area is the Nickel Mountain deposit in Riddle, Oregon, which was historically the only nickel mine in the United States before it was closed. There have been efforts and explorations in other states as well, but none have reached the production scale seen in leading nickel-producing countries.
Lundin Mining’s Eagle Mine is an underground, high-grade nickel and copper mine located in western Marquette County of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The mine is expected to produce 440 million pounds of nickel, 429 million pounds of copper, and trace amounts of other minerals over its estimated mine life (2014 – 2029).
Currently, Eagle is the only operating primary Nickel mine in the United States and based on the latest mine plan it is expected to run out of ore in 2029.
With today’s important resource update, the Nikolai Deposit stands to be an important potential future source of nickel production in the United States. Nikolai is located in a development friendly area of Alaska, a tier-1 pro-mining state.
Paved highway access to Nikolai makes it an especially attractive project due to reduced exploration costs and faster development timelines.
Thanks to this resource update, the Eureka deposit within the Nikolai Nickel project is now recognized as a major nickel resource on a global scale and ranks among the largest known nickel deposits in the United States. Nikolai stands to become a crucial nickel source for the USA, serving a wide array of manufacturing sectors such as stainless steel, electric vehicles, defense components, and renewable energy storage batteries, among others. This milestone underscores the dedication and hard work of the Alaska Energy team over the last year.
The next key milestones for AEMC will be the completion of important metallurgical work in Q2 followed by the commencement of the next phase of drilling at Nikolai in June.
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