IGO to record impairment against nickel assets in strategy shift
IGO has been undertaking a strategic review in an attempt to revaluate its resources.
An updated resource at EV Nickel’s (TSXV: EVNI) Shaw Dome project in northern Ontario adds more than 24 million tonnes of contained metal to the W4 deposit over a previous estimate in 2010.
Open pit and underground measured and indicated resources at the southeastern W4 deposit now come to 1.4 million tonnes grading 0.98% nickel for 31.1 million pounds. Inferred resources total 559,214 tonnes at 0.98% nickel for 12.1 million contained lb., the company said in a release on Monday.
The update moves 72% of the resource into the measured and indicated categories, EV said.
“This is a major step on our mission to accelerate the clean energy transition with our Clean Nickel,” said CEO Sean Samson in a news release.
“Expanding the total measured, indicated, and inferred resources to more than 43 million pounds of nickel sets up our two-track strategy of defining near surface, high-grade nickel resources and combining them with the large scale projects in the Shaw Dome.
“We have the best of both worlds including an avenue to potentially be in production in the next three to four years from W4 and continue advancing the transformational, large-scale CarLang,” he added, referring to Shaw Dome’s CarLang deposit just north of W4. Shaw Dome is about 25 km southeast of Timmins.
The resource update will form the basis for a preliminary economic assessment, Samson said, without specifying a timeline. EV said in a January news release that a PEA was planned for CarLang for the spring.
The 2010 estimate put total indicated resources at 677,000 tonnes grading 1% nickel for 14.8 million lbs., and inferred resources at 171,000 tonnes grading 0.91% nickel for 3.3 million lbs.
The new resource extends to 500 metres depth, compared with 400 metres previously. W4 remains open at depth and along plunge, EV said.
The company acquired the project from Rogue Resources (TSXV: RRS) in March 2021 and has since acquired additional land around it to expand Shaw Dome to 300 sq. km.
In a research note about the update on Tuesday, Red Cloud Securities analyst Taylor Combaluzier said Shaw Dome is prospective for the small-scale, higher-grade deposits like W4 and the larger, lower-grade deposits at CarLang.
“We believe the next step for EV Nickel, beyond a PEA to demonstrate the economics of W4, is to delineate additional high-grade deposits at the Shaw Dome that could form a larger consolidated high-grade resource to feed into a centralized processing facility,” he said.
Combaluzier said Red Cloud maintains its buy rating for EV and its target price of $1.00 per share.
EV shares traded at C11¢ in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon, in a 52-week window of C7¢ and C36¢, valuing the company at C$5.6 million ($4.2m).
