Japan plans to fund global exploration by Canada-based FPX Nickel (TSXV: FPX) to find low-carbon awaruite while earning into its Klow project in British Columbia, according to a new agreement.
The Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC), a government agency, is to cover as much as C$650,000 ($483,000) annually for two years in the search for deposits of the nickel-iron alloy that FPX says can often bypass smelting because of its high nickel grade and lack of sulphur.
“A generative alliance represents a significant endorsement of the technical and economic viability of awaruite nickel deposits, which we believe represent a disruptive new source of low-carbon nickel supply for the electric vehicle battery supply chain,” FPX Nickel CEO Martin Turene said on Monday in a news release. “The generative alliance has the potential to expose FPX’s shareholders to numerous exploration discoveries on a global scale.”
JOGMEC also plans to invest C$1 million to earn 60% of the Klow awaruite nickel project 55 km north of FPX’s similar Baptiste project in central B.C. by the end of March 2026. Other projects FPX and Japan decide to develop are to be funded by the same 60/40 ratio. FPX earns an operator’s fee in the alliance, it said.
The agreement is part of a trend among major Western economies, which formed the Minerals Security Partnership last year to catalyze industry investment and avoid reliance on China and Russia for metals. Japan and FPX are aiming to leverage data collected by the company from 2010-14 when it prospected for awaruite in more than a dozen countries across four continents.
Developing high-grade nickel that could avoid smelting expenses would improve margins to supply the stainless-steel industry or use what FPX calls relatively simple refining to feed surging demand for electric vehicle batteries.
FPX didn’t immediately reply to an email asking which countries it had explored and where it wants to probe first. Awaruite gets its name from a discovery near Awarua Bay, New Zealand. It is typically three quarters nickel to one quarter iron.
The Baptiste nickel project, FPX’s main asset, is part of its Decar nickel district, which covers 245 sqkm in the Mount Sidney Williams ultramafic-ophiolite complex 90 km northwest of Fort St. James.
A 2020 resource model measured Baptiste to be about 3 km in length, 150 to 1,080 metres in width and extending to a depth of 540 metres. The deposit remains open at depth over the entire system and is covered by an average of 12 metres of overburden, FPX said. It has 2 billion indicated tonnes grading 0.1% nickel for 2.4 million tonnes contained metal, according to the model.
Testing at Baptiste has shown the awaruite can be economically recovered through conventional magnetic separation and flotation units to produce a clean, high-grade nickel concentrate, FPX said.
Klow began with a discovery in 2009, followed by delineation of nickel surface mineralization over 1,500 by 1,000 metres. Drilling in 2012 returned 316 metres grading 0.1% nickel-in-alloy from 10 metres depth in hole DH-4.
“Klow is considered to have potential to host a mineral deposit, subject to further confirmation by additional mapping, sampling and drilling activities,” FPX said in the release.
FPX shares rose almost 10% Monday, valuing the Vancouver-based company at C$121.9 million.
