URU Metals Limited
Drilling results from ZEB Nickel Corp
URU announces that ZEB Nickel Corp. has today announced identification of a higher-grade nickel mineralized zone on its Zeb Project, located in Limpopo, South Africa (the “Project”).
URU successfully completed the disposal of the Project to ZEB Nickel Corp. in August 2021 and the Project remains the primary focus of URU, through its 74.82% interest in Zeb Nickel Corp. and URU’s continuing role as the technical adviser on the Project.
The ZBNI announcement is as follows:
Higher-grade nickel zone identified at Zebediela
Highlights:
- An analysis of deeper holes drilled at the Zeb Project has revealed a higher-grade nickel mineralized zone at the base of the historical nickel resource estimate.
- An investigation of a full compilation of all data (drilling, 3D geological modelling and assays) has revealed that historical drilling stopped short of testing this higher-grade mineralized zone, meaning that this ore body is significantly under explored.
- Further drilling into this zone may result in intersecting higher nickel grades and lead to an overall increase in grade.
- Three-dimensional geological modelling and data interpretation now completed.
Vancouver, BC, February 7, 2023 – ZEB Nickel Corp. (TSX-V: ZBNI) (OTC:ZBNIF) (“Zeb” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Company has now completed a full evaluation of the results from both the Phase 1 and Phase 2 drilling campaigns, as reported in News Release March 15, 2022, and related these results to all available historical information, updated the exploration model and produced a three-dimensional geological model of the project area.
The Company has identified higher grade zones within the Lower Zone lithologies that host the historical nickel resource estimate as described in the Company’s NI43-101. Much of the historical drilling stopped short of these higher-grade zones, and further drilling into these zones could result in an increase in the grade of the resource estimate hosted in these Lower Zone lithologies as illustrated in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: A section through the Lower Zone Uitloop II body showing that majority of the historical drillholes stopped in the Serpentinised Dunite Unit or at the top of the Serpentinite Unit. Photo A and B shows the increased sulfide content of 5 – 10% that are disseminated and blebby in nature associated with the Serpentinised Unit and Poikilitic Harzburgite Unit. The yellow dashed area represents the potential higher grade nickel mineralization adjacent to and below the existing historical estimate.
The next phase of drilling on the Zebediela project aims to:
- Allow for the declaration of a current NI43-101 resource statement on the historical nickel resource hosted within Lower Zone lithologies;
- Define more resources in the “indicated resource” category for the nickel resource hosted in Lower Zone lithologies, and potentially move some material into the “measured resource” category;
- Increase the overall grade and tonnage on the historical nickel resource by targeting the serpentinite and poikilitic harzburgite units, where higher nickel grades have been intersected by previous drilling;
- Increase the grade and tonnage within Critical Zone (Target 2) lithologies, which consists of material proven to be a shallower up-dip extension of Ivanhoe’s 800 m deep Platreef on the adjacent property;
- Determine the extent of the high-grade mineralized nickel zone at the base of, and in the footwall to, the Lower Zone lithologies, which is contact style mineralization and may host semi-massive to massive Ni-PGE sulfide mineralization; and
- Conduct infill diamond drilling to test the extent of the gold discovery, as reported in news releases on September 19th, 2022 and March 15, 2022;
The infill diamond drilling campaign is designed in a way that will test all four targets in one drilling program, as described on the Company’s website (https://zebnickel.com/company-presentation/).
The case for increased nickel grade within the Historical Resource
The historical resource is associated with the ultramafic Lower Zone body, which hosts the historical estimate. The nickel mineralization starts near surface and was tested to a depth of ~350 m and has a strike length of 3 km. The body dips southwestward (30-70°) and is in excess of 350 m thick. There are approximately 34 drillholes which have intersected this body, however, the majority of the historical holes are stopped in the middle of the body and did not test the full nickel mineralization potential of this body.
This body was previously thought to be relatively homogenous in both lithologies and nickel mineralization. A recent investigation conducted by the Company’s geologists has indicated that this body is not as homogeneous as previously interpreted. The body can be divided into four broad stratigraphic units, namely the Dunite Unit, the Serpentinised Dunite Unit, the Serpentinite Unit and the Poikilitic Harzburgite Unit. These four units have different abundances of sulfide mineralization and associated nickel sulfide mineralization. The Serpentinite and Poikilitic Harzburgite Units close to the base of the body have an increased sulfide content of 5% – 10% that are blebby and disseminated in nature (Figure 1 A and B). This means that higher nickel grades are often associated with the lower two sulfide-rich stratigraphic units.
Based on these broad lithological units found in the body, the true potential of the nickel mineralization has not yet been tested (Figure 1). The units that contain the highest nickel grades have only been intersected in a few of the historical boreholes (e.g., Z015 and U1). The majority of the historical drillholes were stopped in the middle of the Serpentinised Dunite Unit and did not test for higher-grade Ni mineralization associated with the lower two units. Z015 intersected these lower units with 21,50 m @ 0,49% Ni (including 5,50 m @ 0,72% Ni) – see https://zebnickel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caracle-Creek_Zebediela-Ni-NI43-101-Feb25_2021F-Complete.pdf. The more recent boreholes that were drilled through the entire Lower Zone stratigraphy, were drilled close to the sub-crop position of the Lower Zone, and due to the nature of the geometry of the Lower Zone intrusion, these boreholes did not intersect a well-developed Serpentinite Unit and Poikilitic Harzburgite Units as seen in Z015 and U1.
On this basis, the infill drilling program will target the higher-grade mineralized zones downdip of the sub-crop position of the Lower Zone, rather than the shallow sub-crop mineralized packages intersected in the historical drilling.
Wayne Isaacs, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Zeb Nickel, commented: The extensive re-evaluation and remodelling of the geological data following on the successful Phase 2 drill program has allowed the technical team to target areas of higher-grade nickel mineralization. The nature of the mineralized orientation means that we can simultaneously drill for nickel mineralization within the historical resource as well as the higher grade nickel mineralization located in the Critical Zone, located beneath the historical resource. Based on Zeb’s recent drilling, the Critical Zone contains higher grade nickel-copper and PGE mineralization. Furthermore, while we drill for nickel, we will be drilling through and along strike of the recent gold mineralization discovery, thus simultaneously advancing our knowledge on the gold mineralization.”
Share for Debt Settlement
Subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company is settling certain conference sponsorship and attendance fees in the amount of US$150,000 through the payment of 750,000 common shares, on a “shares for debt” basis. The shares will be subject to a 4 month hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws from the date of issue.
About the Company and Project
Zeb Nickel Corp is focused on exploring for and developing world-class mineral deposits, with a focus on metals that are critical in the production of rechargeable batteries, such as nickel, graphite, lithium, cobalt, manganese, copper and aluminum. The Company is currently focused on developing its flagship Zeb Nickel Project, located in Limpopo, South Africa. The Zeb Nickel Project is a developing Class 1 nickel sulfide project strategically located in the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. The Zeb Nickel Project contains an historical NI 43-101 resource of over 3.9 million tons of contained sulfide nickel, which would rank it number 8 in the global top ten nickel sulfide resources as of 2014 (Mudd, G. M., & Jowitt, S. M. (2014). A detailed assessment of global nickel resource and trends and endowments. Economic Geology, 109(7), 1813-1841). A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and the Company is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The historical estimate can be found on the Company’s website at https://zebnickel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caracle-Creek_Zebediela-Ni-NI43-101-Feb25_2021F-Complete.pdf.
Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance
Richard Montjoie has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Montjoie is not independent of the Company. Mr. Montjoie is a registered member of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) membership number 400131/09. Mr. Montjoie holds a M.Sc. Honors in Economic Geology from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and is fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA).
The analytical work reported on herein was performed by SGS South Africa Proprietary Limited, based in Randfontein, South Africa, an internationally recognized analytical services provider. Samples are analysed for Ni using a nitric acid leach and sodium peroxide fusion, followed by an ICP-AES finish; and Au, Pt, Pd by lead fusion followed by an ICP-AES finish; and for Rh using palladium collection followed by ICP-OES finish.
The Company has not identified drilling, sampling, recovery or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the assay data disclosed.
A full Quality Control and Quality Assurance (QAQC) program was conducted on all assay results, and all reported assays were deemed to be acceptable. The program was designed and implemented by Dr. Matthew McCreesh. Dr. McCreesh is a registered member of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) membership number 132928. Dr. McCreesh holds a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and is member of the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA). Data was verified by a process of duplicate analyses and the use of certified reference materials submitted to the laboratory.
For further information, please visit http://www.zebnickel.com
ZBNI announcement ends
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“MAR”), and is disclosed in accordance with URU’s obligations under Article 17 of MAR.
For further information, please contact:
| URU Metals Limited John Zorbas (Chief Executive Officer) | +1 416 504 3978 |
| SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Adviser and Broker) Ewan Leggat Harry Davies-Ball | + 44 (0) 203 470 0470 |
