VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Surge Battery Metals Inc. (the "Company" or "Surge") (TSXV: NILI) (OTCQB: NILIF) (FRA: DJ5C) is pleased to announce that it has begun a fall exploration program at the BC Nickel Properties in Northern British Columbia, in conjunction with its exploration property partner, Nickel Rock Resources (TSXV: NICL). The Option Agreement with Nickel Rock Resources was originally announced in a news release dated July 8, 2021, and subject to TSXV Approval, Surge will own an 80% interest in the Hard Nickel 4 and Nickel 100 Claims, with Nickel Rock Resources Inc. retaining the remaining 20% interest.
About the Nickel 100 Group
Mineral Occurrences
- The claims of the Nickel 100 Group (part of the "Nickel Project") cover 18 BC MINFILE chromite occurrences, some of which are reported to be mineralized with nickel, platinum-palladium group and other rare, highly valuable elements.
History
- Nickel-cobalt mineralization has not been well-explored, but the presence of awaruite has been documented. Geologist, Ms. Ursula Mowat completed a preliminary field work program over the area of the Nickel 100 claim group in 2004, and confirmed the presence of elevated nickel, cobalt and chromium values in rocks and stream sediments. Ms. Mowat is the recipient of the 2015 H.H. "Spud" Huestis Award for Excellence in Prospecting and Mineral Exploration, granted by the Association of Mineral Exploration in British Columbia ("AME BC"). AME BC is both - a large and successful industry association representing the mineral exploration industry in British Columbia.
About the Hard Nickel 4 Property
- The Hard Nickel 4 Property is immediately adjacent and southeast of the FPX Nickel Baptiste Deposit, and consists of a mineral claims held originally by Nickel Rock Resources Inc. (now a 20% interest holder in the project). The exploration stage project is in the Takla Lake area of central British Columbia, partially adjacent to FPX Nickel Corp.'s Decar Nickel Project.
- The Decar Nickel Project is an advanced project targeting awaruite, a nickel-iron alloy mineral, hosted by serpentinized ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit within the Permian to Triassic age Cache Creek Complex.
- All the claim groups of the Nickel Project are partially underlain by variably serpentinized ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit. Metallic mineralization discovered to date on the project includes nickel, cobalt, and chromium, and some of the nickel mineralization occurs as the nickel-iron alloy awaruite, and as sulphide minerals including heazlewoodite, bravoite and siegenite.
- The principal target on the project is nickel occurring as awaruite, but at the exploration stage all other styles of mineralization should be considered.
- Systematic, ground-based exploration work began within the area of the claims now covered by the Nickel Project under the direction of Ms. Ursula Mowat, P.Geo. in 1987, continuing intermittently until 2012. This work established the presence of elevated nickel, cobalt and chromium values in rocks, soils, and stream sediments.
- The area of the claim groups of the Nickel Project were included in Geoscience BC's QUEST and QUEST-West projects, including multiparameter regional geophysical surveys, and regional stream sediment reanalyzes and data compilations between 2008 and 2009.
- R. Britten's technical paper "Regional Metallogeny and Genesis of a New Deposit Type - Disseminated Awaruite (Ni3Fe) Mineralization Hosted in the Cache Creek Terrane", published in 2017 in Economic Geology should be utilized as an interim mineral deposit model or profile for the Nickel Project.
- The Nickel Project is worthy of phased, systematic exploration programs designed and implemented to delineate areas with known or high probability metallic nickel mineralization, and to discover new areas of similar mineralization.
Proposed 2021 Work Program
The 2021 Work Program by the Company consists of the following exploration work.
The proposed work program consists of trenching, surface exploration, drone magnetic surveys, back pack drilling and exploration activities to support drilling and trenching such as soil sampling, rock sampling, prospecting, and geological mapping.
The Company estimates that this proposed work program will include CAD$200,000 in exploration expenditures spent over the fall and early winter of 2021 with additional mining exploration work scheduled for the spring-summer season of 2022. Analyzing the results from the 2021 work program will allow Surge management to plan the 2022 work program leading into the spring of calendar 2022.
Mr. Greg Reimer, Surge President & CEO states: "The Company has decided to partner with Nickel Rock Resources on these properties because we believe that these mineral claims are of a high value to our shareholders. To joint venture these two mineral claims with a credible exploration partner in the region is extremely valuable and we can take advantage of not only their current $600,000 flow-through exploration program, but also the work being done by nearby FPX Nickel Corp (TSXV: FPX) on the world-renown Baptiste Nickel Deposit. By doing so, we have the ability to extract some immediate value from these claims, improve our working capital position, focus our exploration efforts and continue to draw shareholder value. Currently, Surge has over CAD$4 million in working capital, and this 2021 work program is well financed and leaves significant room for a 2022 future work program."
Mr. Greg Reimer continues, "We believe that this joint venture/option transaction and exploration focus is squarely in the best interest of the shareholders, and are excited to have active multiple exploration work programs being conducted in this area of British Columbia."
Qualified Person
Jeremy Hanson, P.Geo., a qualified person as defined by NI 43 - 101, is responsible for the technical information contained in this release. Readers are cautioned that the information in this press release regarding the property of FPX Nickel Corp is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the property of interest.
About Surge Battery Metals Inc. surgebatterymetals.com
The Company is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company active in the exploration for nickel-iron alloy and Copper in British Columbia and lithium in Nevada. Nickel Rock Resources Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's maintains a focus on exploration for high value battery metals required for the electric vehicle (EV) market.
Nevada Lithium Claims
The Company owns a 100% interest in 38 mineral claims located in Nevada. The Northern Nevada Lithium Project is located in the Granite Range about 34 line- km southeast of Jackpot, Nevada, about 73 line-km north-northeast of Wells, Nevada. The target is a Thacker Pass or Clayton Valley type lithium clay deposit in volcanic tuff and tuffaceous sediments of the Jarbidge Rhyolite package. The project area was first identified in public domain stream sediment geochemical data with follow up sediment sampling and geologic reconnaissance.
Caledonia Project, Vancouver Island, BC
The Company has entered into a Property Option Agreement to acquire a 100% interest in 7 mineral claims known as the Caledonia, Cascade and Bluebell, subject to a NSR between 1-2%. Located in the Nanaimo Mining District of northern Vancouver Island. The claims are 7 km north-west of BHP's past producing Island Copper mine which was responsible for extracting 345 million metric tonnes @ 0.41% Cu, 0.017% Mo, 0.19 g/t Au, and 1.4 g/t Ag. During its prime operating period the Island Copper mine was Canada's third-largest copper producer. The Caledonia, Cascade and Bluebell claims area lies within a 50-kilometer-long copper belt northwest of the Island Copper mine.
British Columbia Nickel Project
Hard Nickel 4 and Nickel 100 Claims
The Company has entered into an Option Agreement with Nickel Rock Resources to acquire an 80% interest in 6 mineral claims in the Mount Sidney Williams area (Hard Nickel 4) covering 1863 hectares immediately south of and adjacent to the Decar Project and the Mitchell Range area (Nickel 100) covering 8659 hectares, located in Northern British Columbia. Three of the claims are subject to 2% NSR, including the Hard Nickel 4 claim and the two southernmost claims of the Nickel 100 claims. The acquisition is subject final TSXV Approval.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
"Greg Reimer"
Greg Reimer, President & CEO
604-428-5690
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guaranteeing future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.
Surge Battery Metals Inc.
1220 - 789 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 1H2
604- 428-5690
www.surgebatterymetals.com
info@surgebatterymetals.com
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