ALX Resources Corp. and Rio Tinto Confirm Drilling Plans for the Firebird Nickel Project in Saskatchewan
ALX Resources Corp. (“ALX” or the “Company”) (TSXV: AL; FSE: 6LLN; OTC: ALXEF) is pleased to announce that its exploration partner, Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc. (“Rio Tinto”), has confirmed details of the 2021 exploration program and budget for the Firebird Nickel Project (“Firebird”, or the “Project”), located near the town of Stony Rapids in northern Saskatchewan, Canada.
Firebird is currently the subject of an option agreement whereby Rio Tinto can earn up to an 80% interest in the Project by incurring exploration expenditures of $12.0 million over a six-year period and by making a total of $125,000 in cash payments to the Company (see ALX news release dated August 24, 2020, “ALX Resources Corp. Announces Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Earn-In for the Falcon Nickel Project”).
The Firebird 2021 exploration program, is anticipated to begin in late May 2021 with initial ground-truthing of geophysical anomalies that were detected in the airborne electromagnetic (“EM”) survey completed at the Project in October 2020 (see ALX news release dated November 9, 2020, “ALX Resources Corp. and Rio Tinto Locate Airborne EM Anomalies at the Firebird Nickel Project”). The early onset of winter conditions in mid-October 2020 prevented surface investigations of anomalous areas where no prospecting has been carried out by ALX. Following the ground-truthing, drilling is planned to commence in June 2021, with ALX acting as operator of exploration at the Project.
“ALX and Rio Tinto have combined the results from the best available airborne survey technology with the input of talented geoscientists to generate compelling drill targets for the 2021 Firebird drilling program,” said Warren Stanyer, CEO and Chairman of ALX. “It’s an exciting time for ALX as we approach what could be a new era of mineral discovery in northern Saskatchewan.”
Highlights of 2021 Drilling Program
The helicopter-supported program is planned to consist of up to eight diamond drill holes totaling approximately 1,500 metres (4,920 feet), each targeting discrete EM conductors that exhibit the geophysical characteristics of magmatic sulphide mineralization within this geological setting.
The first drill holes of the program are planned in the northwestern part of Firebird at the Wiley Lake Showing area, where surface sampling by ALX has identified high-grade nickel showings (see ALX news release dated July 27, 2020, “ALX Resources Corp. Samples up to 2.43% Nickel and 8.34 Grams/Tonne Gold in the Northern Athabasca Region, Saskatchewan”).
ALX received a permit in early March 2021 for surface exploration, including ground geophysical surveys and diamond drilling, good until September 30, 2022. Engagement with indigenous groups and local communities in the northeastern Athabasca Basin area is ongoing in order to mitigate any impacts to traditional land use and cultural practices during ALX’s exploration program.
Click on the highlighted link to view maps and pictures of ALX’s exploration activities at the Firebird Nickel Project
About the Firebird Nickel Project
ALX owns 100% of Firebird, subject to 2.0% net smelter returns royalties on certain claims acquired from arm’s-length vendors to the Company. ALX acquired its first claims at Firebird during a staking rush in May 2019. Additional land purchases and acquisitions by staking in 2019 and 2020 has increased the size of the Project to approximately 20,491 hectares (50,635 acres). Mobilization of equipment and personnel is achieved from the town of Stony Rapids, SK, located approximately 18 kilometres (11 miles) by air from the centre of the Project. Stony Rapids is connected to the Saskatchewan provincial road system by all-weather Highway 905 and has a fully-serviced airport to support both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.
Firebird is located within the Tantato Domain, which forms a segment of the Snowbird Tectonic Zone, and hosts a magmatic nickel sulphide mineralizing system that has been underexplored by modern methods. A long history of exploration beginning in 1929 discovered numerous nickel-copper-cobalt showings within Firebird’s boundaries, including the historic Axis Lake, Rea Lake and Currie Lake deposits.
Helicopter-supported diamond drilling and ground geophysical programs were completed by ALX at Firebird in March 2020. Magmatic nickel-copper-cobalt mineralization was intersected in two of the three holes drilled on new targets developed by ALX (see ALX news release dated April 15, 2020, “ALX Resources Corp. Announces Results of 2020 Winter Drilling at Falcon Nickel Project, Northern Saskatchewan”), with the best result being 23.78 metres grading 0.36% nickel in hole FN20-002, including 10.61 metres of 0.55% nickel and 2.05 metres of 0.90% nickel (true width of the intersection is unknown).
National Instrument 43-101 (“N.I. 43-101”) Disclosure
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Sierd Eriks, P.Geo., President and Chief Geologist of ALX, who is a Qualified Person in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101.
ALX’s drill core and surface grab samples described in this news release were processed by SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories in Saskatoon, SK. Base metals were analyzed using a 4-acid digestion with Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Samples that returned over 10,000 parts per million nickel were analyzed with HCl:HNO3 digestion followed by base metal wt% assay by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES).
About ALX
ALX is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and its common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “AL”, on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol “6LLN” and in the United States OTC market under the symbol “ALXEF”. ALX’s mandate is to provide shareholders with multiple opportunities for discovery by exploring a portfolio of prospective mineral properties, which include gold, nickel, copper, and uranium projects. The Company uses the latest exploration technologies and holds interests in over 200,000 hectares of prospective lands in Saskatchewan and Ontario, stable Canadian jurisdictions that collectively host the highest-grade uranium mines in the world, and offer a significant legacy of production from gold and base metals mines.
ALX owns 100% interests in the Firebird Nickel Project (now under option to Rio Tinto Exploration Canada, who can earn up to an 80% interest), the Flying Vee Nickel/Gold and Sceptre Gold projects, and can earn up to an 80% interest in the Alligator Lake Gold Project, all located in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. ALX owns, or can earn, up to 100% interests in the Vixen Gold Project, the Electra Nickel Project and the Cannon Copper Project located in historic mining districts of Ontario, Canada, and in the Draco VMS Project in Norway. ALX holds interests in a number of uranium exploration properties in northern Saskatchewan, including a 20% interest in the Hook-Carter Uranium Project, located within the prolific Patterson Lake Corridor, with Denison Mines Corp. (80% interest) operating exploration since 2016, and a 40% interest in the Black Lake Uranium Project, a joint venture with UEX Corporation and Orano Canada Inc.
For more information about the Company, please visit the ALX corporate website at www.alxresources.com or contact Roger Leschuk, Manager, Corporate Communications at: PH: 604.629.0293 or Toll-Free: 866.629.8368, or by email: rleschuk@alxresources.com
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of ALX Resources Corp.
“Warren Stanyer”
Warren Stanyer, CEO and Chairman
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this news release include: the Firebird Nickel Project (“Firebird”) is prospective for nickel-copper-cobalt mineralization; the Company’s expectations for funding partners to undertake exploration activities at Firebird and expend funds on Firebird. It is important to note that the Company’s actual business outcomes and exploration results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include that: the initial findings at Firebird may prove to be unworthy of further expenditure; announced contracting and funding partners may decide not to continue work or funding our projects; government restrictions on travel and social interaction may be imposed due to pandemic; commodity prices may not support exploration expenditures at Firebird or at any of the Company’s other projects; ALX may not be able to fully finance exploration at its other mineral exploration projects, including drilling activities; and economic, competitive, governmental, societal, environmental and technological factors may affect the Company’s operations, markets, products and share price. Even if ALX and its funding partners explore and develop Firebird or any of our other projects, and even if nickel-copper-cobalt or other metals or minerals are discovered in quantity, Firebird or our other projects may not prove to be commercially viable. Additional risk factors are discussed in the Company’s Management Discussion and Analysis for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2020, which is available under the Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Except as required by law, we will not update these forward-looking statement risk factors. 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