- Estimates for Hotinvaara Prospect increased to 418 megatonnes at 0.21 percent nickel
- Pulju Project a ‘globally significant’ find due to significant mineralogy and proximity to European EV supply chain
- Hotinvaara represents only a small portion of Nordic’s overall 240 square kilometres according to the company
- Nordic trading at 18 cents
Nordic Nickel (ASX: NNL) has released an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) with geotechs declaring the district surrounding its Pulju project in Finland is ‘globally significant’ for nickel sulphides.
The estimate focused particularly on the prize piece Hotinvaara prospect, which showed an increase to 418Mt at 0.21% nickel, 0.01% cobalt and 53 parts per million (ppm) copper for 862,800 tonnes of contained nickel; 40,000 tonnes of contained cobalt, and, 22,100 tonnes of contained copper.
A significant amount of mineralisation has been found within 250 metres of the surface, Nordic’s geotechs say, which includes 90,338 tonnes of contained nickel in the ‘Indicated’ category and 368,750 tonnes as the lower-confidence ‘Inferred’.
The MRE was based on drilling undertaken by Nordic in 2023 across 28 holes.
These have ultimately more than tripled the in-situ contained nickel estimate, with the updated MRE now going beyond the upper end of Nordic’s exploration target. Previous test work has shown that 83 to 94 percent of the total nickel is in sulphides, with traits suggesting good downstream yields.
The Pulju Project is situated in Finland’s Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, close to relevant infrastructure, grid power, a national highway, an international airport and – most notably – Europe’s only two nickel smelters.
Nordic managing director Todd Ross said the results indicated the potential for a major deposit to be found in this location, based on his company’s ongoing exploration
“Achieving a more than threefold increase in overall tonnages and contained metal is a fantastic result for our shareholders which really puts Pulju on the global nickel map,” he said.
“While cautioning that this is an in-situ MRE and further work is underway to fully establish its economic potential, the updated MRE clearly establishes the size of the disseminated nickel sulphide system – which remains open in almost all directions.
“The revised MRE shows that Hotinvaara is a very fertile ultramafic system with disseminated sulphides now defined over a vast area.”
A detailed metallurgical test work program is now underway at the project.
Nordic Nickel is trading at 18 cents.