Nickel Prices Recover from Lows, Corazon Positioned to Make the Best of it

Summary

• Pandemic silver lining – world got a taste of greener future, giving call for “clean energy”
• Battery metal Nickel price has bounced back from the correction it witnessed due to COVID 19 commodity bear market during the early part of 2020
• Corazon’s Lynn Lake Nickel project is located in the mining friendly jurisdiction backed by excellent infrastructure and often considered as one of the most exciting brownfields plays in all of North America
• Excellent results from the recent drilling program at A orebody to add substantial resources

Extensive lockdowns and reduced industrial activities during the pandemic times gave the new world a taste of a sustainable and greener future. Consequently, a call for clean energy has rejuvenated the interest in the battery metals sector.

Nitrogen Dioxide emission reduction during the pandemic period across various economic centres of Australia Source: The Copernicus Sentinel-5 Satellite, ESA

The Global commodity markets experienced a major bear rally because of demand shocks. The Nickel prices corrected 21%, from ~US$14,000 a tonne at the beginning of 2020 to ~US$11,055 a tonne by 26 March 2020.

LME Nickel Price Source: LME

The Nickel prices by the end of 2019 were experiencing a surge due the anticipation of a short supply thanks to the pre-ponement of the nickel ore ban by the world’s largest Nickel producer, Indonesia. The shortage of supply was yet to be realised and was delayed by the pandemic but, with re-opening of NPI, FeNi and steel plants in China and unlocking of other major consumers, the Nickel prices have recovered substantially to US$12,510 a tonne as on 24 June 2020. The mega stimulus package announced by China, India and other developing nations with a focus on the infrastructure development could further strengthen the demand for iron ore and Nickel.

Furthermore, with the global economies adapting to sustainable and greener means of transport and power means a boost to the battery metals, including Nickel and Cobalt in the upcoming decade. A demand hike would be complemented by the commencement of Nickel projects with ability to produce high quality nickel products which further would be refined to produce Class-1 Nickel products amenable to battery products.

Let us look at one player positioned to cater to the needs of the battery metal consumers, Corazon Mining Ltd. (ASX:CZN).

Corazon is a focussed battery metals explorer progressing on the Lynn Lake Nickel Copper Sulphide project in Manitoba Canada and Mount Gilmore in the New South Wales, Australia.

The Lynn Lake Nickel project is located in the mining friendly jurisdiction in the presence of excellent infrastructure and is often considered as one of the most exciting brownfields plays in all of North America. The existing 2012 JORC compliant mineral resource stands at 4.8 million tonnes containing 116,800t nickel, 54,300t copper and 5,300t cobalt with extensive opportunities for further expansion.

Lynn Lake Prospective Areas Source: Corazon Mining

Recent Exploration Programs

With a substantial proportion of mineral resources from the historically mined areas, Corazon recently conducted a 1500 metres diamond core drilling program focussing on the historic mining centre and the regional prospects including Fraser Lake Complex. Corazon follows a 2-pronged strategy of maximising the mineral resources through near-surface mineralisation within the historically mined sites and identification of bulk mineralisation of high tenor at the new prospects such as Fraser lake using modern exploration techniques such as Magnetic Vector Inversion (MVI).

Must Read: Corazon Betting Big on Near-Surface Mineralization at Lynn Lake to Add Substantial Resources

The high-grade nickel assay results from the orebody “A” further intersected substantial shallow sulphide mineralisation such as-

• 37 m with 1.34%Ni, 0.50%Cu, 0.040%Co from 8 metres
• 21 m with 0.67%Ni, 0.50%Cu, 0.020%Co from 8 metres

The drilling program was paused at the Fraser Lake due to high levels of seasonal surface water from the spring meltwater. The hole at the Fraser Lake complex has been drilled to a lateral depth of ~400 metres approaching the top of a geophysical anomaly.

While the drilling has been suspended temporarily, Corazon has still been advancing on the exploration front via the application of MVI. The company has been using MVI since 2019 to define mineralisation to depths of at least 600 metres.

New Target Discovery at the Fraser Lake Source: Corazon

The approach has led to a new discovery of a new magnetic anomaly (+300m x +200m), in close vicinity to the high-grade drilling holes along the Matrix trend. The anomaly is located on the flat lying basal contact of the Fraser Lake Complex (FLC), and the new targets would be included in the subsequent exploration drilling programs.

Read Here : Corazon Follows a Two-Pronged Strategy at Lynn Lake

Lynn Lake holds the potential for large scale Nickel sulphide operations, including substantial near surface mineralisation, further improving the economic potential of the project. Corazon is well placed to tap the Nickel opportunity in the burgeoning EV market.

Further, an announcement from Corazon is anticipated by 1 July 2020 leading to a trading halt on 25 June 2020.

Corazon closed at $0.0020 a share on 24 June 2020, with a market capitalisation of $4.82 million.