Baptiste Nickel Project is located approximately 90km northwest of Fort St. James, British Columbia, Canada.

Baptiste is one of the four deposits located within the Decar Nickel District, fully owned by FPX Nickel. The estimated mine life of the project is 29 years.

FPX Nickel announced an updated mineral resource estimate for the Baptiste project in September 2022. The Project’s Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) was announced in September 2020 and the preliminary feasibility study (PFS) was announced in September 2023.

Following a positive environmental assessment (EA) decision and permitting stage through 2027, the final investment decision (FID) will be taken with early construction works expected to start in 2028.

Project Gallery

First nickel from the project is expected to be achieved in the fourth quarter of 2030.

Baptiste Nickel Location Details

Decar Nickel District spans approximately 245km2 of the Mount Sidney Williams ultramafic/ophiolite complex in central British Columbia.

Decar Nickel District consists of 62 mineral claims covering 24,740 hectares that are fully owned by FPX.

Diamond drilling has been undertaken at the Baptiste Deposit since 2010, with a total of 99 holes and 33,700m of drilling completed.

Geology and Mineralisation

The Decar site is a greenfield discovery of nickel mineralisation in the form of a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy called awaruite, which is suitable for bulk-tonnage, open-pit mining.

The Awaruite mineralisation has been identified in four target areas within the ophiolite complex, which include the Baptiste Deposit, the B Target, the Sid Target, and the Van Target, as confirmed by drilling in the first three-plus petrographic examination, electron probe analyses, and outcrop sampling on all four.

Baptiste Project Reserves

According to the 2023 PFS, the Baptiste project's Probable Mineral Reserves are estimated to be 1,488Mt at an average grade of 0.13% (Davis Tube Recoverable) DTR nickel (0.21% total nickel), resulting in 1,933kt of contained DTR nickel metal (3,125 kt of total nickel metal) over the 29-year mine life.

Mining and Ore processing

The Baptiste project is planned to be developed as an open-pit project to produce an average of 59,100tonnes of nickel per year in concentrate over a 29-year mine life.

The project will be constructed in phases, with an initial mill throughput rate of 108,000 tonnes per day in Phase I, followed by an extension to 162,000 tonnes per day in Phase II funded by free cash flow after a 3.7-year payback period.

The project will deploy 250mm blast-hole electric drills, 42 cubic metre electric excavators, and 300tonne haul trucks on notional 10m high benches for mining operations. The support equipment fleet includes an array of dozers, graders, wheel loaders, and excavators.

The nickel mine will utilise a conventional processing flowsheet that includes semi-autogenous (SAG)-mill-based grinding, magnetic separation, froth flotation, and flotation tailings leach circuit.

Infrastructure

The project can be accessed through a road system comprising renovations to an existing network of forest service roads (FSRs).

It will be powered by low-carbon electricity from the BC Hydro provincial energy transmission grid, resulting in a Scope 1 and 2 carbon intensity of 2.4t CO2/t nickel produced, positioning Baptiste in the bottom decile of global nickel production.

According to the PFS, the Power required for the project operations will be supplied through a 230 kV connection to the Glenannan substation located to the south of the Project, with a line length of approximately 155 km.

According to PFS water balance modelling, the site has an annual water deficit, requiring an adequate allowance for freshwater makeup during operations, including potable water requirements.

Contractors Involved

In February 2020, FPX Nickel appointed Canada’s BBA as lead engineer and consultant for the preparation of an updated National Instrument 43-101 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) report on the Baptiste Deposit.

FPX Nickel engaged Next Mine Consulting to prepare an updated mineral resource estimate for the Baptiste Project at the Decar Nickel District in central British Columbia.

The PEA was prepared by BBA, while the project’s mine planning and tailings were developed by Stantec.

Knight Piésold was engaged to carry out tailings, water management, and geotechnical study for the nickel project.

Ausenco Engineering Canada was contracted to provide process, infrastructure, and overall PFS integration for the Baptiste project.

Moose Mountain Technical Services was responsible for the nickel mine design and engineering.