Class 1 Nickel Announces Key Appointments to Accelerate Exploration at the Somanike Nickel Project in Quebec, Canada


  • Alex Beloborodov joins the Class 1 Nickel Team as the Exploration Manager Quebec and Robin Adair joins as an Independent Geological Technical Advisor
  • Approvals and line cutting have been completed for the ground geophysics program at the Somanike Project
  • Ground EM crew from Geophysique TMC is currently mobilizing on site for a planned 35km time-domain electromagnetic survey (TDEM)
  • TDEM deeper penetrating ground-based geophysics will be deployed to confirm possible extensions to historical mineralization and to identify new drill targets ahead of an extensive drilling campaign in 2022.

TORONTO, March 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Class 1 Nickel and Technologies Ltd. (CSE: NICO/OTCQB: NICLF) ("Class 1 Nickel" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointments of Mr. Alex Beloborodov and Mr. Robin Adair to the Class 1 Nickel team to accelerate exploration at the Somanike Nickel Project in Quebec, a komatiite-hosted magmatic sulphide Ni-Cu property, which includes the famous Marbridge Nickel Mine.

David Fitch, President & Director stated: “We are excited to have Alex and Robin join the team to rapidly accelerate the exploration program at Somanike. The geophysical program underway will cover a large portion of the known historical nickel trends as well as the Marbridge Mine and will lead nicely into a comprehensive drill campaign”.   

The famous Marbridge Mine, which was the first nickel sulphide producing mine in Quebec, has not been drill tested in more than five decades and has not been assessed by modern geophysical technologies capable of detecting magmatic sulphide deposits.

Alex Beloborodov is a professional geologist with 11 years of experience in nickel, copper and gold exploration in Quebec and Nunavut. He spent 6 years working in nickel sulphide exploration with various greenfield and brownfield projects as well as working on a producing nickel mine with Canadian Royalties. Mr. Beloborodov has a B.Sc. in Geology from Université du Quebec à Montréal.

Robin Adair is a Professional Geologist and has 37 years in mineral exploration and project development experience with a significant proportion focused on magmatic nickel – copper – PGE projects in Canada with Falconbridge Ltd. He worked directly on the Somanike Project from 2014-2017. Mr. Adair holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of Alberta.

Alex Beloborodov stated, “Considering that most of the historical drilling and mining at Marbridge has only ever been shallow work at less than 300 m below surface, the great bulk of the project remains essentially untested. Therefore, we are all keenly interested to see the potential generation of additional nickel sulphide targets.”

The Geophysics program will cover the entire Marbridge trend, the Ataman trend and the Cominco showing as well.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1d36e74e-f67b-4925-ac87-69390606e60e

About Somanike Project
The Somanike Project consists of 148 mining titles (mining rights area) covering 6,882 hectares within a large NW-trending ultramafic complex within the Abitibi Greenstone Belt that hosts several nickel sulphide occurrences, recognized nickel targets, ultramafic trends and geophysical anomalies. The project is located in the prolific and mining-friendly Abitibi region of northwestern Quebec approximately 25 km north of the mining centre at Malartic, 40 km northwest of Val-d’Or, and 60 km east of Rouyn-Noranda.

The Somanike Project includes Quebec’s first nickel mine, the historical Marbridge Mine, which was a high-grade nickel mine operated by Falconbridge Nickel. The Marbridge Mine occurs within a large NW-trending deformed and altered ultramafic complex. The Mine produced 702,366 tonnes grading 2.28% Ni and 0.10% Cu from 1962 to 1968, prior to being placed on care and maintenance in 1968. The Mine consisted of two shafts accessing four separate mineralized zones over a combined strike length of 1000 m. The mineralized material was trucked 25 km south and processed at the Canadian Malartic plant. Since 1968, leading groups have reviewed Marbridge data and reports and unanimously concluded that mining ceased in mineralization and the four nickel sulphide zones remain open to expansion by drilling along strike and down-dip/plunge.

Qualified Person
All the technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Alexandr Beloborodov, P.Geo., geological consultant to the Company, who is a Qualified Person under the definitions established by National Instrument 43‐101.

About Class 1 Nickel
Class 1 Nickel and Technologies Limited (CSE: NICO/OTCQB: NICLF) is a mineral resources company focused on the development of its 100% owned Alexo-Dundonald Property, a portfolio of komatiite-hosted magmatic sulphide Ni-Cu-Co-PGE mineral resources located near the City of Timmins, Ontario. The Company also owns the Somanike komatiite-hosted magmatic sulphide Ni-Cu property in Quebec, which includes the famous Marbridge Nickel Mine, and the 100% owned River Valley PGE Project located about 65 km northeast of Sudbury, Ontario.

For more information, please contact:

David Fitch, President
T: +61 400.631.608
E: dfitch@class1nickel.com

For additional information please visit our website at www.class1nickel.com and our Twitter feed: @Class1Nickel.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as “plan”, “expect”, “project”, “intend”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “estimate” and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, including those risks set out in the Company’s management’s discussion and analysis as filed under the Company’s profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable securities laws.


Figure 1