Fort St. James hires SGS for Kilometer 26 testing

2011-12-05 12:48 ET - News Release


Mr. Sandy MacDougall reports

FORT ST. JAMES NICKEL CORP. ENGAGES SGS LABORATORIES FOR METALLURGICAL TESTING

Fort St. James Nickel Corp. has engaged SGS Laboratories of Burnaby, B.C., to initiate metallurgical testing on samples collected from the Kilometer 26 project in 2011. SGS Laboratories, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is one of the largest full-service metallurgical and testing organizations in the world with approximately 67,000 employees worldwide. SGS has been retained due to its expertise in designing processes for the recovery of nickel alloy and sulphide from ultramafic rock. Fort St. James Nickel will use this research to develop a testing strategy for the Kilometer 26 project and, if the exploration phase is successful an operational extraction routine that could form part of a commercial process. Magnetic separation techniques will be integral to the current work. Results announced earlier in the year on the Decar project, located 30 kilometres to the west of the Kilometer 26 project, and being explored by Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and First Point Minerals Corp., indicate that similar rocks can yield a concentrate by crushing to 600 microns (roughly 35 mesh) and using only magnetic separation techniques. The resulting concentrate (upgraded by a factor of approximately 20:1) grades approximately 2.6 per cent nickel, 2.2 per cent chrome and 55 per cent iron, and would be suitable as a direct feed supply into a steel mill producing a stainless steel product. Payable metals in the concentrate include nickel, iron and chrome.

The company has started its fall drill program that is expected to complete a total of 12 drill holes totalling approximately 2,000 metres. Drill targets were established following the completion of approximately 65 line kilometres of ground-based geophysical surveys (particularly magnetic and induced polarization).

Due to the relatively low elevation of the Kilometre 26 property and its excellent access, exploration programs can be carried out year-round. Kilometre 26 is accessed by an all-season arterial logging road.

The Kilometer 26 project encompasses 9,819 hectares (24,263 acres), located in the Omineca mining division of British Colombia. It is centred on a strong magnetic anomaly indicated on the Quest West helicopter-borne magnetic and electromagnetic survey flown for the British Columbia government (Geoscience B.C.) and published January, 2009. The magnetic anomaly is circular in feature and is more than five kilometres in diameter, suggesting a large ultramafic body. Geological reconnaissance and prospecting over the last two summers have discovered an area of nickel mineralized serpentinite over an area of five kilometres by three kilometres (outcrop, subcrop and rubble) within this feature. The setting and nature of the nickel mineralization are believed to be similar to what occurs at the Decar project (Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.), located 30 kilometres to the west. The property is easily accessible by a major industrial road and logging roads, is bisected by a power line that forms part of the British Columbia power grid, and is adjacent to a branch line of the Canadian National Railway.

Further detail with respect to recent exploration work conducted on the property is available in the company's website.   www.fortstjamesnickel.com

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