Power Nickel, a Canadian metal exploration company, has announced a partnership with Australian-based Fleet Aerospace, a developer of nanosatellite communications technologies for exploration of Nickel ore deposits at its NISK project. The company, which specializes in exploration of high-potential nickel, copper, gold and other battery metal prospects in Canada and Chile, will use innovative sound mapping technology from Fleet Aerospace to locate additional high-grade nickel sulfide deposits with a greater level of accuracy.
Called the “Exosphere rapid mineral exploration solution”, Fleet Aerospace’s sound mapping technology has already delivered promising results in exploration projects for high-grade nickel in Michigan and Minnesota. The satellite-enabled earth scanning technique is called Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT). Battery powered devices known as ‘Geodes’ which can be transported by hand are used to capture faint background vibrations from natural and man-made sources and tune out irrelevant ambient noise. Fleet’s Geodes are up to 10x more sensitive than existing nodal geophones, leading to better accuracy and depth of results. The data can be used to develop a full 3D visualization of the subsurface down to 2 km depth. The exploration team can get a clear, rich image of what resources may be below ground in a period that can be as short as four days. These can be easily shared and viewed from anywhere in the world in near real-time. The data thus obtained is processed rapidly and transmitted from anywhere in the world through Fleet’s constellation of low earth orbit satellites, which were recently launched by Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX.
Generally, nickel sulfide deposits are located in the form of pods and it is expected that the nickel ore deposits at NISK are also in the form of such pods. Through the use of Fleet Aerospace’s earth scanning technology, Power Nickel is hoping to optimize its chances of finding additional deposits and increase its drilling accuracy as part of a well-developed drilling program. Another benefit that the use of the technology offers is that due to its higher level of accuracy in detecting nickel ore deposits, it can decrease land disturbance in the exploration stage.
According to Power Nickel, the company’s flagship NISK project has high-grade nickel sulfide deposits that can soon make the mine one of the most low-cost and environmentally-friendly sources of high-grade nickel in the world. This is due to a number of factors like the mine’s proximity to a hydropower facility, established infrastructure and shallow mineral depth. Indonesia’s recent ban on export of nickel is likely to have a major impact on the supply chain for critical products like electric vehicles and rocket engines. This points to the urgent need for countries like Canada and the US to become self-reliant with regard to nickel supplies in light of the growing demand for vehicles running on clean energy.
Commenting on the partnership, Terry Lynch, the CEO of Power Nickel said, “Fleet Aerospace has already successfully used this technology in Western Australia and now in Minnesota. By using this advanced seismic tomography approach in combination with our in house methods, we hope to increase our chances of finding more nickel ore pods at a faster rate. The two main advantages this technology offers is that we can now explore our 45-square kilometer land package in a fraction of the time we need using traditional ground-based methods. The second advantage is that with this data we can drill less meters, but with increased impact. Use of this technology aligns well with our goal of making nickel mining cleaner, faster and more environment friendly right from the exploration phase.”
About Power Nickel
Power Nickel is a Canadian exploration company focusing on high-potential copper, gold, and battery metal prospects in Canada and Chile. The company’s flagship NISK property comprises a large land position (20 kilometers of strike length) with numerous high - grade nickel sulfide ore deposits. Power Nickel is now focused on commercialization of this mine with a series of drill programs designed to test the initial NISK discovery zone and to explore the land package for adjacent potential Nickel deposits.
Media Contact
Name: Terry Lynch
Email: terry@powernickel.com
Website: www.powernickel.com
Published by: Omar Hamdi