REG - URU Metals Limited - Update from ZEB Nickel Corp

URU MetalsAnnouncement

07/02/2023 13:15

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RNS Number : 2008P  URU Metals Limited  07 February 2023

7 February 2023

URU Metals Limited

("URU")

Update from ZEB Nickel Corp

URU announces that ZEB Nickel Corp. has today announced identification of a
higher-grade nickel mineralized zone on its Zeb Project, located in Limpopo,
South Africa (the "Project").

 

URU successfully completed the disposal of the Project to ZEB Nickel Corp. in
August 2021 and the Project remains the primary focus of URU, through its
74.82% interest in Zeb Nickel Corp. and URU's continuing role as the technical
adviser on the Project.

 

The ZBNI announcement is as follows:

 

Higher-grade nickel zone identified at Zebediela

Highlights:

·    An analysis of deeper holes drilled at the Zeb Project has revealed a
higher-grade nickel mineralized zone at the base of the historical nickel
resource estimate.

·    An investigation of a full compilation of all data (drilling, 3D
geological modelling and assays) has revealed that historical drilling stopped
short of testing this higher-grade mineralized zone, meaning that this ore
body is significantly under explored.

·    Further drilling into this zone may result in intersecting higher
nickel grades and lead to an overall increase in grade.

·    Three-dimensional geological modelling and data interpretation now
completed.

Vancouver, BC, February 7, 2023 - ZEB Nickel Corp. (TSX-V: ZBNI) (OTC:ZBNIF)
("Zeb" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has now
completed a full evaluation of the results from both the Phase 1 and Phase 2
drilling campaigns, as reported in News Release March 15, 2022, and related
these results to all available historical information, updated the exploration
model and produced a three-dimensional geological model of the project area.

The Company has identified higher grade zones within the Lower Zone
lithologies that host the historical nickel resource estimate as described in
the Company's NI43-101. Much of the historical drilling stopped short of these
higher-grade zones, and further drilling into these zones could result in an
increase in the grade of the resource estimate hosted in these Lower Zone
lithologies as illustrated in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: A section through the Lower Zone Uitloop II body showing that
majority of the historical drillholes stopped in the Serpentinised Dunite Unit
or at the top of the Serpentinite Unit. Photo A and B shows the increased
sulfide content of 5 - 10% that are disseminated and blebby in nature
associated with the Serpentinised Unit and Poikilitic Harzburgite Unit. The
yellow dashed area represents the potential higher grade nickel mineralization
adjacent to and below the existing historical estimate.

The development of a three-dimensional geological model has allowed the
Company to better focus the next phase of exploration, which will include
infill drilling on the gold targets with the aim of declaring a resource on
the gold mineralization.

The next phase of drilling on the Zebediela project aims to:

•      Allow for the declaration of a current NI43-101 resource
statement on the historical nickel resource hosted within Lower Zone
lithologies;

•      Define more resources in the "indicated resource" category for
the nickel resource hosted in Lower Zone lithologies, and potentially move
some material into the "measured resource" category;

•      Increase the overall grade and tonnage on the historical nickel
resource by targeting the serpentinite and poikilitic harzburgite units, where
higher nickel grades have been intersected by previous drilling;

•      Increase the grade and tonnage within Critical Zone (Target 2)
lithologies, which consists of material proven to be a shallower up-dip
extension of Ivanhoe's 800 m deep Platreef on the adjacent property;

•      Determine the extent of the high-grade mineralized nickel zone
at the base of, and in the footwall to, the Lower Zone lithologies, which is
contact style mineralization and may host semi-massive to massive Ni-PGE
sulfide mineralization; and

•      Conduct infill diamond drilling to test the extent of the gold
discovery, as reported in news releases on September 19(th), 2022 and March
15, 2022;

The infill diamond drilling campaign is designed in a way that will test all
four targets in one drilling program, as described on the Company's website
(https://zebnickel.com/company-presentation
(https://zebnickel.com/company-presentation/) /).

The case for increased nickel grade within the Historical Resource

The historical resource is associated with the ultramafic Lower Zone body,
which hosts the historical estimate. The nickel mineralization starts near
surface and was tested to a depth of ~350 m and has a strike length of 3 km.
The body dips southwestward (30-70°) and is in excess of 350 m thick. There
are approximately 34 drillholes which have intersected this body, however, the
majority of the historical holes are stopped in the middle of the body and did
not test the full nickel mineralization potential of this body.

This body was previously thought to be relatively homogenous in both
lithologies and nickel mineralization. A recent investigation conducted by the
Company's geologists has indicated that this body is not as homogeneous as
previously interpreted. The body can be divided into four broad stratigraphic
units, namely the Dunite Unit, the Serpentinised Dunite Unit, the Serpentinite
Unit and the Poikilitic Harzburgite Unit. These four units have different
abundances of sulfide mineralization and associated nickel sulfide
mineralization. The Serpentinite and Poikilitic Harzburgite Units close to the
base of the body have an increased sulfide content of 5% - 10% that are blebby
and disseminated in nature (Figure 1 A and B). This means that higher nickel
grades are often associated with the lower two sulfide-rich stratigraphic
units.

Based on these broad lithological units found in the body, the true potential
of the nickel mineralization has not yet been tested (Figure 1). The units
that contain the highest nickel grades have only been intersected in a few of
the historical boreholes (e.g., Z015 and U1). The majority of the historical
drillholes were stopped in the middle of the Serpentinised Dunite Unit and did
not test for higher-grade Ni mineralization associated with the lower two
units. Z015 intersected these lower units with 21,50 m @ 0,49% Ni (including
5,50 m @ 0,72% Ni) - see
https://zebnickel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caracle-Creek_Zebediela-Ni-NI43-101-Feb25_2021F-Complete.pdf
(https://zebnickel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caracle-Creek_Zebediela-Ni-NI43-101-Feb25_2021F-Complete.pdf)
. The more recent boreholes that were drilled through the entire Lower Zone
stratigraphy, were drilled close to the sub-crop position of the Lower Zone,
and due to the nature of the geometry of the Lower Zone intrusion, these
boreholes did not intersect a well-developed Serpentinite Unit and Poikilitic
Harzburgite Units as seen in Z015 and U1.

On this basis, the infill drilling program will target the higher-grade
mineralized zones downdip of the sub-crop position of the Lower Zone, rather
than the shallow sub-crop mineralized packages intersected in the historical
drilling.

 

Wayne Isaacs, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Zeb Nickel, commented:
The extensive re-evaluation and remodelling of the geological data following
on the successful Phase 2 drill program has allowed the technical team to
target areas of higher-grade nickel mineralization. The nature of the
mineralized orientation means that we can simultaneously drill for nickel
mineralization within the historical resource as well as the higher grade
nickel mineralization located in the Critical Zone, located beneath the
historical resource.  Based on Zeb's recent drilling, the Critical Zone
contains higher grade nickel-copper and PGE mineralization.  Furthermore,
while we drill for nickel, we will be drilling through and along strike of the
recent gold mineralization discovery, thus simultaneously advancing our
knowledge on the gold mineralization."

 

Share for Debt Settlement

Subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company is settling
certain conference sponsorship and attendance fees in the amount of US$150,000
through the payment of 750,000 common shares, on a "shares for debt" basis.
The shares will be subject to a 4 month hold period under applicable Canadian
securities laws from the date of issue.

About the Company and Project

Zeb Nickel Corp is focused on exploring for and developing world-class mineral
deposits, with a focus on metals that are critical in the production of
rechargeable batteries, such as nickel, graphite, lithium, cobalt, manganese,
copper and aluminum. The Company is currently focused on developing its
flagship Zeb Nickel Project, located in Limpopo, South Africa. The Zeb Nickel
Project is a developing Class 1 nickel sulfide project strategically located
in the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. The Zeb Nickel Project contains an
historical NI 43-101 resource of over 3.9 million tons of contained sulfide
nickel, which would rank it number 8 in the global top ten nickel sulfide
resources as of 2014 (Mudd, G. M., & Jowitt, S. M. (2014). A detailed
assessment of global nickel resource and trends and endowments. Economic
Geology, 109(7), 1813-1841). A qualified person has not done sufficient work
to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral
reserves and the Company is not treating the historical estimate as current
mineral resources or mineral reserves. The historical estimate can be found on
the Company's website at
https://zebnickel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caracle-Creek_Zebediela-Ni-NI43-101-Feb25_2021F-Complete.pdf
(https://zebnickel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caracle-Creek_Zebediela-Ni-NI43-101-Feb25_2021F-Complete.pdf)
.

Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance

Richard Montjoie has supervised the preparation of the scientific and
technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has
approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Montjoie is not independent of the
Company. Mr. Montjoie is a registered member of the South African Council for
Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) membership number 400131/09. Mr.
Montjoie holds a M.Sc. Honors in Economic Geology from the University of
Witwatersrand, South Africa, and is fellow of the Geological Society of South
Africa (GSSA).

The analytical work reported on herein was performed by SGS South Africa
Proprietary Limited, based in Randfontein, South Africa, an internationally
recognized analytical services provider. Samples are analysed for Ni using a
nitric acid leach and sodium peroxide fusion, followed by an ICP-AES finish;
and Au, Pt, Pd by lead fusion followed by an ICP-AES finish; and for Rh using
palladium collection followed by ICP-OES finish.

The Company has not identified drilling, sampling, recovery or other factors
that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the assay data
disclosed.

A full Quality Control and Quality Assurance (QAQC) program was conducted on
all assay results, and all reported assays were deemed to be acceptable. The
program was designed and implemented by Dr. Matthew McCreesh. Dr. McCreesh is
a registered member of the South African Council for Natural Scientific
Professions (SACNASP) membership number 132928. Dr. McCreesh holds a Ph.D. in
Geology from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and is member of
the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA). Data was verified by a process
of duplicate analyses and the use of certified reference materials submitted
to the laboratory.

For further information, please visit http://www.zebnickel.com
(http://www.zebnickel.com)

 

ZBNI announcement ends

 

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law
by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is
disclosed in accordance with URU's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

 URU Metals Limited               +1 416 504 3978

 John Zorbas

 (Chief Executive Officer)

 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP   + 44 (0) 203 470 0470

 (Nominated Adviser and Broker)

 Ewan Leggat

 Harry Davies-Ball

 

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