[Ferro-Alloys.com] Shortly after releasing a maiden resource for its wholly-owned Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide project near Timmins, Ontario, Canada Nickel (TSXV: CNC) has announced an agreement with Noble Mineral Exploration to acquire one additional property and entered into option agreements on five additional holdings nearby.

“Given our demonstrated success at Crawford, this transaction provides us the larger footprint to fully develop Crawford, along with additional exploration targets, which can potentially host nickel-cobalt deposits that are similar to Crawford,” Mark Selby, Canada Nickel’s chairman and CEO, said in a release.

The company has agreed to pay Noble C$500,000 and issue 500,000 of its shares to acquire the 49-sq.-km Crawford Annex holding with a further option to acquire up to an 80% interest in five additional target areas within a land package covering 706 sq. km.

These individual properties range in size from 9 sq. km to 55 sq. km and one is contiguous with the expanded Crawford grounds.

Under the terms of the option agreement, Canada Nickel can earn up to an 80% interest in each of the five properties, initially through spending at least $500,000 on exploration and development at each over a two-year period and making a payment of $250,000 in cash or shares to Noble for a 60% stake.

The company can then increase its interest in each property to 80% within three years by spending a further $1 million on exploration and development at each option holding.

If Canada Nickel earns a 60% or 80% interest in any of the option grounds, a joint venture would then be formed with a 2% net smelter royalty granted to Noble on the portion of the property containing mining claims.

The 706-sq.-km land parcel is adjacent to Glencore’s Kidd operations, one of the world’s deepest base metals mines.

Source: Canadian Mining Journal Staff

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