Nov 24 2016
Horizonte Minerals Plc, (AIM:HZM)(TSX:HZM) ('Horizonte' or 'the Company') the nickel development company focused in Brazil, is pleased to announce the award of three new mineral exploration concession areas, which increases Horizonte's land position to a total of 132,278 hectares. The new areas are adjacent to the Company's recently acquired Glencore Araguaia Project ('GAP') forming part of Horizonte's 100% owned Araguaia nickel project ('Araguaia') which is being developed as the next major nickel project in Brazil.
Highlights
- Three new concessions, totalling 5,996 hectares, are located in prospective, strategic positions south of the Glencore Araguaia project 'GAP'
- Initial exploration work indicates the areas contain ultramafic intrusion of a similar type and structural setting to those hosting the high grade resource at the Vale dos Sonhos deposit
Horizonte CEO Jeremy Martin said, "This is another positive development for the Company as we continue to expand our land position around the Araguaia Nickel project and further consolidate prospective targets in the district. We have been granted more than 20,000 hectares in new exploration concession areas throughout 2016, which is in line with our strategy to consolidate the Araguaia nickel belt. These new areas represent an attractive opportunity to potentially increase our nickel resources in the medium term adding further value to Araguaia. We will be undertaking a regional exploration programme to evaluate and advance these new areas as appropriate.
"The current focus is on collection of base line environmental and social data for the Vale dos Sonhos deposit and development of environmental control plans to prepare Araguaia for the construction phase. We are pleased with the positive results from the PFS released earlier this month, demonstrating that Araguaia is cash flow positive at today's nickel prices, which puts the project within a limited group of global assets that are considered viable in the current low price nickel environment. As we develop Araguaia towards the definitive Feasibility Study we believe the project milestones are well aligned with the nickel market to generate maximum value for our shareholders."
Further Details
The geology of the new concession areas is an extension of the geology that hosts the GAP deposits which were acquired by Horizonte in late 2015. The three new northern concessions, have been granted for three years and total 5,996 hectares. The geology of the area is characterised by the presence of the mafic-ultramafic igneous unit that host nickel laterite mineralisation. Of particular interest is a prospective ultramafic intrusion of a similar type to those hosting the Vale dos Sonhos deposits with an area in excess of 2km x 1km located in the most southern of the three new licences.
With the award of these three new concession areas Horizonte now has a total of 24 active concessions, totalling 132,278 hectares in the Araguaia Nickel Belt. These comprise twelve concessions in the original Horizonte Araguaia Nickel Project plus twelve concessions in the area of the Glencore Araguaia Project including the concessions containing the Vale dos Sonhos, Serra do Tapa and Pau Preto deposits.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.