Thread by @equivestinvest

1/x If you are investing in #nickel projects pay attention to sulphide vs laterite.

20 m @ 1% Ni

✅ good intercept for sulphide deposit
🔴 poor intercept for laterite

2/x I am surprised how poorly companies label their projects as laterite.. Run search in NR for "laterite" 🔎

3/x So what is a nickel laterite?

Volcanic rocks with a low grade nickel weather in tropical climate and nickel ore concentrates in the weathering profile.

Intercepts of 7-15% of Ni are common on good projects.

4/x Another item to pay attention to is assays for nickel sulphides deposits. Sometimes best grades are close to surface.

Get suspicious and check if they are coming from laterite interval on top of bedrock.

5/x
Same for auger drilling and soil sampling... You can easily see 1-2% Ni laterite on top of 0.3% Ni rich bedrock (mafic volcanic).

6/x
Why do we need higher grades in laterite projects?

Complex and energy intensive processing.

feeco.com/processing-of-…

7/x High tonnage and high grade nickel laterite projects are profitable.

I personally also think that low grade nickel sulphide deposits i.e. below 0.5% Ni will find strong competition in laterite projects.