Jaguar ready to move Sechol project to pre-feasibility

A resource estimate at the El Inicio deposit of Jaguar Nickel's (TSX: JNI) Sechol nickel-cobalt project in Guatemala has demonstrated sufficient indicated mineral resources to move the property to a pre-feasibility study, the company said in a statement. Most of the tonnage included in the resource estimate is saprolite, which would easily lend itself to a ferronickel project, the Toronto-based company said. As the estimate only calculated indicated resources at the El Inicio deposit, Jaguar Nickel believes the entire project's indicated resources could be increased by upgrading the resource category of the nearby Río Negro and El Segundo deposits and including them in the total. At a cutoff of 1.6% nickel, an indicated resource of 10.1Mt grading 1.9% nickel and 0.03% cobalt is calculated for El Inicio, as well as a number of other minerals including 22.3% magnesium oxide. At a cutoff of 1% nickel, the indicated resource is 22.1Mt grading 1.6% nickel and 0.03% cobalt. At a similar cutoff, the El Segundo and Río Negro deposits are calculated to hold a combined inferred resource of 13.1Mt grading 1.65% nickel and 0.04% cobalt. The mineral resource estimate was carried out by Vancouver-based Snowden Mining Industry consultants and is based on the results of 635 diamond core holes, the statement said.