NIM: Five Year Mine Life Extension at New Craigmont
What you need to know:
• Nicola received six five-year mining lease extensions for its ~10,800ha New Craigmont Property. This significantly de-risks the project if exploration is successful in discovering a copper porphyry system.
• New Craigmont is a key asset for NIM, combining historic high-grade copper production and ongoing copper porphyry exploration.
• August gold concentrate shipments generated US$2.3M in sales, while the accelerated warrant exercise added ~$800K in proceeds.
This morning, Nicola Mining Corp. (NIM:TSXV, HUSIF:OTC) announced that it received six five-year mining lease extensions from the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals, covering its wholly-owned New Craigmont property, which sits adjacent to Teck Resources’ Highland Valley Copper mine. We view the lease extensions as an important step in de-risking the pathway from exploration to potential development at New Craigmont. In addition, the Company recently announced it began shipping gold concentrate under its agreement with Talisker Resources (TSK:TSX), generating US$2.3M in August sales, and completed the accelerated exercise of warrants, raising ~$800K in proceeds. We are maintaining our BUY rating and increasing our target price to $1.50/share (previously $1.10/share) on Nicola Mining.
Nicola highlighted that the lease extensions strengthen its 10,800ha New Craigmont project, which is home to Canada’s highest-grade historic copper mine. This year, the Company has advanced exploration toward a potential porphyry system, launching a 4,000-5,000m drill campaign at the property in June (click here for our note on this), and will continue working on environmental, consultation, and permitting efforts to support future development.
Shipping of Gold Concentrate
On September 8th, NIM announced that it has begun shipping gold concentrate under a mining, milling, and smelting agreement with Talisker (Figures 1 & 2). In August alone, this partnership sold 707 ounces of gold, amounting to ~US$2.3M in proceeds. Production benefited from extensive upgrades, including automation to improve floatation recovery and the installation of a large concentrator to optimize free gold recovery from Talisker and Nicola’s Dominion Gold Project.
Accelerated Warrant Exercise
Nicola has completed the accelerated exercise of all outstanding share purchase warrants from its February 2025 financings, generating $807,791 in gross proceeds through the issuance of 2,019,047 common shares at $0.40 each. The acceleration was triggered in July and gave holders 30 days to act before expiry in August.