Announcement • Jun 15
First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp. Reports Second Large-Scale Awaruite Discovery At Alloy Max North, Pipestone XL Project
First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp. announced the visual results of the first drill hole at the Alloy Max Zone, the Company’s second large-scale awaruite (Ni3Fe) nickel-cobalt alloy discovery. The Alloy Max Zone is located approximately 7 km north of the discovery at the RPM Zone within the 30 km Pipestone Ophiolite Complex at the Company’s Pipestone XL Nickel-Cobalt Alloy Project in central Newfoundland. The first hole at Alloy Max North, XL-26-15, intersected visibly disseminated awaruite over its entire 414-meter length and ended in mineralization, with visual abundance and grain size increasing down hole toward the east. The visual identification of disseminated awaruite indicates the potential for a second large area of mineralization within the Pipestone XL project in addition to the RPM Zone. Drilling is ongoing at Alloy Max North and South, with additional drill holes underway from additional drill pads. At each location, Company’s geologists identified visible awaruite in exposed bedrock prior to drilling, providing further support for the surface expression of awaruite mineralization across the zone. XL-26-15, the first hole drilled at Alloy Max North, establishes a new mineralized area approximately 5.2 km north of the RPM Zone discovery hole AN-24-02. The visual identification of disseminated awaruite indicates the potential for a second large area of mineralization within the Pipestone XL project in addition to the RPM Zone. Drilled at a 60-degree dip to the east, XL-26-15 intersected visibly disseminated awaruite throughout its 414-meter length and ended in open mineralization, with visual abundance and grain size increasing down hole. XL-26-15 tested approximately 200 meters of width within a zone mapped roughly 1.5 km wide, leaving approximately 1.3 km of untested width to the east, where mineralization visually improves down hole. Alloy Max spans approximately 4 km of strike and is significantly larger than the RPM Zone in both strike length and width (area), defined by geological mapping, geophysics and surface Davis Tube Recovery (“DTR”) sampling. As outlined in the Company’s March 18 and April 8, 2026 news releases, Alloy Max represents a significantly larger target than the RPM Zone. The Company now believes the Alloy Max Zone could measure up to 1.5 km in width and 4 km in strike length. At the RPM Zone, drill-core DTR grades returned significantly higher magnetically recoverable nickel than average surface samples collected from the same area. Further drilling at Alloy Max North will step east into the larger mineralized area, where mineralization improved with depth in XL-26-15. Minimal overburden allowed Company geologists to expose and directly sample bedrock at Alloy Max North and South, where visible awaruite was identified at additional drill pad locations before drilling. XL-26-15 is the first drill hole completed at Alloy Max North and the discovery hole for the Alloy Max Zone, a new large-scale awaruite zone located approximately 5.2 km north of the Company’s RPM Zone discovery hole, AN-24-02. Drilled at a 60-degree dip to the east, XL-26-15 intersected visibly disseminated awaruite over its entire 414-meter length and ended in open mineralization. Visual abundance and grain size increased down hole toward the east, indicating that the system strengthens in that direction and remains open for expansion. The hole tested only a narrow slice of the zone, covering approximately 200 meters of width against a mapped width of roughly 1.5 km and leaving the large majority of the approximately 4 km strike length undrilled. Drilling is now continuing in the Alloy Max Zone across additional drill pads, where minimal overburden has allowed Company geologists to expose and sample bedrock directly and identify visible awaruite prior to drilling, consistent with the surface sampling results reported on March 18, 2026. Much of this ground had seen little historical exploration, with prior operators not testing specifically for awaruite or conducting DTR analysis. Improved road access and drier ground conditions have allowed the Company to access the Alloy Max area where drilling is ongoing. Alloy Max North has the potential to be represent a new, larger area of disseminated awaruite mineralization in addition to the RPM Zone. The Alloy Max Zone was first announced on March 18, 2026, following district-wide surface sampling that integrates field geological mapping, surface rock sampling with DTR analysis, and geophysics. This work outlined a major new area of magnetically recoverable awaruite mineralization up to approximately 7 km north of the RPM Zone. The initial target area measures approximately 4 km in length and 1.5 km in width, with geophysical processing indicating the potential for a mineralized area larger than the RPM Zone. Surface DTR sampling at Alloy Max has returned magnetically recoverable nickel grades comparable to surface values at the RPM Zone, where drill core has consistently returned significantly higher DTR grades than weathered surface samples. This established relationship between surface and drill-core grades forms the basis for the Company’s expectation of higher grades at depth, and was a factor in Alloy Max being selected as a priority drill target for 2026. The Pipestone Ophiolite Complex is a major belt of ultramafic rocks emplaced along a continental-scale fault system. The Company believes Alloy Max is related to this major tectonic event, which would have supplied the large volumes of heat and fluid required to form awaruite. Awaruite forms during serpentinization, when ultramafic rock reacts with water, interpreted here to have been sourced from ocean water, generating the large volumes of molecular hydrogen (H2) needed to reduce nickel to its native metallic alloy state. A regional, crustal-scale fault structure cuts the 30 km Pipestone XL Ophiolite Complex, providing the pathway for fluids to interact with the host rock, generate hydrogen, and reduce nickel to metal across the trend. On May 21, 2026, the Company confirmed awaruite at the RPM Zone through electron microprobe analysis by SGS Canada Inc., which averaged 77.62% nickel and 1.69% cobalt. These results confirm the high-grade, naturally magnetic nickel-iron-cobalt (Ni-Fe-Co) alloy at Pipestone XL, a metallic mineralogy that can be concentrated through magnetic separation and flotation and processed onshore directly into downstream nickel and cobalt products, bypassing conventional smelting, roasting and high-pressure acid leaching.
