VANCOUVER, BC, May 2, 2023 – Nicola Mining Inc. (the “Company” or “Nicola”) is pleased to announce that it has finalized its 2023 diamond drilling exploration planning (the “2023 Program”) at its wholly-owned New Craigmont Copper Project (“New Craigmont”), located near Merritt, BC, and 33 km south of Teck Resources Ltd.’s Highland Valley Copper, Canada’s largest open pit copper mine.

Drilling is expected to commence mid-May and the Company has engaged Western Exploration Diamond Drilling (Western), for the 2023 program. Western, who is a local drilling company, has successfully completed all diamond drilling at New Craigmont since 2016.

Nicola has hired William Whitty, P.Geo as VP of Exploration who has a strong background in production and exploration geology from Nevada Gold Mines and Freeport McMoran. Will holds over 15 years of international experience specializing in porphyry and skarn deposits and will be an asset for the company’s growth strategy.

Nicola is currently working with the University of British Columbia as part of a province wide porphyry vectoring study. Continuing sampling and analytical work are expected to provide additional exploration targets on the New Craigmont property.

The 2023 Program is expected to be pivotal in the Company’s copper exploration initiatives. Nicola received a MYAB Permit to conduct exploration activities through to 2027 including diamond drilling and Induce Polarity (IP) geophysical survey. Although New Craigmont is one of the highest grade copper mines in North American history, with an average grade of 1.3% Copper, it remains largely unexplored beyond the boundaries of the historic pit. The lack of exploration can be attributed to low copper prices in the 1980s and a previous ownership group, comprised of several holders, that focused on magnetite production. It was not until November 19, 2015, that Nicola was able to consolidate ownership of New Craigmont into one contiguous claim group.


THE 2023 PROGRAM WILL FOCUS ON NEVER-BEFORE-DRILLED COPPER TARGETS

Target 1

Note that Targets 1 and 2 are listed in terms of timing and not priority.

The first four to five drill holes will focus on the untested extensions of the near vertical Craigmont skarn body hosted within Nicola Volcanic and Sedimentary rocks. The target was identified through the integration of historical drill data digitization and 3D modeling paired with interpretations from the 2022 ZTEM Geophysical Survey (See Figure 1.) Target 1 is located east of the historic pit and is the 1st step out program testing the mineralization extension towards the Eric Zone. Eric Zone copper mineralization is hosted within the Diorite border phase of the Guichon Batholith situated along a linear East-West ZTEM anomaly (see Figure 1). This linear trend represents the major contact between Nicola Volcanic Sedimentary rocks and the Guichon Batholith, (See Figure 2) making this an excellent target for copper mineralization.


THE FIRST FOUR HOLES HAVE BEEN STAKED WITH DRILLING EXPECTED TO COMMENCE IN MID-MAY

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https://nicolamining.com/nicola-mining-prepares-for-2023-drilling-exploration-at-new-craigmont-copper-project/