SPC Nickel (TSX–V:SPC) is planning ahead with a clear exploration strategy for 2026, including drill planning for its Muskox and Lockerby East projects in Canada.
Speaking to Mining.com.au, CEO Grant Mourre says geophysical results will be conducted and drill targets will be established at Muskox, following receiving sampling and mapping results from the 2025 field program.
Earlier this week, SPC Nickel received assay results from the program which position Muskox as a “leading exploration opportunity”.
As previously reported, the results confirm widespread copper, nickel, and platinum group metal mineralisation occurring across multiple geological environments within the 125km-long Muskox intrusion.
Mourre notes that the investors should expect updates and assays from the ongoing drilling program at Lockerby East.
In October 2025, a 1,000m diamond drilling began at Lockerby East, evaluating the potential for a new nickel-copper-platinum group metals discovery. The program, which represents the first modern drill testing of the deeper portions of the Lockerby East mineralised system, is designed to test a series of high-conductivity electromagnetic anomalies.
2025 a ‘transformative year’
Mourre adds that 2025 was a “transformative year” for SPC Nickel.
SPC says work completed between July and September 2025 has significantly advanced the geological understanding of this large, underexplored magmatic system and is an important step toward defining drill-ready targets.
Muskox is comparable in scale to Ontario’s Sudbury Basin, with about 200km2 of the prospective contact, not including the Feeder Dyke, having been modelled down to a vertical depth of 1.25km.
SPC’s Lockerby East Project is an advanced-stage exploration property located in Ontario.
The West Graham deposit, part of the Lockerby East property, has demonstrated large tonnage open pit potential, hosting an indicated resource of 19.3 million tonnes @ 0.42% nickel and 0.28% copper and an inferred resource of 3.3 million tonnes @ 0.37% nickel and 0.28% copper.
The LKE deposit currently has an underground indicated resource of 665,000 tonnes @ 1.17% nickel and 0.54% copper and inferred resource of 124,000 tonnes @ 0.99% nickel and 0.42% copper.
Copper demand is forecast to grow on average by 2.6% a year from 28 million tonnes in 2025 to more than 29Mt in 2027. Most medium-term demand growth is poised to be driven by rising supply of (and demand for) electricity via electrical infrastructure and low emission technology.
Copper will be vital for the power infrastructure that data centres (and AI) will rely on. Demand is set to grow as new AI data centres are developed – the average data centre supporting AI requires 27-33 tonnes of the metal per megawatt of power.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global electricity generation to supply data centres will grow from 460 TWh in 2024 to over 1000 TWh by 2030 – with 426 TWh of this in the US.
Global nickel demand is forecast to rise steadily over the next few years, led by accelerating uptake of nickel battery EVs.
Stainless-steel is poised to remain the primary end-use for nickel but as the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) September 2025 Resources and Energy Quarterly shows, faces ongoing challenges from risks of slowing global industrial production and increasing use of scrap.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: SPC Nickel
