FPX Nickel Announces Appointment of Senior Vice President, Sustainability & External Relations - Tim Bekhuys, Former Vice President, Environment & Sustainability at SSR Mining
VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 28, 2023 /CNW/ - FPX Nickel Corp. (TSXV: FPX) (OTCQB: FPOCF) ("FPX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Tim Bekhuys as the Company's Senior Vice President, Sustainability & External Relations. Mr. Bekhuys, formerly Vice President of Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability with SSR Mining, has over 40 years of experience in mining, focused on environment, health and safety, sustainability, and external relations, including work on mergers and acquisitions, exploration, project development, operations and closure of mines across five continents. He will lead FPX's Environment, Engagement and Sustainability team, leveraging his extensive experience in community engagement, environmental assessment and permitting activities for the continued advancement of FPX's Baptiste Nickel Project ("Baptiste") in central British Columbia.
"We are very fortunate to welcome an individual with Tim's extensive mining industry background and regional experience to the FPX team," commented Martin Turenne, FPX Nickel's President & CEO. "Tim has deep experience with the British Columbia regulatory framework, in particular working closely with Indigenous right holders and local communities. He has been responsible for negotiating and delivering Impact Benefit Agreements, provincial and federal environment assessments and permitting for open-pit mines in British Columbia, including the Mt. Milligan copper-gold mine and the Blackwater gold mine, both located within 200 km of the Baptiste project. Tim will play an important leadership role for FPX as we work collaboratively with the provincial and federal governments and with Indigenous leadership to advance Baptiste as a modern mining project, focused on the goals of safeguarding the well-being of people, protecting the environment, and preserving Indigenous culture."
Mr. Bekhuys was most recently the Vice President, Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability for SSR Mining, where he led all aspects of SSR's EHSS initiatives, including sustainability reporting, environment assessment and permitting activities. Prior to joining SSR, Mr. Bekhuys was the Director, Environment & Sustainability for New Gold, where he successfully led the government, permitting, aboriginal, and community relations programs for the Blackwater project in central B.C., which has received its main permits and is currently in the construction phase. Earlier in his career, he occupied senior roles providing environmental and community relations advisory services to mining industry clients for AMEC and TetraTech. Mr. Bekhuys is a former member of the boards of directors of the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia ("AME"), the Mining Assocation of British Columbia ("MABC"), and the Mining Association of Canada ("MAC"). He is a biologist and holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Victoria.
FPX has granted 600,000 stock options to Mr. Bekhuys. The stock options have an exercise price of $0.40 per share and will expire on August 28, 2028.
The Company's Decar Nickel District represents a large-scale greenfield discovery of nickel mineralization in the form of a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy called awaruite (Ni3Fe) hosted in an ultramafic/ophiolite complex. FPX's mineral claims cover an area of 245 km2 west of the Middle River and north of Trembleur Lake, in central British Columbia. Awaruite mineralization has been identified in several target areas within the ophiolite complex including the Baptiste Deposit and the Van Target, as confirmed by drilling, petrographic examination, electron probe analyses and outcrop sampling. Since 2010, approximately US $30 million has been spent on the exploration and development of Decar.
Of the four targets in the Decar Nickel District, the Baptiste Deposit has been the focus of increasing resource definition (a total of 99 holes and 33,700 m of drilling completed), as well as environmental and engineering studies to evaluate its potential as a bulk-tonnage open pit mining project. The Baptiste Deposit is located within the Baptiste Creek watershed, on the traditional and unceded territories of Tl'azt'en Nation and Binche Whut'en, and within several Tl'azt'enne and Binche Whut'enne keyohs. FPX has conducted mineral exploration activities to date subject to the conditions of agreements with First Nations and keyoh holders.
FPX Nickel Corp. is focused on the exploration and development of the Decar Nickel District, located in central British Columbia, and other occurrences of the same unique style of naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy mineralization known as awaruite.
On behalf of FPX Nickel Corp.
"Martin Turenne"
Martin Turenne, President, CEO and Director
Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is considered "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These statements address future events and conditions and so involve inherent risks and uncertainties, as disclosed in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Actual results could differ from those currently projected. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE FPX Nickel Corp.
please view the Company's website at www.fpxnickel.com or contact Martin Turenne, President and CEO, at (604) 681-8600 or [email protected]
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