The SIC was formed as the result of a meteorite impact which struck the boundary of the plutons and gneisses of the Superior Province and meta-sediments and volcanics of the Southern Province 1.85 billion years ago. It is the second largest known meteorite impact structure on earth, underlying an area of approximately 1,540km². The SIC is geographically divided into three main areas, the north, south and east ranges. The mineral deposits on the Denison property occur at the basal contact or in the footwall of the SIC’s south range.

Most of the ore previously mined at Denison and several zones of the current Mineral Resource on the Denison property consist of Ni-Cu-PGM contact mineralisation hosted along the basal contact of the SIC, however several zones of the current Mineral Resource include Cu-PGM-rich mineralisation largely hosted in the Huronian metasediment and metavolcanic sequence in the immediate footwall to the SIC. The contact of the SIC with the host sequence is near vertical in the Denison area and is locally overturned.

The 109FW and 9400 zones are two examples of mineralised zone which host the PGM-rich footwall style mineralisation. The Cu-PGM mineralisation referred to as the 109FW zone was delineated after the mine closed in 2002. The zone is located along two intersecting linear structures close to this contact and plunges approximately 70º to the east-northeast. The mineralisation has been continually traced by drilling from its surface outcrop to a depth of 400m below surface.

The approximately ‘V-shaped’ orebody comprises two linear zones of approximately 80m and 150m in length, which vary between approximately 3m and 30m in thickness. The Mineral Resource is at its widest point where the zones intersect.

The 9400 Zone was discovered prior to the mine closure and is interpreted as westwards extension of the Crean Hill west orebody, however, subsequent exploration drilling significantly added to the resource. The zone is near vertical in disposition and trends obliquely to the SIC contact. The mineralisation plunges approximately 75º to the east-southeast and has been continually traced from near surface to a depth of 760m below surface. The orebody is tabular, thin at the eastern margin and thickens and branches into two to three limbs at the western margin with a strike length of around 200m on average. The thickness varies from 3m to 39m, with the widest point where the branches intersect. The 9400 transition from Ni-Cu-PGM contact mineralisation in the east to low sulphide PGM-rich footwall mineralisation at the western extents.

Parts of several zones of the 2020 Minerals Resource, including the 101, 109FW, 9400, and Remnant zones, are considered amenable to extraction by either opencast mining to a depth of up to 150m, or longhole open stoping mining or a combination of both.

In May of 2020 Loncan commissioned SRK to complete a PEA based upon the block model developed by WSP and to provide a report that aligns with the requirements of CIM NI 43-101. The PEA includes both opencast and underground components and the technical reports’ effective date is December 2020.

The outcome of the PEA, which considered opencast mining, a combination of opencast and underground mining, and solely underground mining, demonstrated that there are reasonable prospects for economic extraction, under reasonable costs and price assumptions, of portions of several zones of the 2020 Mineral Resource including the 101, 109FW, 9400, and Remnant zones.