Canada Nickel Completes Current Phase of Crawford Drilling, Announces Highest Grade Interval to Date

• Best Crawford high-grade interval to date; core length of 64.5 metres of 0.71% nickel from 472.5 metres including 6 metres of 1.04% nickel from East Zone High Grade Core
• Main Zone mineralization successfully drilled to a depth of 1 kilometre
• East Zone mineralization successfully infilled and extended by a further 33% to strike length of 2.8 kilometres
• PGM Zone continues to expand – 1.4 g/t PGM over 11.4 metres core length including 2.5 g/t PGM over 3 metres core length

Canada Nickel Company Inc. ("Canada Nickel" or the "Company") (TSXV: CNC) (OTCQX: CNIKF – https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/canada-nickel-company-inc/ ) announced today it had completed its current phase of drilling at the Company’s flagship Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project and is reporting assay results from 33 drill holes from the Crawford drilling program including additional assay results from the previously announced East Zone High Grade Core discovery. A further 37 holes have been drilled at Crawford with assays pending.

Mark Selby, Chair and Chief Executive Officer said, “We are very excited to reach this key milestone of completing this phase of infill drilling at Crawford to support the feasibility study.  The Crawford drilling program continued to deliver strong results, with this phase yielding the highest-grade interval to date, a 33% increase in strike length of East Zone mineralization to 2.8 kilometres, and further testing of Main Zone at depth to more than one kilometre. With more than 200 holes now completed – more than three times the drilling utilized in the Preliminary Economic Analysis (“PEA”) – we are well-positioned to deliver a resource increase by mid-year to support the feasibility study expected by the end of this year.”

Crawford East Zone

The East Zone was originally defined as two separate zones due to the limited amount of drilling included in the May 2021 PEA. Since then, Canada Nickel has drilled 38 more holes, 12 of which are summarized in this press release. Assays are still outstanding in the remaining 26 holes. The East Zone is now defined as a single continuous ultramafic unit mineralized over its strike length of 2.8 kilometres. It averages 200 metres in thickness and has been drilled to a vertical depth to as much as 730 metres and remains open at depth. The East Zone Higher Grade Core was successfully intercepted in multiple holes designed to better define its extent.  Hole CR21-165A was mineralized across its entire 690 metres length including a 409.5 metre interval of 0.34% nickel (42 metre true width) and 111 metre interval of 0.40% nickel (11.6 metres true width).  Hole CR21-153 was mineralized over entire core length grading 0.30% nickel over 584 metres including 0.45% nickel over 174 metres, 0.71% nickel over 64.5 metres, and 1.04% nickel over 6 metres.  Holes CR21-136, CR21-149, CR21-156 and CR21-165 also successfully intercepted Higher Grade Core.

Crawford Main and West Zone

Drilling within the Main and West Zone consisted of infill drilling to upgrade the resource and expand the resource northwest of the existing Main Zone Resource Estimate.  A total of 39 holes were completed with 21 holes summarized in this release and 18 holes with assays pending.Drilling westward from the Main Zone has extended the mineralization continuously from the existing resource for a distance of 850 metres to the northwest where it remains open along strike and at depth. This mineralization includes a higher-grade zone as intersected in hole CR21-144 (core length of 69.5 metres of 0.43% Ni starting at 152 m). Four hundred metres farther to the north, mineralized ultramafic continues to be found such as CR21-130 which intersected 0.24% nickel over core length of 525 metres starting at 32.8 metres including a higher-grade zone of 0.34% nickel over 33.0 metres starting at 322.5 m. Hole CR22-198 was drilled to a core length of 1.04 kilometres and was continuously mineralized below 39 metres of overburden.

PGM Zone

PGM mineralization continued to be targeted with five additional holes. These results confirm the association of a PGM zone along the boundary of a gravity high structure which has a circumference of approximately 9.7 kilometres and borders the nickel mineralization in the Main and East Zones. Grades and true widths are consistent with previously reported drilling. Higher grade intervals, such as 2.8 g/t PGM over 1.5 metres (true width) in CR21-133 occur in some holes and lower grade intervals, such as 0.9 g/t PGM over 2 metres (true width) in CR21-134A occur in other holes, but the PGM Zone appears to be largely continuous. The PGM Zone will be more intensively targeted with a drill program during 2022.

Corporate Update

The Company also announced today that it has issued stock options and RSUs to executives, employees and directors under its equity incentive plans. A total of 1,040,000 stock options were issued at an exercise price of $3.14 per share vesting over a three-year period and 925,362 RSUs were issued vesting over a one-year period. The options expire five years from the date of grant. 

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.  

Assays, Quality Assurance/Quality Control and Drilling and Assay

Edwin Escarraga, MSc, P.Geo., a "qualified person" as defined by NI 43-101, is responsible for the on-going drilling and sampling program, including quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). The core is collected from the drill in sealed core trays and transported to the core logging facility. The core is marked and sampled at 1.5 metre lengths and cut with a diamond blade saw. A set of Samples are transported in secured bags directly from the Canada Nickel core shack to Actlabs Timmins, the other set of samples are securely shipped to SGS Lakefield. Both are ISO/IEC 17025 accredited labs. Analysis for precious metals (gold, platinum and palladium) are completed by Fire Assay while analysis for nickel, cobalt, sulphur and 17 other elements are performed using a peroxide fusion and ICP-OES analysis. Certified standards and blanks are inserted at a rate of 3 QA/QC samples per 20 core samples making a batch of 60 samples that are submitted for analysis. 

Qualified Person and Data Verification

Stephen J. Balch P.Geo. (ON), VP Exploration of Canada Nickel and a "qualified person" as such term is defined by National Instrument 43-101, has verified the data disclosed in this news release, and has otherwise reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release on behalf of Canada Nickel Company Inc. 

About Canada Nickel Company

Canada Nickel Company Inc. is advancing the next generation of nickel-sulphide projects to deliver nickel required to feed the high growth electric vehicle and stainless steel markets. Canada Nickel Company has applied in multiple jurisdictions to trademark the terms NetZero Nickel^TM, NetZero Cobalt^TM, NetZero Iron^TM and is pursuing the development of processes to allow the production of net zero carbon nickel, cobalt, and iron products. Canada Nickel provides investors with leverage to nickel in low political risk jurisdictions. Canada Nickel is currently anchored by its 100% owned flagship Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide Project in the heart of the prolific Timmins-Cochrane mining camp. For more information, please visit www.canadanickel.com.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain information that may constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation.  Forward looking information includes, but is not limited to, drill results relating to the Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project, the potential of the Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project, timing of economic studies and mineral resource estimates, the ability to sell marketable materials, strategic plans, including future exploration and development results, and corporate and technical objectives.  Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.  Factors that could affect the outcome include, among  others:  future prices and the supply of metals, the future demand for metals, the results of drilling, inability to raise  the money necessary to incur the expenditures required to retain and advance the property, environmental liabilities  (known  and  unknown), general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, results of  exploration programs, risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, failure to obtain  regulatory or shareholder approvals, and the impact of COVID-19 related disruptions in relation to the Company’s  business operations including upon its employees, suppliers, facilities and other stakeholders.  There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information.  Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.  All forward-looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof.  Canada Nickel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.