North American Nickel Announces Assay Results From Exploration on its Woods Creek Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-PGM Property, Sudbury Area

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - June 22, 2011) - North American Nickel Inc. (TSX VENTURE:NAN)(OTCBB:WSCRF)(CUSIP:65704T 108) is pleased to announce assay results from exploration on its Woods Creek property.

High-grade assay results from trenches and outcrop at Woods Creek include:

3.03% copper, 1.32% nickel, 0.10% cobalt, >10 g/t silver and 585 ppb gold + platinum + palladium from the first phase of prospecting on the property. For the full set of results, see table 1 below.

Recent work by North American Nickel field crews included prospecting with a Beep Mat, a shallow-looking electromagnetic and magnetic geophysical instrument, mechanical excavator stripping and sampling and assaying of mineralized rock. To date, near-solid to disseminated pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite mineralization has been uncovered and sampled. Assay results are summarized in table 1 and document the widespread presence of near ore-grade mineralization, in subcrop, outcrop and in historic drill core.

North American Nickel President and C.O.O., Dr. Mark Fedikow, states: "The tenor of base and precious metal contents in these near-surface subcrop and outcrop samples is very encouraging and confirms the potential of this NAN property for base and precious metal mineralization similar to that at Ursa Major's Shakespeare deposit. We will continue our basic prospecting approach with the aim of covering the remainder of the Woods Creek property using Beep Mat surveys prior to moving forward with deeper-looking geophysical tools and a planned drill program."

Historical Overview

Previous operators defined a number of mineralized zones on the Woods Creek property, but little follow-up exploration was undertaken. The Main Zone prospect discovered by Namex Explorations is a zone of 10-40% pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite mineralization exposed in surface outcrop that assayed 1.22% copper, 0.95% nickel, 354 ppb combined platinum and palladium and 136 ppb gold. Diamond drilling on this zone intersected a 6.5 m section of gabbro with pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite that assayed up to 1.09% nickel, 0.37% copper, 301 ppb combined platinum and palladium and 1110 ppm cobalt (0.11%). The Ravens Cliff prospect was also discovered by Namex Explorations Inc. in 2005 as a result of geological mapping and prospecting. It comprises near solid pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite in brecciated gabbro with assays of up to 0.66% nickel, 0.90% copper, 0.09% cobalt, 68 ppb platinum, 227 ppb palladium and 46 ppb gold in representative grab samples. To view the Woods Creek property page on our website, please click here: http://northamericannickel.com/Projects/Projects-Overview/Sudbury-Projects/Woods-Creek/default.aspx.

Table 1 Summary of assay results from stripped bedrock and outcrop rock chip samples, Woods Creek property.

The Woods Creek property is located in Hyman Township about 50 km west of Sudbury and consists of eight contiguous unpatented mining claims covering 1,264 hectares. North American Nickel is exploring the property for disseminated to near-solid sulphide nickel-copper-cobalt-PGM mineralization hosted within Nipissing Diabase dykes that underlay 50% of the area of the property. This style of mineralization is currently being mined by Ursa Major Minerals at their Shakespeare deposit located 15 km southwest of the Woods Creek property.

Sample Preparation and Assay

Rock Preparation "PRP89" (SGS Mineral Services-Rock Preparation Facility in Garson): Dry <3 kg, crush to 75% passing 2 mm, split to 250 g and pulverize to 85% passing 75 micron.

Analysis:

1. ICM-40B:49 elements by four-acid digest with ICP-AES and ICP–MS finish; over-range results for Cu (ICP90Q), Pb, Zn, Ni and Co by fire assay.

2. Fire Assay FAI313/FAG303: Au, Pt and Pd

Qualified Person

All technical information in this release has been reviewed by Dr. Mark Fedikow, P.Geo, who is the Qualified Person for the Company and President and Chief Operating Officer, North American Nickel Inc.

About North American Nickel

North American Nickel is a mineral exploration company with properties in the Sudbury, Ontario and Thompson, Manitoba mining camps. The Company's initial focus is on two Sudbury, Ontario properties. The Post Creek property is strategically located adjacent to the producing Podolsky copper-nickel-platinum group metal deposit of Quadra FNX Mining. The property lies along the extension of the Whistle Offset dyke structure, which is a major geological control for Ni-Cu-PGM mineralization. The Bell Lake property is a 256-acre property that covers approximately one kilometre of the Mystery Offset dyke or MOD. The MOD is interpreted to be an extension of the Worthington Offset dyke which is a 10 to 11 kilometre-long mineralized structure that extends from the southwest margin of the Sudbury igneous complex. The Company also has option to acquire 100% ownership in the Woods Creek and Halcyon properties in the Sudbury area; and has acquired 100% ownership in the high-grade Ni-Cu-PGE South Bay property near Thompson, Manitoba and the large grassroots Thompson North and Cedar Lake properties, which are part of the world-class Thompson Nickel Belt in Manitoba. North American Nickel Inc. is a member of the North Shore Mining Group.

Statements about the Company's future expectations and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and as that term defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbours created thereby. Since these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company's actual results may differ materially from the expected results.