Exploration news (April 01, 2007)

New nickel discovery at Morgan-Lumsden

Toronto-based First Nickel has drilled into what may be a significant new discovery on its Morgan-Lumsden property, 12 km east of Xstrata Nickel’s Strathcona mill. This is a greenfield exploration project on the North Range of the Sudbury Basin in Ontario. First Nickel has an option from Xstrata to earn a 50% interest.

Hole M-059 was drilled to a depth of 1,400 m to test two off-hole geophysical conductors identified by a borehole UTEM 3 geophysical survey late in 2006. M-059 intersected a broad zone of disseminated, blebby and veined sulphide mineralization that assayed 0.71% Ni over 38.80 m, including two separate zones of 5.60 m at 1.03% Ni and 2.85 m at 1.45% Ni.

The drill hole intersected a thickening sequence of sublayer norite and mineralized late granite breccia that continues to support the interpretation of a new embayment feature developing along the basal contact of the Sudbury Igneous Complex into the footwall lithologies. When combined with the broad intercept of nickel-copper sulphide mineralization and the strong off-hole anomalies, the exploration results all indicate the potential of a new, significant, contact-style mineralized system to be located on the Morgan-Lumsden property.

The reason behind the high level of interest in nickel these days can be found in the metal markets. The price of a pound of nickel has reached an all-time high, topping US$22 on March 16. That figure represents a six-fold gain in only five years and a 37% jump since the first of this year. The soaring price is a combination of low stockpiles, high stainless steel demand and the booming economies in China and India.

Base metal price charts are available free of charge at www.KitcoMetals.com and www.LME.co.uk. A subscription service offering in-depth analysis tools and news is available at www.BaseMetals.com.