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COPY OF FINAL PROSPECTUS - Mirabela Nickel

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defer the development of the Serra Azul project until after the commencement of mining operations at<br />

Santa Rita.<br />

Ferronickel smelters require saprolite ore, a type of nickel laterite. Electric arc furnaces have been used for<br />

ferronickel production from saprolite ore since the 1950s. The production process starts with drying and<br />

reducing the ore in the presence of carbon (coal or oil). It is then added to a furnace at around 1600C. Electric<br />

arcs are run through the melt to reduce metal oxides to metal. The resulting iron-silica slag is skimmed off to<br />

leave ferronickel.<br />

The ferronickel produced by these smelters comprises between 20% and 40% nickel with the balance being<br />

mostly iron. Ferronickel can be added directly to the stainless steel production line without further processing.<br />

As a result, stainless steel producers generally pay 100% of the contained nickel metal value at LME prices,<br />

depending upon ferronickel grade and quality.<br />

The grade of the feed ore varies from 0.8% nickel to 2.6% nickel. Energy is the most significant cost to<br />

ferronickel smelters. High grade nickel ore greatly reduces the cost per pound of nickel produced. There are a<br />

limited number of known high-grade saprolite ore bodies that are available for export.<br />

In order to develop a mining operation that ships saprolite ore directly from the Serra Azul project to<br />

ferronickel smelters, the Company must enter into an off-take agreement with a ferronickel smelter and<br />

following completion of an off-take agreement, arrange mining, trucking and port handling.<br />

São Francisco<br />

São Francisco is an established nickel/copper exploration project. Management believes that the São<br />

Francisco project has the potential for large tonnage, disseminated mineralization.<br />

The São Francisco project area is located approximately 400 kilometres to the north of the Santa Rita<br />

Project site, approximately 15 kilometres from the neighbouring towns of Piranhas and Caninde de São<br />

Francisco, approximately 150 kilometres from the coast and approximately 20 kilometres from the Xingo<br />

hydroelectrical station.<br />

The São Francisco project comprises 50 kilometres of prospective strike length with known nickel sulphide<br />

occurrences from previous drilling. There are over five known nickel sulphide prospects on the São Francisco<br />

project site.<br />

Previous exploration of the São Francisco project was directed towards the discovery of high grade massive<br />

sulphides at depth. While this remains a target, management believes there is an opportunity to leverage the<br />

recent recognition of the economic potential of medium-tonnage, lower grade, disseminated, open-cut nickel<br />

sulphide projects such as Santa Rita and test near the surface mineralization for open-cut potential.<br />

A VTEM airborne geophysical survey was recently flown over the São Francisco project pursuant to the<br />

Evaluation Agreement with Inco Brazil to identify large massive, nickel sulphide deposits containing over<br />

100,000 tonnes of nickel in high grade (+2%) nickel mineralization. The VTEM airborne geophysical survey<br />

identified a number of anomalies. As a result, this survey did not provide clear drilling targets for such<br />

mineralization.<br />

The Company intends to complete an IP ground geophysics survey of São Francisco to confirm the<br />

anomalies identified by the VTEM survey, particularly in the vicinity of drill hole PR 05 that contained six<br />

metres grading 0.62% nickel in disseminated nickel sulphides. Re-interpretation of the existing drill holes and<br />

geophysics suggest that this mineralization might be dipping towards the south-west, not north-east as previously<br />

assumed for drill hole planning.<br />

Ponto Novo<br />

The Ponto Novo nickel sulphide and laterite exploration project is located approximately 220 kilometres<br />

north-west of Salvador and about 30 kilometres from a railway terminal on the Centro Atlantico railway line to<br />

the mineral processing port of Aratu, near Salvador.<br />

40

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