COPY OF FINAL PROSPECTUS - Mirabela Nickel

• a throughput of four million tonnes per annum has been determined to be
optimal for the proposed mill;
• tests indicate that from a nickel feed grade of approximately 0.62%, a nickel
concentrate grade of 13.5% can be achieved using a conventional flotation
processing system, at a recovery of between 66% and 68%;
• assuming a throughput of four million tonnes per annum, a nickel feed grade
of 0.62% and a recovery of 67%, management believes that the Santa Rita
Project will be capable of producing an average of approximately 16,000 tonnes
of nickel in concentrate per annum using a conventional flotation processing
system;
• a pit optimization study estimates the following resource and strip ratio within
open pit limits:
Strip Ratio
t waste/t potential
Classification Mt Ni (%) mill feed
Indicated .............................. 49.5 0.61 5.9
Inferred ............................... 6.2 0.55 5.9
• assuming a throughput of four million tonnes per annum, the pit optimization
study also estimates that the Santa Rita resource has the potential for a mine
life in excess of ten years;
• capital costs (including processing plant, infrastructure, port facilities,
environmental commissioning, first fills and spare parts), estimated to an
accuracy of 30% and after providing for a 10% contingency, are expected to
be approximately US$223 million;
• processing costs are estimated to be US$6.77 per tonne of ore and mining costs
(including a capital expenditure of US$64 million on mining fleet) are
estimated to be approximately US$1.10 per tonne of material mined;
• Mirabela has concluded agreements to purchase a total of approximately
1,756 hectares comprising all of the land that management believes will be
required for the Santa Rita Project;
• Mirabela has been issued a Licença de Localização, a preliminary
environmental licence, representing approval of the Santa Rita Project by the
local communities and conditional approval by the State Environmental Board
of Bahia, Brazil; and
• subject to a positive outcome of the BFS, management believes that it is on
schedule to obtain all requisite permits and approvals to commence
construction by late 2007, and commence production in early 2009.
The pit optimization study referred to above from which the economic analysis of
the Santa Rita Project was derived is preliminary in nature and includes inferred
mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the
economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized
as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the results described in the
study will be realized.
Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated
economic viability.
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