Toledo - Cashflow from the world's 3rd largest Nickel Resource

Another big project 'New Caledonia)

At the moment, the coveted nickel mine site here known as Koniambo, which is 49 per cent owned by Falconbridge, is just a 20-kilometre long and seven-kilometre wide stretch of wilderness along a mountainous plateau with grass as high as your waist and trees everywhere. It's just a jungle out there.

But there's a whole lot of nickel buried in this field of mining dreams. Koniambo is one of the largest and highest-grade nickel laterite deposits in the world with about 150 million tonnes of resources at a grade of 2.57 per cent.

By comparison, the average nickel grade in Sudbury is 1.3 to 1.8 per cent.

Given Koniambo's size and its potential mine life, it's considered a higher-grade Sudbury in the South Pacific. "

Falconbridge's big gamble
Dec. 27, 2005. 08:55 AM
LISA WRIGHT
BUSINESS REPORTER