Santa Rita – Long Sections & Gallery

In July 2007, Mirabela announced the completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study for the Santa Rita nickel sulphide project for a 4mtpa open pit mine and sulphide concentrator.

The Company is already progressing with the first phase of project implementation, including ordering of long lead time items, and detailed project planning and engineering.

Capital costs for development of the project are expected to be US$263 million. The Santa Rita project is already equity funded with US$160 million cash allocated towards construction. Funding the balance of the Project requirements by debt appears to be straight-forward with strong initial expressions of interest from potential banking syndicates.

Initially, it is planned to construct a 4mtpa open pit mine and a conventional sulphide concentrator to produce 16,000 tonnes of nickel (35 million lbs) in sulphide concentrate grading between 13 and 14% Ni. However, planning for an increase in throughput to 4.6 million tpa to produce 18,500 tpa (41 million lb) of nickel in concentrate is already underway for a capital cost of about US$10 million.

The environmental approval process is well advanced and expected to be completed in September 2007, enabling site works to commence in October 2007. Commissioning of the Project remains on target for 2Q 2009.

A project development team is already appointed, with extensive experience in the development of nickel sulphide projects and the construction of sulphide flotation plants in Brazil.

Significant long lead time items that are already ordered include the SAG mill, ball mill and primary jaw crusher. The Company remains focused on maximizing the project’s value by growing the resource base and pursuing all possible options for downstream processing.

Exploration is targeting extensions to the Santa Rita resource in the deeper parts of the Central, Southern and Northern zones.

In addition, the Company is working on identifying additional mill feed from other near sources such as the Peri Peri project, two kilometres to the north-east of the Santa Rita Project (and within the Santa Rita Project area) and at the Palestina project, 25 kilometres to the south of the Santa Rita Project.

Mineralization at Peri Peri appears to have a strike length of about 250m. Further work is underway to assess the potential resource at Peri Peri and its potential for an open pit mine to feed the Santa Rita mill.

The company believes that it is possible the Santa Rita project could support a smelter operation. As a result, a scoping study is underway for an on-site smelter at Santa Rita to produce a nickel matte of 50%-60% nickel, as opposed to a 13% concentrate. This concept would deliver significant benefits from reduced transport costs and allow optimization between the mine, concentrator and smelter operations.

Further information on the Company’s bankable feasibility study can be found in the Company’s announcement " Positive Bankable Feasibility Study for Santa Rita ". An updated 43.101 report will be available shortly.

Mirabela has recently announced a new mineral resource for the Santa Rita nickel sulphide deposit as follows:

Santa Rita Mineral Resource Estimate, June 2007 estimate
Category	Million Tonnes	Ni	Cu	Million lbs Ni
Measured	9.6	0.62%	0.15%	131
Indicated	79.4	0.56%	0.14%	979
Measured + Indicated	89.0	0.57%	0.14%	1, 110
Inferred	15.2	0.51%	0.14%	171
Weighted average cut-off grade – 0.33% Ni.

The resource has been classified in accordance with Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) guidelines and with reference to the criteria set out in the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code, December 2004). The estimation has been carried out by a Competent Person from the Company and a Competent Person from RSG Global Consulting Pty Ltd (RSG Global) in accordance with the Code and as such is suitable for inclusion in a public report. Also, each is a Qualified Person in accordance with NI 43-101.

This resource estimate is based on results from 313 diamond drill holes. Additional drilling has already been completed and the results will be included in the next resource update.

Mirabela has an active drilling and exploration program in the Santa Rita project area and the Palestina project area with a view to increasing the resources available to the proposed mill, thereby potentially justifying a higher production rate and an extended mine life.

Further details on the resource can be found in the Company’s announcement "40% Increase in Santa Rita Resource". An updated 43.101 report will be available shortly.

The Potential Mill Feed resource is the estimated resource available as mill feed based upon a pit optimisation study. A scoping level pit optimisation study has been completed for the Santa Rita deposit by independent consultant, Croeser Pty Ltd. This study is based on the current resource estimates, including the Inferred mineral resources. Inferred resources, by definition, are of insufficient confidence to have economic considerations applied that would enable them to be categorised as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that this preliminary assessment will be realised in respect of such resources. In the present case, the Inferred resources comprise only 9% of the total resource estimate.

Pit optimisations are used to determine a pit shape, a mineral resource available within open-pit limits, and the corresponding economics using assumptions for revenues, costs and recovery. The updated pit optimisation result below has been calculated in the following table, using the following parameters.

• The latest operating costs from the bankable feasibility work;
• New pit slopes;
• A nickel price of US$6.00/lb; and
• Similar cut-off grades as previously used.

Preliminary pit optimisation and economic studies indicate that this is the preferred Potential Mill Feed resource estimate for the Santa Rita project. This represents a mine life of 19 years. Further details of the pit optimizations can be found in the Company’s announcement " 40% Increase in Santa Rita Resource ".

The Extended Deeps drilling program is anticipated to convert the Inferred portions of the Potential Mill Feed resource estimates to Indicated status and to further extend the mineral resource in the Southern Deeps area where drilling is still relatively shallow. This program comprises about 22 holes for 8,500 metres and is expected to be completed by September.

Upon completion of the Extended Deeps program, the Company intends to convert the Potential Mill Feed resource to a Proven and Probable Reserve.

Additional drilling around the Peri Peri area will enable better understanding of the nature of the mineralised unit.