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|   The Aguablanca nickel-copper sulfide deposit is located in the province of Badajoz, 80 km by road to Seville and 140 km from a major seaport at Huelva. The Aguablanca mine was acquired by the Company in July 2007, through its purchase of Rio Narcea Gold Mines. Commercial production started in January 2005 and the first nickel-copper concentrate was sold in May 2005. In conjunction with the commencement of open pit operations, a 2,700 metre-long ramp to access the mineralization below the Aguablanca open pit was developed and completed in 2005. This facilitated commencement of an underground exploration drilling program to test the continuation of mineralization at depth. This exploration continued during 2007.
The Aguablanca deposit consists of three parts: (1) the main mineralized body, approximately 300 metres long by 50 to 100 metres wide, trends east-northeast, (2) a deeper mineralized extension, and (3) the northern body. The mineralized bodies are cut by northeast and northwest trending faults. The Aguablanca processing plant has been designed to produce a bulk coppernickel- platinum group metals concentrate. However, the plant has the flexibility to produce separate copper and nickel concentrates with minimal loss of nickel to the copper concentrate, by exploiting the flotation rate differences between the fast floating copper and the nickel minerals.
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