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| | Overview - Landore (Conwest Deposit) Property First Nickel's target is a footwall hosted high value nickel/copper PGE deposit The West Graham property is located 1.5 kilometres east of the Lockerby Mine Complex and up-dip of the Lockerby East ore body, in western Graham Township. Approximately 1.0 km of favourable Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) contact is present on the property with known mineralized showings. A non 43-101 compliant resource of 4.3 MT @ 0.52% Ni and 0.33% Cu has been outlined in the north-western part of the Property. The mineralization extends from surface to a depth of approximately 400 metres vertical depth. First Nickel entered into an option/joint venture agreement with Landore Resources Canada Incorporated to acquire up to a 70% interest in the West Graham property adjoining the East Zone of the Lockerby Mine. The agreement provides the Company to make cash payments of $150,000 and carry out exploration and development expenditures of $6 million over a four year period. Should the Company fully exercise the option, Landore shall decide whether it wishes to participate to the extent of its 30% working interest in the development of nay deposits delineated by the Company, failing which, the Company shall have the right to increase its interest to 85% by completing a bankable feasibility study within two years thereafter.  Click Here to Enlarge Property The West Graham property is located 1.5 kilometres east of the Lockerby Mine in western Graham Township on the South Range of the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC). The property is accessible by a dirt road from the mine complex. Access from Sudbury is via a paved road south from Hwy. 144 or by paved road north from the village of Whitefish. It straddles approximately 1 kilometre of the basal contact of the SIC. The property is approximately 130 hectares in size.  Click Here to Enlarge Previous Work The Conwest property is currently owned by Landore Resources Incorporated and was optioned by First Nickel in August of 2005. The property was formally known as the McVirrie-Graham property. The following table summarizes the exploration work completed on the property prior to First Nickel's Option agreement: 1960-69 27 DDH representing 5,340 m (17,567 ft.) 1987 Regional Aerodat VLF-EM and magnetometer survey. 1988 Falconbridge Limited mapped for major structural features and surface mineralization 1989 6 DDH representing 6,704 m (21,996 ft), Borehole geophysics. Exploration work to date has been limited to the known disseminated sulphide mineralization located on the north-western portion of the property. Little grass roots exploration, outside of geological mapping and airborne geophysics has been completed on a major portion of the property which includes a large section of footwall stratigraphy and approximately 750 metres of SIC contact. Geology The West Graham property lies in the southwest area of the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) South Range. The SIC is an elliptical, layered intrusive body forming the walls of the Sudbury Basin that is 60 km long and 28 km wide. The SIC itself is 2.5 km to 3 km thick at surface. SIC intrusive rocks dip sub-vertically in the West Graham area.  Click Here to Enlarge The northern Portion of the West Graham property straddles the contact of the lower norite unit of the Sudbury Igneous Complex and the Creighton Pluton, dipping at 45 to 50 degrees to the north. A discontinuous sublayer norite is exposed on the western portion of the property at the SIC contact. Disseminated pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite mineralization is observed in outcrop and in drill holes above the sublayer norite and the SIC contact. A sublayer unit, as identified by diamond drilling, occurs above the basal contact of the SIC and is unusual both in terms of stratigraphic location as well as composition. This sublayer unit contains fragments of granite and norite. The southern portion of the property is dominated by the Creighton Pluton, consisting of fine-grained and porphyritic quartz monzonite. Large gabbroic xenoliths and cross-cutting zones of Sudbury Breccia are common in this portion of the Creighton Pluton. Sudbury Breccia occurs as numerous dyke-like and irregular bodies within the main granite pluton. The zones vary from a few centimeters to several tens of metres in width. The Sudbury Breccia within the West Graham property is composed of a dark grey granite matrix with fragments of granite, gabbro, amphibolite, quartz, and rarely ultramafics. Some of the Sudbury Breccia contains zones of biotite, chlorite and carbonate alteration. Quartz diabase dykes between one and three metres in width cross cut all units within the property boundaries. The dykes appear to be fault related and occur in two directions across the property. Olivine diabase dykes, up to 20 metres in width cross cut all units on the property and have extensive strike lengths forming part of the Sudbury Dyke Swarm. Deposit The Conwest Deposit is composed of disseminated, blebby, stringer and semi-massive sulphide zones hosted entirely within the norite unit, perched 30 to 100 metres above the basal SIC contact. A non 43-101 compliant resource estimate of 4.3 million tons grading 0.52% Ni and 0.33% Cu was calculated by Conwest upon completion of the drilling program in 1969. However, higher grade zones in excess of 1% Ni were intersected within this broader zone of disseminated sulphide mineralization.  Click Here to Enlarge Pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and pentlandite are the most prevalent sulphides within the deposit. The nickel in sulphides content is high for the Sudbury camp ranging between 8 and 10% Ni in 100% sulphides. This is a reflection of the relatively pentlandite-rich nature of the sulphides. Sulphide mineralization has been observed in the norite, the sublayer norite, the footwall contact of the SIC and the granitic footwall. Minor, but important intersections of precious metals (platinum, palladium, gold) have been intersected well out into the footwall granites associated with finely disseminated and joint filling chalcopyrite. The best values observed in the Falconbridge drilling occurred between 20 and 60 metres below the normal contact. Exploration First Nickel Inc reported the initial mineral resource estimate for the West Graham property, Conwest Zone located approximately 1.5 kilometres to the east of the #2 headframe of First Nickel's Lockerby Mine on February 10, 2009. The West Graham property is under option from Landore Resources Canada Inc. and the details of the option agreement were provided in a press release dated August 4, 2005. The Mineral Resource estimate is tabulated as follows:
Notes 1. CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources. 2. Mineral Resources are estimated within a mineralization wireframe cut-off grade of 0.3% nickel equivalent. The cut-off grade is based on geologic continuity, as well as a preliminary estimate of bulk underground incremental operating costs, an average long-term nickel price of US$7.00/lb, and a C$/US$ exchange rate of $0.90. 3. Nickel equivalent is derived from the equation, NiEq% = Ni% + (0.32xCu%) + (0.53xCo%). 4. Resources are estimated from a depth of 45 metres below surface to a depth of 557 metres. Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (Scott Wilson RPA) was retained by First Nickel Inc. to carry out a resource estimate and prepare an independent Technical Report for the Conwest Zone on the West Graham property, Sudbury area, Ontario. This technical Report conforms to NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Scott Wilson RPA visited the property on November 26, 2008. Scott Wilson RPA independently estimated Mineral Resources for the Conwest Zone on the West Graham property. The Conwest Zone is interpreted to represent a large, low grade Ni-Cu-Co-Ag±PGE±Au bearing contact-type disseminated sulphide deposit hosted by dark norite and located stratigraphically above sublayer norite at the base of the Sudbury Igneous Complex. The Conwest Zone tops at 45 m depth, extends for some 375 m on strike and 573 m along dip and is up to 66 m thick. The zone dips moderately at approximately 53º to the north and is 500 m up dip from the Lockerby Mine East Zone. The resource estimate is terminated to within five metres of the west boundary to allow for a boundary pillar.  3D SCREEN CAPTURE OF THE MINERALIZED WIREFRAME OF THE CONWEST ZONE View is to the northwest. The property boundary is in green. The Conwest Zone is near surface and contains in excess of 84 million pounds of nickel and 58 million pounds of copper within the Indicated Resource category. The West Graham property is unique for First Nickel in that the contained nickel and copper is not obligated to either Xstrata Nickel or Vale Inco. First Nickel is in the process of completing bench scale, metallurgical tests on the Conwest Zone and is investigating various processing and treatment options. Exploration will continue on the West Graham property in 2009, targeting the footwall lithologies to the south of the Conwest Zone. The resource estimate was prepared by conventional 3D computer block modeling based on surface diamond drill hole data and utilizing ordinary kriging for grade interpolation. Grade was estimated for Ni, Cu, Co, Pt, Pd, Au, Ag, S and NiEq. The estimate was constrained by geological interpretation and a wireframe model based on contouring a NiEq grade of 0.3%. NiEq factors are based on Ni, Cu and Co grades and are derived by the following equation: NiEq% = Ni% + (0.32 x Cu%) + (0.53 x Co%). The precious metals are generally low. The estimate was undertaken using Datamine Studio Version 2.1.1518.0, using Standard Precision and creating Standard Precision files. Drill hole data (collar coordinates, downhole surveys, assays and lithology) were exported from the FNI Fusion database in CSV (comma delimited) format and imported into Datamine. The cut-off date for the geological and analytical data was October 10, 2008. The resource modeling and estimate was carried out by Bruce Churchill, B.A., PGeo., Associate Consulting Geologist with Scott Wilson RPA, under the supervision of Richard Routledge, M.Sc. Applied, PGeo. of Scott Wilson RPA. Both are "qualified person(s)" as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The information in this release was prepared under the direction of Paul Davis, PGeo, Vice President of Exploration for First Nickel Inc., a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Exploration Potential The footwall potential of the West Graham property has never been explored or evaluated. Disseminated chalcopyrite mineralization intersected in diamond drill holes in the footwall containing moderate grade Pt, Pd and Au, coupled with similar results noted in past Falconbridge drilling in the footwall to the Lockerby East Deposit, indicates a potential for footwall style high grade copper and PGE mineralization. Similarly is the opportunity to discover significant zones of "no-see-um" PGE mineralization associated with zones of disseminated chalcopyrite. The footwall potential of this property will be tested as part of the ongoing exploration program, both from surface and from drilling platforms at depth from the Lockerby East mine workings. | | 
West Graham
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