Lontra is a 221 km² exploration land holding and is one of the Company’s advanced projects in the northern state of Para in Brazil. Lontra was a grassroots discovery by Horizonte, identified using a regional multi element stream sediment survey and follow-up soil sampling programme undertaken in 2007. In late 2007, an auger drilling intersected various zones of nickel mineralizaion and was followed by a successful 60 diamond drill hole programme in 2008.
Lontra lies within the Araguaia mobile belt approximately 200km southeast of the main Carajas mineral province and 80km to the south of Xstrata’s Serra do Tapa deposit. (Inferred Resource of 73Mt grading 1.56 per cent. Ni.). It is also immediately adjacent to the Araguaia nickel project, acquired in August 2010 from Teck Resources Inc. The Araguaia mobile belt is a significant new nickel province serviced by good infrastructure with access by tar sealed and all weather dirt roads.
The Araguaia Project was a strategic purchase for Horizonte. It is an advanced exploration stage nickel project located directly to the south east of Lontra. Together the projects have 8 zones of lateritic nickel mineralization, with multiple targets all within a 20km radius with a potential resource of in excess of 100Mt of nickel laterite. Teck completed 10,314m of drilling in 492 drill holes at Araguaia resulting in the grassroots discovery of a significant zone of mineralisation. It is believed that Araguaia as at Lontra there is potential for the identification of new zones of mineralization and for the expansion of the mineralised nickel laterite inventory. The combined nickel projects of Araguaia and Lontra comprise 11 licences and licence applications across 73,000 hectares with 8 significant mineralised zones.
Horizonte is working towards delineating a resource in excess of 100Mt of nickel laterite and taking part of this resource to reserve status. Neither Lontra nor Araguaia yet contain JORC or NI 43-101 compliant Mineral Resources and the mineral inventory is conceptual in nature as there has been insufficient exploration to define a classified Mineral Resource.
