Nickel

Obtala hold a licence at Rulenge.

Rulenge - The Rulenge licence is located only 15km northwest from the Xstrata-Barrick JV Kabanga Nickel Deposit, the single largest undeveloped nickel sulphide deposit in the world, in an attractive nickel belt, commonly referred to as the Kabanga-Musongati mafic-ultramafic belt, after the importance of the nickel sulphide bodies at Kabanga and the reef-type PGE concentrations of the Musongati nickel laterite deposit, in Burundi. Musongati is believed to be one of the largest nickel laterite deposits in the world. The nickel sulphides of the nearby world class Kabanga Deposit are associated with ultramafic bodies that have intruded into the meta-sediments of the Karagwe-Ankolean System. Soil sampling and geological field mapping is complete with 7 nickel anomalies and one Cu-Co soil anomaly identified, with numerous gossan (weathered massive sulphide) outcrops observed during field work.

Kabanga, currently in the final feasibility stage, was originally discovered in the 1970's by a combination of geochemistry and geophysics, funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the deposit resource now stands at;

Category

Tonnes

Ni (%)

Cu (%)

Co (%)

Au (g/t)

Pt (g/t)

Pd (g/t)

Ag (g/t)

Indicated

9,700,000

2.37

0.32

0.19

0.04

0.07

0.09

1.04

Inferred

36,300,000

2.80

0.40

0.20

0.10

0.30

0.30

1.50

February 2007 Xstrata press release

Access to the Rulenge licence area is from the north via Ngara, which lies 45km from the north-eastern boundary of the licence. Ngara, which has an airstrip and small town, lies to the south of the main arterial tar road leading to the Rwanda border. The licence occurs within the highland country to the southwest of the Lake Victoria depression.