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Wills Creek Nickel Project

Primary Target    Nickel-Copper-PGM
Navigator 100%
Location   90kms NE of Halls Creek
Project Size   215 square kilometres

View Wills Creek Geochemistry Image
View Wills Creek Geology Image

Navigator is targeting nickel mineralisation at Wills Creek that is similar in style to Sally Malay, Copernicus and Radio Hill in Western Australia, and to Voisey's Bay in Canada.

The Wills Creek project incorporates the northern extensions of the 5km-long Copernicus-Palamino trend, the southern portions of which are being actively explored by Lionore Australia, Sally Malay Mining and Thundelarra Exploration. The Copernicus deposit (241,000 tonnes at 1.5% Ni, 0.8% Cu) is earmarked as potential supplemental feed to the Sally Malay nickel operation (under construction).

Rock chip sampling at Navigator's Palamino prospect in late 2003 returned peak grades of 1.75% nickel+copper and 0.9g/t platinum+palladium adjacent to two recently defined ground EM conductors. RC drilling of three ground EM targets in the Palamino area is planned early in the 2004 field season.

The nickel potential of the Palamino area is best illustrated by the observation that all of the ultramafic pods mapped along the 5 kilometre-long Copernicus-Palamino trend, contain significant nickel and copper mineralisation, often with significant platinum group metals (PGM). This is encouraging for potential strike extensions to the north.

In the bigger picture, the Palamino area covers a 2 kilometre strike length of an eastern belt of mafic-ultramafic intrusions that extends 20 kilometres to the northeast. Folding by the Black Rock Anticline doubles this strike potential to 40 kilometres, as indicated by mapping, aeromagnetic and stream geochemical data, with several other nickel targets already identified that require systematic investigation.

Nickel targets have also been identified at the Sparrow and Cattle Creek prospects, located on a western belt of mafic-ultramafic intrusive rocks in the northwestern part of the project. Peak rock chip grades at Sparrow are 1.8% nickel, 2.2% copper and 0.31g/t PGM, which occur in close proximity to two airborne EM anomalies. Peak rock chip grades at Cattle Creek are 1.3% nickel and 0.36% copper (PGM not assayed).

Imminent Plans

Wills Creek will be Navigator's main focus in the 2004 field season. Navigator's economic objective at Wills Creek is discovery and medium term nickel production potentially via a toll milling arrangement that utilises the Sally Malay treatment plant (under construction), located 15kms north of the project.

The company is planning reverse circulation drilling of EM anomalies and nickel targets at the Palamino and Sparrow prospects in April, 2004. Systematic exploration of the strike extensions to the north of Palamino is planned to commence at the same time, and will initially consist of geological mapping, soil and rock chip sampling and airborne EM. Additional drill targets are anticipated.

The nickel potential at Wills Creek is boosted by the presence of significant PGM credits, recent strong commodity prices for nickel and platinum, and imminent nickel treatment possibilities in the East Kimberley region.