SIRIUS RESOURCES NL Nova New Ni-Cu Discovery with World Class Potential Sirius Resources NL (“Sirius”, “SIR”, “Company”) is a precious metals and base metals explorer with a portfolio of projects predominately in Western Australia. The Company’s flagship project is the 70%-owned Fraser Range project, located within the Albany-Fraser Belt, where Sirius recently announced the greenfields discovery of significant nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation. The new discovery, named Nova, has all the attributes of a significant discovery, representing a new style of deposit in an entirely new province with results received offering strong grade with considerable scale. Nova corresponds to a large electromagnetic (EM) conductor (over 1.2km x 300m), and represents the first of four EM targets to be tested within the immediate project area. It should also be noted that geophysical (EM) surveys over the project have, so far, concentrated on an area of only ~7km2 and Sirius has over 100km of prospective strike (or 1,500km2) to explore within the Fraser Range project area. The Nova discovery is located within 40km of the Eyre Highway, some 320km to the port of Esperance. Nova’s Age Could be Significant The Nova discovery is located within Proterozoic aged (~1.3 billion years) Fraser Range Complex rocks of the Albany-Fraser Belt. The mineralisation at Nova would appear to be a modified mafic/ultra-mafic associated magmatic sulphide, with the deposit style, age and tectonic setting resembling some of the large nickel camps in Canada, in particular Thompson and Voisey’s Bay (both Proterozoic aged deposits). Proterozoic-aged nickel deposits represent some of the largest repositories of nickel sulphide in the world. Assays received to date for Nova indicate a 2:1 nickel to copper ratio. More Discoveries Will Confirm Province Scale Nova represents the first of many EM conductors to be tested over the project area. Three priority targets surrounding Nova have not as yet been drilled but possess characteristics (EM signatures) indicative of massive sulphide mineralisation. Our early estimates (non-JORC) for nickel-copper tonnes and grade potential indicates that Nova alone could represent over ~9.5Mt @ 3.8% Ni Eq for 163Mlb Ni Eq and importantly the Company has another 3 targets immediately surrounding Nova, yet to be drill-tested. With 3 diamond rigs on site and more rigs to arrive, at the current drill production rate, Sirius could potentially be in a position to release a maiden (inferred) resource for Nova by mid-2013. Initiate Coverage with a Speculative Buy; Price Target $3.58/s We initiate coverage of Sirius Resource with a Speculative Buy recommendation. Our preliminary Conductor 1 (Nova) valuation is $2.58/share which assumes different size and grade scenarios, but is based on incomplete drill and assay information at the present time. We have a 12-month Price Target of $3.58/share which attributes some risked value to the other three conductors surrounding Nova, which are still to be drilled. Though Sirius is still in the early stages of discovery, we are of the opinion that the Company has uncovered a significant new nickel-copper province and are just beginning to scratch the surface of potential.
SIR Price at posting:
$2.37 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held