the australian

Not sure if this was previously posted but a good read... Seems the australian is intent on giving twiggy a flogging -


ANDREW "Twiggy" Forrest will make a belated return to the nickel mining game, tying in with the mine that was at the centre of the Poseidon nickel boom and bust of the early 1970s.
Mr Forrest, the billionaire founder of iron ore hopeful Fortescue Metals, will assume the post of non-executive chairman of Perth-based junior Niagara Mining, the company with dreams of remining the West Australian goldfields' Mt Windarra deposit, discovered by Poseidon in the late 1960s.

Mr Forrest will take a 4.5 per cent stake in the company by buying $2.2 million Niagara shares, pending shareholder approval, in a deal that includes a swag of options and which could see him end up with a 35 per cent stake in the company.

Mr Forrest's previous foray into nickel was a bitter disappointment after he failed to prove up a 100,000 tonne per annum dream during his time at Anaconda Nickel.

That saw many investors lose millions and Mr Forrest retreat from corporate life until he returned to lead Fortescue Metals, which is on the verge of breaking the iron ore duopoly in the Pilbara held by Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.

"I've had an eye on this industry for a very long time," he said. "As our clients at Fortescue are satisfied in their iron ore needs, the next question they always ask is, can you help me secure a source of nickel?" Nickel hit a record high of $49,800 a tonne yesterday as world stockpiles fell further.

Niagara bought Mt Windarra from WMC Resources in 2005 just before it was taken over by BHP Billiton. Mt Windarra produced 7 million tonnes of nickel sulphide before it closed in 1991.

It was the centre of the Poseidon nickel bubble in the 1970s which saw shares in the junior explorer blow out to $280 before it eventually collapsed. Poseidon delisted in 1976 in a move that tainted the Australian mining industry at the time. Mt Windarra was bought by Western Mining, which became WMC.

Niagara does not have a JORC-compliant resource for Mt Windarra.

Chief executive Chris Daws, a former stockbroker who was previously banned from the financial services industry for deceiving clients, before the ban was lifted in March last year, said Niagara had an initial target of 70,000 tonnes of nickel for Mt Windarra.

Niagara shares are worth 24.5c