Continental finding nickel in Tanzania

Continental Nickel (CNI-V) is proving that Tanzania has more than just gold to offer metal investors.

The company released strong nickel results from its Nachingwea project, which is located in south eastern Tanzania, roughly 180-km west of the port city of Mtwara.

The Highlight assays came from a drill hole that intersected mineralization in what is known as the Sleeping Giant zone, and returned 2.03% nickel and 0.42% copper over 31.5 metres from within a wider interval grading 1.62% nickel and 0.36% copper over 47 metres.

The intersection is one of the best sulphide intersections to date at the Ntaka Hill region of the project and came from a collar 200 metres south of a previous hole that intersected 2.58% nickel and 0.41% copper over 23.3 metres.

The most recent assay supports Continentals belief that a higher grade core to the zone exists and can be traced over a strike length of at least 500 metres.

“The 2011 drilling is expected to result in extensions to both the higher grade and lower grade portions of the Sleeping Giant zone,” Patricia Tirschmann, Continental’s vice president of exploration said in a statement. “In addition, we continue to intersect zones of disseminated sulphide mineralization which lie above the Sleeping Giant zone within areas designated as ‘waste’ in the pit shell defined by the April 2011 mineral resource.”

That resource estimate put 4.98 million tonnes grading 1.22% nickel and 0.24% copper in the measured and indicated category, and 17.26 tonnes grading 0.76% nickel and 0.17% copper in the inferred category.

Continental has a 75% stake in the project, while Australian-based IMX Resources (IXR-A) has the remaining 25%.

In Toronto on Sept. 13 the company’s shares were flat at $1.10 on 25,000 shares traded.

The results come out of a drill program that got underway in June and is part of its $8.775 million work program at Nachingwea.

The program calls for 14,000 metres of diamond drilling at Ntaka Hill with the aim of extending the Sleeping Giant zone by step out drilling on 100 metre centres. It is also testing priority targets within the Ntaka ultramafic intrusion.

In all, Continental says it will put $5.525 million into exploration while $3.25 million will go towards technical studies looking to expand resources at the Sleeping Giant zone and push Ntaka Hill nickel-copper sulphide deposits towards mine development.

As of March had $8.7 million in the kitty.