Gold & Base Metal Stock Picks For 2003

Nevada Star Zeroes-In On Rich Platinum-Nickel-Copper Deposit

Nevada Star Resource Corp. (TSX.V-NEV) (OTC.BB-NVSRF) is a junior exploration company that is strategically focused on the discovery of rare metals that have shown strong price performance in recent years with continuing strong demand.

Specifically, Nevada Star is hunting in Alaska's frontier territory for platinum and associated platinum group elements (PGE's), as well as nickel and copper. Though the company is also involved elsewhere in the U.S. in two advanced-stage gold and copper projects, its main thrust is the discovery of platinum and PGE's in this readily accessible southeastern region of Alaska. Significantly, most of the company's expansive land package is still virgin geological territory. It is also an environment that may host vast untapped mineral wealth. In fact, Nevada Star's exploration results to date suggest that it may be systematically zeroing-in on this buried treasure.

To put matters in perspective, platinum, palladium and the other PGE's (rhodium, osmium, iridium and ruthenium) are metals that are in increasing demand for 21st century technology. In particular, platinum and PGE's are needed for pollution control and environmentally-friendly fuel cells. However, they are globally in short supply, thereby presaging the need for new discoveries, particularly ones that have overland access to North America's industrial heartland.

According to David Christensen, Global Coordinator of Metals Research for Merrill Lynch & Co., any new platinum and PGE discovery will be enthusiastically greeted by the mining industry.

"It's kind of the Holy Grail of the metals industry right now to find world-class platinum-group metals deposits in North America," he says.

The significance of this reality is underscored by the fact that platinum prices have in recent months reached their highest levels since 1980. Still trading close to a historic February high of US $700 an ounce, platinum prices are benefiting from a long-term rally that has been precipitated by the global supply shortage. Indeed, demand has now outstripped supply for four years in a row. And this imbalance is not likely to ease up any time soon because platinum discoveries tend to be few and far between. Moreover, the world's two largest producers, Russia and South Africa, are both encountering production problems that are mainly related to depleted supplies.

This problem is being further accentuated by political developments in the U.S. Platinum is extensively used in the North American automobile industry for the manufacture of environmentally-friendly catalytic converters. And now the auto industry is gearing up to consume even more of this rare metal in response to the U.S. government's drive to spur on the development of hydrogen fuel cells. In January 2003, President Bush announced plans to allocate US $1.2 billion over five years to help accelerate this initiative to combat fossil fuel emissions.

Now let's get back to Nevada Star's efforts to capitalize on this timely opportunity. The company's expansive, wholly-owned land package encompasses over 590 square kilometres (230 square miles), or 145,000 acres. Known as the MAN project, it is located about 265 kilometers (164 miles) southeast of Fairbanks and 400 kilometres (248 miles) northeast of Anchorage. Fortunately, this property is intersected by two paved highways that would prove invaluable for the shipment of ore if a mine ever becomes a reality. And the nearby presence of coal, oil and possibly soon natural gas resources -- along with a railway line that will soon extend to the nearby town of Delta Junction -- further improve the region's infrastructure.

The MAN Property consists of six project areas -- Canwell, Dunite Hill, Rainy, Fish Lake, Broxson and Eureka -- all of which each exhibit "stand alone" potential for a significant high-grade discovery. Indeed, Nevada Star's management believes that this is "elephant country" in terms of its potential for a world-class deposit, particularly on the Dunite Hill prospect. After having worked in this area for more than five years, the company has arrived at this theory because the setting of the MAN property shares many of the same geological and geochemical characteristics as the renowned Noril'sk deposit in Russia. One of the largest and richest ore bodies in the world, Noril'sk has an estimated mineral resource that exceeds 1.2 billion tonnes with average grades of 1.84% nickel, 3.85% copper, 7.7 g/tonne palladium and 2.0 g/tonne platinum. Moreover, Nevada Star's property occurs in a new mineral belt that, relative to other discoveries around the world, is characterized by its anomalously high platinum to palladium ratio and high concentrations of the rare PGE's.

The Canwell discovery is the most advanced project within the MAN Property and contains a zone of mineralization with a strike length of at least 400 metres (1,312 feet). However, anomalous geochemistry findings suggest that the mineralization could extend up to 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) along strike. Planning is underway for an aggressive exploration program at Canwell this summer which will include drilling and trenching along the mineralized trend. Management is particularly encouraged by the fact that a massive sulphide occurrence that was discovered last year returned values up to 13.6% nickel, 4.51% copper, 5.5 g/tonne platinum, 15.5 g/tonne palladium and 1.2 g/tonne gold. Significant PGE values were also encountered.

In another key development, Nevada Star purchased US $3 million worth of exploration data (at a fraction of its original cost) for the Canwell project and other adjacent project areas from two mining companies that were previously active in the region. This exploration data includes the results of geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys and preliminary drilling results. This exploration data is proving to be a valuable resource for planning further exploration in 2003, including the defining of drill targets.

Additionally, the company has recently made a relatively new and important acquisition, namely the Fish Lake project, consisting of over 125 square kilometres (50 square miles) of Alaska State claims. Mineralized showings have returned grades of up to 5.2% nickel, 3.3% copper, 0.3% cobalt, and 1.75 g/tonne palladium. The Fish Lake prospect is an intermittently mineralized geological structure that has a considerable strike length measuring 39 kilometres (24 miles) long and 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) wide. Other recent staking has consolidated the company's land position in the region and covers new targets over the Dunite Hill, Rainy, Canwell and Eureka project areas. Staking priorities were based on known mineral occurrences, favourable geology and a newly released Alaska government aeromagnetic survey of the project area.

Furthermore, recent regional studies by the U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Land Management have also defined a significant geophysical anomaly that has a potential strike length of over 16 kilometres (10 miles) within the core of the Dunite Hill complex. This feature may in fact be the geological "footprint" of a whole new mineral-rich massive sulphide structure with high platinum and PGE's content. And by integrating this new government data, Nevada Star has produced a compelling geological model to further reinforce the viewpoint that the Dunite Hill complex may host a Noril'sk-style mineral resource.

Meanwhile in Nevada, the company's prospects are also looking up with a cyclical resurgence in gold prices. In 1995, Nevada Star staked 55 claims and acquired an option to purchase 53 additional claims in the Round Mountain Mining District in consideration for expending a little over US $1 million by 2006. The Gold Hill Property is strategically located only 11 kilometres (seven miles) north of the prolific Round Mountain mine. Jointly owned by Kinross Gold and Barrick Gold, this celebrated mine produced 720,000 ounces of gold in 2002 and has a reserve base of close to 5 million ounces.

Notably, the Gold Hill Property also has a history of production going back several decades. Only about 28,000 ounces of output were recorded but with an impressive average grade of 9.5 g/tonne (0.3 oz/ton) gold from an epithermal vein complex. The deposit is now under option to Round Mountain Gold Corporation (RMGC) -- a joint venture partnership between Barrick Gold and Echo Bay Mines. Exploration work conducted by RMGC during the 90s and during the last couple of years has included additional geological mapping, surface sampling, extensive geophysics and close to 200 infill drill holes.

Due to rebounding gold prices and with the completion of such extensive exploration and development work, the deposit is now undergoing a pre-feasibility evaluation. This includes a further 27,100 metres (89,000 feet) of drilling to be completed in 2003, as well as metallurgical testing, hydrological studies and baseline environmental work. If the results of the study are positive, a formal feasibility study (the blueprint for a mine) will be undertaken. The management of both Nevada Star and RMGC are of the opinion that a successful pre-feasibility study could pave the way for a multi-million ounce, high-grade gold mine. This outlook is reinforced by Kinross Gold in the major mining company's latest earnings conference call highlighting exploration activities at Round Mountain and Gold Hill (http://kinross.com/ir/index.html#webcast).

Finally on the exploration front, Nevada Star has two copper exploration prospects, namely the Cortex and OK properties in Utah. Together known as the Milford Project, this land package covers approximately 8,200 acres approximately 16 kilometres (10 miles) northwest of the town of Milford. The mining history of the Milford district dates back to 1872 with intermittent production of copper, as well as iron and tungsten. Copper in this geological setting occurs with iron, molybdenum, gold and silver in mineralized structures that have been oxidized. Such deposits are therefore amenable to cost-efficient heap leach extraction.

After extensively drilling these two discoveries, Nevada Star conducted a feasibility study in 1998 that modeled an economically viable projected production of up to 24.5 million kilograms (54 million pounds) of copper over a 5-year mine life. However, due to low copper prices, the anticipated plant and production facilities were never constructed and the project was put on hold. Nonetheless, with the advent of an imminent global economic recovery, the demand for copper is sure to improve, as will prices. In early 2002, the company signed a purchase option agreement with Western Utah Copper Company for this advanced-stage project, an agreement that has since terminated. However, Western Utah has nonetheless indicated its interest in putting this mineral resource into production within three years.

Nevada Star has a very reputable name in mining circles and benefits from a strong management team. This includes President Dr. Gerald Carlson, P. Eng. who has over three decades of experience in managing mineral exploration and mining development companies. With a focus on precious and base metal deposits, he has worked all over the world, particularly in North America, Mexico, Central America, Australia, Asia and South America. Additionally, he has also distinguished himself as an independent engineering consultant and as a university-level lecturer. He is also President of Copper Ridge Explorations Inc. and Chairman of IMA Exploration Inc. Previously, Dr. Carlson was President of La Teko Resources Ltd., which was acquired by the mining powerhouse, Kinross Gold Corporation. He is also President of the Society of Economic Geologists Canada Foundation and is a past President of the British Columbia and Yukon Chamber of Mines.

Other key management figures include fellow director, Richard Graeme. Since 1999, he has served as Managing Director of Gold Fields Ghana Ltd. which has two large open pit mines and produces between 800,000 and 900,000 ounces of gold per year. He is also Vice President, Head of Operations Ghana, for the parent company -- NYSE-listed Gold Fields Limited. From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Graeme was Vice-President of Operations for Golden Queen Mining Company where his responsibilities included bringing the Soledad Mountain gold mine into production in California.

Another key director whose expertise in mine development stands to benefit the company immeasurably is Stuart Havenstrite. He runs Havenstrite Management Services, a geological and mine management company that specializing in mine development and mine remediation. With over 40 years of experience in the mining business, Mr. Havenstrite has an impressive history of accomplishments that are too numerous to list in this article.

Outside of the realm of mining, Nevada Star's management team also benefits from the involvement of two very successful captains of industry, namely Chairman of the Board and former company president, Monty Moore, and company director, Robert Angrisano. Both bring to the company considerable financing acumen. By way of background, Mr. Moore is a renowned Pacific Northwest business leader, while Mr. Angrisano has over 25 years of experience as a consultant and technologist in the high tech industry. He presently holds the prestigious position of Senior Principal Technologist for Microsoft Corp.

On a technical note, Nevada Star is a liquid stock with about 70 million shares outstanding (nearly 90 million fully diluted). Also, the company benefits from an upwardly trending share price that has appreciated over 160 per cent in the past year. And as the summer exploration season gets into full gear, the likelihood of a steady flow of positive news is likely to continue the share price's upward trajectory. Accordingly, SmallCapMedia believes that Nevada Star will perform well during the balance of 2003 and beyond. Furthermore, the distinct possibility of a globally rare and extremely valuable major platinum discovery in Alaska offers investors considerable "home run" potential.