Metallica Minerals Limited (ASX:MLM) Commences First Drilling on Newly Acquired Greenvale Nickel Project

Brisbane, Mar 15, 2010 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Metallica Minerals Limited (ASX:MLM) is pleased to announce that the Company's maiden nickel-cobalt drilling program has commenced on the recently acquired Greenvale Mine Site located in the southern portion of Metallica's flagship NORNICO Ni-Co project northwest of Townsville in Queensland.

The drilling schedule comprises 8,000 metres of Reverse Circulation (RC) for approximately 300 holes. It is targeting previously defined areas of high grade mineralisation within the 100%-owned Greenvale and Lucknow tenements acquired by Metallica in December last year.

The tenements host a remnant resource of 38 million tonnes (Mt) of 0.8% Ni and 0.05% Co using a 0.5% Ni cut off grade - for further information, see Table 1 below & ASX Release 21 December 2009.

Metallica has identified within Greenvale, including its former mine area, nine drill targets hosting potential high grade nickel mineralisation. The targets have been selected based on drill results by Straits Resources in 2008, historical drilling information from the 1970s and from recent surface sampling using a hand-held XRF Unit. The XRF sampling has identified areas of remnant +1.5% Ni mineralisation in old mining faces, and on benches on pit boundaries and which may extend out from the previously mined limits. Potential exists to delineate significant high grade nickel - cobalt mineralisation on these pit margins and in potentially un-mined areas near old workings. The priority areas identified for detailed drilling are presented in Figure 1.

Metallica intends to complete close-spaced RC drilling (to 20m centres) for a total of 6,000 metres in these areas of high grade nickel mineralisation.

In the areas of shallow (<20m) mineralisation, better results from the Straits drilling completed in 2008 include:-

GVM-015, 15m @ 1.69% Ni and 0.03% Co
GVM-046, 24m @ 1.51% Ni and 0.04% Co
GVM-067, 17m @ 1.41% Ni and 0.08% Co
GVM-090, 17m @ 1.81% Ni and 0.07% Co

The deeper (>15m) high grade mineralisation such as in the area defined in the Power Line target will be close space drilled in a later drill programme. There are also zones of remnant high grade mineralisation outside the mined area such as historical hole DDH-1077 which recorded 0-35m at 1.9% Ni, 0.05% Co within the AWR target area.

Metallica also intends to drill up to and additional 2,000 metres of RC holes in the Lucknow Nickel - Cobalt deposit which is approximately 3km southeast of the Greenvale Mine site. Previous drilling by Anaconda Resources (2001) and QNI in the 1970s intersected high nickel and cobalt zones in several holes with results including:-

LKRC-004, 16m @ 1.09% Ni and 0.26% Co
LKRC-009, 9m @ 0.76% Ni and 0.38% Co
LKRC-010, 5m @ 0.68% Ni and 0.64% CoQNLK-085, 5m @ 1.47% Ni and 0.14% Co
QNLK-108, 16m @ 0.97% Ni and 0.41% Co

These priority areas will be drilled on a 20m by 20m grid in order to confidently define these higher grade zones.

Two RC rigs are being utilised for the program announced today with drilling underway at Greenvale from today and commencing at Lucknow in five days time. It is envisaged that the campaign will be completed by mid to late May, after which a new resource estimates will be completed.

Exploration, Resource, Feasibility & Development Strategy

The drill results and preliminary mining schedule will be incorporated into the current scoping/prefeasibility study for the development on an approximate 180,000 tpa sized Nickel - Cobalt - Scandium ore processing plant sited at the Greenvale Mine site, sourcing very high grade (1.8-2% Ni Eq or Ni+2Co) Ni-Co ores from on-site, and supplemented with feed from the nearby Lucknow deposit and Ni-Co-Scandium ores trucked from the Kokomo deposit approximately 55km to the north by existing road.

The proposed NORNICO Stage 1 operation under study is for a 180,000 tpa sized heated atmospheric acid leach operation (AAL) extracting Ni-Co & Sc, sourcing key reagents; acid from Townsville and limestone/lime locally and producing ~2,900 t Ni metal or Ni sulphate, ~200 t Co sulphide and ~5,000 kg Sc oxide per annum.

Table 1: Mineral Resource at Greenvale Nickel Mine, Queensland

------------------------------------------------------Classification Ni   Mt    Ni  Co  Contained  Contained              %(COG)        %   %  Ni tonnes  Co tonnes------------------------------------------------------Indicated     0.5   4.8  0.90 0.05   40,000    2,400Inferred      0.5  32.90 0.80 0.05  270,000   17,300------------------------------------------------------Total         0.5  37.70 0.80 0.05  310,000   19,700------------------------------------------------------

Contact

Andrew Gillies Managing Director Metallica Minerals Limited TEL: +61-7-3891-9611