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by Will Purcell

The critical and specialty minerals stocks box score for Thursday was -- yikes -- a dismal 38-147-135 as the TSX Venture Exchange slid 27 points to 822. Jason Jessup's Magna Mining Inc. (NICU) slumped 29 cents to $1.88 on 3.12 million shares. The company has received a prefeasibility study of its Crean Hill project in Northeastern Ontario. The study is based on a reserve of 11.36 million tonnes grading 0.67 per cent nickel, 0.62 per cent copper and 0.02 per cent cobalt, accompanied by 0.4 gram of gold, 1.12 grams of palladium, 0.97 gram of platinum and 1.08 grams of silver per tonne -- a healthy chunk of the available resource.

The capital cost for the proposed 12-year, 2,400-tonne-per-day underground mine is $127-million, with the operation expected to average 7.5 million pounds of nickel, 9.5 million pounds of copper and about 42,000 ounces of precious metals per year over its commercial run. Aided by an anticipated $37.4-million in preproduction cash flow and $17.2-million in refundable tax credits, the study sports a promising bottom line, with an internal rate of return at 45.5 per cent after taxes. Looking for better, you huff? Well, at current spot prices, the return grows to 68 per cent.

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