Strategy and Organization | Sustainability | Partners | Presentations | Reserves and Resources | Projects

• Continuously adding to the mineral reserves at our existing operations
• Adding new low-cost copper and nickel mineral reserves through exploration or acquisition
• Supporting a strong business development and project development capability
• Establishing joint ventures and strategic alliances, with both junior and senior mining companies worldwide

Exploration projects are active in Canada, Norway, South Africa, Botswana, Australia, Papua New Guinea, México, Chile and Brazil.

Greenfield Exploration
Falconbridge's greenfield exploration focus is on copper and nickel, but we are also interested in platinum group metals (PGMs) and advanced acquisitions in zinc.

The North American greenfield exploration office is located in Laval, Québec. International greenfield exploration is managed from the Toronto corporate office and from exploration offices in Australia, Chile, México and Brazil. The exploration team includes more than 100 employees, of which 80% are technical professionals.

Global PGM exploration is backed by a strategic alliance with Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd.

Existing Canadian Operations
Exploration in support of existing Canadian mining and metallurgical operations is managed from exploration offices located in Sudbury and at the Kidd Mining Division, Brunswick and Raglan mine sites.

Sustainability
The exploration team operates under Falconbridge's Sustainable Development Policy, a key component of which is a commitment to responsible environmental, health and safety performance, and good community relations. The team is a founding patron of the E3 (Environmental Excellence in Exploration) manual of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada.

The Company applies sound environmental principles in all operations. In addition, health and safety risks are lowered by ensuring that all staff have appropriate training and that relevant manuals and protocols are in place.

Partners
The Company's goal is to be the most valued and sought after partner in the mining and metals business. This means consistently being a fair and honest partner, complemented by strong technical skills, a solid track record and a "win-win" philosophy. Joint-venture arrangements are pursued with both junior and senior mining companies to increase the level of focused exploration activity, thereby sharing cost and risk, and improving the likelihood of success.

Current Partners

Presentations
An Exploration World Revolving Around Nickel And Copper: An overview of Falconbridge Exploration Strategy (PDF – 1.26 MB)
Cordilleran Roundup, Vancouver, January 2006

Benchmarking Asia Against the Rest of the World (PDF – 933 KB)
Asia Mining Congress 2005, March 15, 2005

An Update on ATDEM and HTDEM Systems (PDF – 2.19 MB)
Québec Exploration 2004, November 22–25, 2004

The Present and Future of Nickel Production in Canada
(PDF – 1.29 MB)
March 10, 2004

Reserves and Resources
As of December 31, 2004

Noranda (PDF – 22KB)
Falconbridge

• In 2001, for the discovery of the Perseverance zinc-copper deposit in the Matagami camp
• In 2005, for the discovery of the Nickel Rim nickel-copper-platinum group metals deposit in the Sudbury camp

• Grassroots discovery of nickel-laterite deposits at Serra de Tapa, Ariguaia, Brazil (2005)
• Active participation with our partners in the re-evaluation of the La Grande copper-molybdenum resource, Collahuasi (2005)
• Continual discovery of resources at Raglan at a higher rate than mining – recently at double the mining rate
• Grassroots discovery of the La Fortuna porphyry copper-gold deposit, Chile (2001)
• Expansion of the resource of the Lady Loretta zinc-lead-silver deposit, Australia (2001)
• Discovery of the El Pilar copper deposit, México (1999)
• Discovery at Sudbury of
• Fraser Morgan nickel deposit (1997)
• Onaping Depth nickel deposit (1994)
• Nickel Rim Depth nickel deposit (1993)
• T-L 4B deposit (1987)
• Discovery of the East Lake 1040 nickel deposit, Raglan (1998)
• Discovery of the Porphyry Mountain copper deposit, Gaspé (1995)
• Discovery of the Bell Allard zinc deposit, Matagami, Québec (1992)
• Discovery of the Collahuasi Ujina copper deposit, Chile (1991)

Falconbridge's projects are located in Europe, Africa, North and South America, Asia and Australia. Of particular note are the advanced porphyry copper projects in Argentina, Chile and Papua New Guinea and advanced nickel projects in New Caledonia, Tanzania and Brazil.

For information on specific exploration projects, please see Growth Initiatives or the March 4, 2005, Exploration Progress Report (see Press Releases).