9 September 2008

Manager Announcements

Company Announcements Office

Australian Securities Exchange

10th Floor, 20 Bond Street

SYDNEY NSW 2000

Nickel and Copper Hedging Completed

PERTH, AUSTRALIA. Mirabela Nickel Limited (TSX: MNB, ASX: MBN)  is pleased to announce that it has completed all nickel and copper hedging required for its Senior Debt loan arrangements for the Santa Rita project.  The hedging comprises:

o        17,000t of Ni forward sold at an average price of US$8.00lb over the period July 2010 to March 2014

o        9,000t of Cu forward sold at an average price of US$2.73lb over the period April 2011 to March 2015

This represents about 20% of payable nickel production and 40% of payable copper over the 4.5 year payback period of the Senior Debt and less than 5% of current life of mine payable nickel.  There is no hedging prior to July 2010 giving the Company a year to commission and ramp up production prior to commencement of Senior Debt repayments and hedging commitments.

?The Company is pleased with the average forward prices obtained over the last 6 weeks given the relatively difficult metals markets,? said Executive Director, Craig Burton.  ?With projected cash costs after credits for Santa Rita of about US$3 per payable lb, locking in some nickel at US$8 lb is highly profitable for the Company and important to support debt.  However, we believe the high cost structure of the nickel industry, and particularly the nickel laterite industry which is where future growth must come from, provides a very attractive medium term outlook for the nickel price, so we certainly don?t want to do any more hedging than necessary at these prices,? he said.

The forward Cu price achieved of US$2.73lb exceeds the US$2.00lb long term price assumption used in the Company?s financial modeling.  Due to the long dated nature of the hedging, the backwardation from spot for the Ni averaged about US$1.00lb, so the Ni hedging was executed at average cash prices of about US$9.00lb. 

Completion of this hedging upfront will assist syndication of the Senior Debt facility.  A syndication road show in New York, London and Sydney is now set for the week commencing 15 September. 

Background

Mirabela Nickel Ltd owns 100% of the world class Santa Rita nickel sulphide project located in Bahia, Brazil and is listed on the Australian and Toronto stock exchanges. With a JORC Indicated open-cut resource of 130mt grading 0.60% Ni for 780,000t of contained Ni, Santa Rita is the largest nickel sulphide discovery in the last 12 years. 

Construction of a 6.4 mtpa nickel sulphide concentrator commenced in November 2007 and is currently 60% complete. The plant will produce 18,500 tpa of nickel in a sulphide concentrate from one open-cut mine starting from mid 2009 increasing to 27,000 tpa by mid 2010.  At this rate of production the project will have a mine life of at least 20 years.

Contact details

Australia contact:                                                                                Toronto contact (media):

Nick Poll or Craig Burton                                                                   Eric Tang, Porter Novelli

Telephone: +61 8 9324 1177                                                              Telephone: +1 (416) 422-7200

nickp@mirabela.com.au                                                                      eric.tang@porternovelli.com

craigb@mirabela.com.au                                                                    

Australia contact (media):

Caroline de Mori, Purple Communications

Telephone: +61 8 9485 1254

cdemori@purplecom.com.au

8 September 2008

Manager Announcements

Company Announcements Office

Australian Securities Exchange

10th Floor, 20 Bond Street

SYDNEY NSW 2000

More Excellent Deep Drilling Results

PERTH, AUSTRALIA. Mirabela Nickel Limited (TSX: MNB, ASX: MBN) is pleased to announce the results of recent drilling for the Santa Rita underground project in the Extended Deeps area.  The Company has now announced 7 of the 12 holes in the Extended Deeps area and the average composite result is 98m grading 0.85% Ni and 0.25% Cu.

?These are outstanding results - consistent, wide and relatively high grade - which demonstrate excellent potential for bulk underground mining at Santa Rita,? said Managing Director Nick Poll.  ?Our objective is to establish an underground reserve and develop underground access early in the project?s life to achieve a total Santa Rita production rate of 40,000tpa of nickel for at least 25 years,? he said.

The results are as follows:

Composite results from the Extended Deeps program

0.5% Ni cut off grade, 4m minimum mining width

As set out in the attached schematic long-section, the core Extended Deeps program comprises 12 holes on approximate 120m x 105m spacing.  There are 4 holes on each of sections 8430400N, 505N and 610N, collectively drilling up 600m of down-dip extension and 300m of strike.  The true widths of these results are about 90% of down-hole widths.

Hole MBS-595, to the south of and slightly outside the main testing area, also has very encouraging results, so the resource is open in both directions along strike and at depth.  Additional holes to extend the strike length of mineralization are planned, particularly to the north under the Central and Northern zones.

Another four Extended Deeps holes are awaiting assays and the last hole in the primary target area is currently being drilled.  The underground resource estimation will commence upon receipt of these assays and is expected to be completed in November.

In conjunction with the Extended Deeps drilling program, the Company has commenced a scoping study into potential underground mining at Santa Rita, including further expansion of the plant to accommodate additional underground throughput.  The aim is to develop an underground project that augments production from the open-cut mine within the next few years using early cash flows from open-pit production.

Due to the recent increase in the open-pit depth we reclassified five previous Extended Deeps holes as Pit Extension holes, three of which are reported below. 

Results from Pit Extension drilling

Results of the latest Pit Extension holes are as follows:

Composite results from the Southern zone

0.4% Ni cut off grade, 4m minimum mining width

The holes are located at the base of the open-pit in the Southern deeps high grade zone, with MBS-600 just to the north of that zone.  MBS-600 is substantially better than holes higher up on this section, confirming a trend of improved widths and grades at depth to the north of the Southern high grade zone.  The true widths of these results are about 90% of down-hole widths.

These are strong results that are expected to convert Inferred open-pit resource to Indicated status and possibly contribute to deepening the open-pit beneath the Central zone.  The pit is now 640m deep in the Southern deeps high grade zone, this in turn improves the potential for the pit to drive deeper across the Central deeps zone.  MBS 600 demonstrates a possible trend of improved widths and grades at depth moving into this area.

More details of all the above results are set out in Attachments 1, 2 and 3.

Ongoing Drilling Programs

The drilling program now has four objectives that are prioritised as follows:

1.        Establish a maiden resource in the Extended Deeps area (drilling almost completed)

2.        Convert 20mt of Inferred open-pit resource to Indicated status, most of which lies at the base of the Central zone

3.        Deepen the open-pit beneath the Central and Northern zones

4.        Explore further along strike for additional mineralisation with underground potential

The attached long section shows the above recent results and the Pit Extension drilling target beneath the Central zone.  In addition, Extended Deeps drilling will continue with a focus on strike extension to the north.  The attached long section shows some of these planned holes in yellow.

A total of 5 drilling rigs remain committed to these ongoing drilling programs.

Background

Mirabela Nickel Ltd owns 100% of the world class Santa Rita nickel sulphide project and is listed on the Australian and Toronto stock exchanges. With a JORC Indicated open-cut resource of 130mt grading 0..60% Ni for 780,000t of contained Ni, Santa Rita is the largest nickel sulphide discovery world-wide in the last 12 years. 

Construction of a 6.4 mtpa nickel sulphide concentrator commenced in November 2007 and is currently 60% complete. The plant will produce 18,500 tpa of nickel in a sulphide concentrate from one open-cut mine starting from mid 2009 increasing to 27,000 tpa by mid 2010.  At this rate of production the project will have a mine life of at least 20 years. 

Photos of the construction progress are available on the Company website at:  http://www.mirabela.com.au/projects_galleries.asp.

Contact details

Australia contact:                                                                                Toronto contact (media):

Nick Poll or Craig Burton                                                                   Eric Tang, Porter Novelli

Telephone: +61 8 9324 1177                                                  Telephone: +1 (416) 422-7200

nickp@mirabela.com.au                                                                      eric.tang@porternovelli.com

craigb@mirabela.com.au                                                                    

Australia contact (media):

Caroline de Mori, Purple Communications

Telephone: +61 8 9485 1254

cdemori@purplecom.com.au

Attachment 1: New intersections ? Extended Deeps drilling

(0.5% Ni cut off grade)

All chemical analyses were completed by ALS Chemex, Vancouver, Canada

Attachment 2: New intersections ? Pit Extension drilling

(0.4% Ni cut off grade)

All chemical analyses were completed by ALS Chemex, Vancouver, Canada

Attachment 3:  Drill hole collar locations

1        TS ? Total Station Survey Tool.

Qualified Person Statement:  The information in this report that relates to Mineral Resources and Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Lauritz Barnes who is a Member of The Australian Institute of Geoscientists.  Lauritz Barnes is a consultant to Mirabela Nickel Limited.  Lauritz Barnes has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the ?Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserve? and a Qualified Person in accordance with NI 43-101.  Lauritz Barnes consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements: There can be no assurance that an expanded mineral resource or reserve will be established at the Santa Rita Project.  The forward-looking statements made in this news release are based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events and results. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

***

Issued by

Purple Communications

Level 3, 28 Kings Park Road, WEST PERTH WA 6005

Ph: 08 9485 1254     Fax: 08 6263 0455

purple@purplecom.com.au