Horizonte Minerals, the mining group working in Brazil and Peru, is expanding its exploration portfolio with plans to start drilling next year on the Tucuma nickel project in the prospective Carajas mineral district in northern Brazil. The move comes following a successful priority application by Horizonte and its joint venture partner LGA Mineração e Siderugia for a licence covering the Tucuma project. Tucuma covers 100sq/km of prospective ground, identified on the basis of favourable geology and geophysical data and previous exploration work in the region. It is located approximately 15km SE of Vale’s Onca-Puma nickel mine and 40km NE of the Boa Esperanca copper project being developed by Caraiba Metais.