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CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO18 U.S.C.SS1350, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TOSECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Mark Jarvis, certify that:

1.         I have
reviewed this annual report on Form 20-F of Hard Creek Nickel Corporation;

2.         Based on my
knowledge, this annual report does not contain any untrue statement of a
material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements
made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not
misleading with respect to the period covered by this annual report;

3.         Based on my
knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in
this annual report, fairly present in all material respects the financial
condition, results of operations and cash flows of the company as of, and for,
the periods presented in this annual report;

4.         The
companys other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and
maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as
defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the company and have:

| | (a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
      caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
      supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the company,
      including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others
      within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report
      is being prepared;
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| | (b) | Designed such internal control over financial reporting,
      or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed
      under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
      reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial
      statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted
      accounting principles;    
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| | (c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the company's disclosure
      controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about
      the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
      of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation;
  and                                                                                                     
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| | (d) | Disclosed in this report any change in the company's
      internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the period
      covered by the annual report that has materially affected, or is
      reasonably likely to materially affect, the company's internal control
      over financial reporting; and                                                                             

5.         The
companys other certifying officer (s) and I have disclosed, based on our most
recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the company's
auditors and the audit committee of the company's board of directors (or persons
performing the equivalent functions):

| | (a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in
      the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which
      are reasonably likely to adversely affect the company's ability to record,
      process, summarize and report financial information; and
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| | (b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
      management or other employees who have a significant role in the company's
      internal control over financial reporting.                                                                                                     

|Date: May 24, 2012                       | 
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|                                         | 
|MarkJarvis                             | 
|Signature: Mark Jarvis                   | 
|Title: CEO (Principal Executive Officer) | 

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