VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Nickel development company Horizonte Minerals has completed the acquisition of two remaining licences from Glencore for the planned Araguaia nickel mine and beneficiation plant in Brazil.

According to the Aim- and TSX-listed company, the Araguaia project, located in north-central Brazil, now represents one of the world’s largest nickel saprolite projects.

“In short, our aim is to develop one of the lower cost ferronickel operations with short capital repayment, while offering operational flexibility for increased nickel production in the future. Following the PFS [prefeasibility study], the next major milestone on the project will be the full feasibility study, which is scheduled to commence later this year.

“This should run in parallel with an improvement in the global nickel markets; prices have increased over the last three months,” stated Horizonte CEO Jeremy Martin.

Horizonte plans to produce 900 000 t/y of ferronickel at Araguaia through using a rotary kiln electric furnace.

The project is located in a mining region with access to good infrastructure, including rail, road, water and power.

Araguaia holds a current National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource of 71.98-million tonnes in the indicated category, with grades of 1.33% nickel and 18.48% iron, as well as 25.35-million tonnes inferred, with grades of 1.21% nickel and 23.4% iron.

This has now been more than doubled with the addition of Glencore’s 105-million tonnes in the measured and indicated categories, also grading 1.33% nickel.

According to Martin, the new PFS for the enlarged project is due in the current quarter, which he believes will show that Araguaia is on the lower end of the global cost curve and the upper end of the grade curve, with low capital intensity.

Analysts expect a long-term structural nickel shortage to appear from 2021, when a deficit of about 475 000 t will keep the nickel market reasonably balanced through to 2030. New production will be required to come on line during this period.