JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Nickel miner Sirius Resources has completed the first $57-million drawdown of funding under its A$440-million syndicated facility agreement to fund the ongoing development of its 100%-owned Nova mine, in Western Australia.

This would fund ongoing mine development and construction activities at the mine and marked a key milestone in the development of the project, which was on track to produce first concentrate in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The company reported on Friday that underground development at Nova was progressing well, with the decline advanced by more than 300 m from the portal. Decline development was on schedule and mine services, including power, water, ventilation, and pumping, were fully operational.

Surface construction activities were also progressing well, with the tailings dam nearing completion and all earthworks completed. The plastic high-density polyethylene lining was also nearing completion.

Further, the project’s aerodrome was currently 70% complete and on schedule for completion by the end of July.

A 38 km access road was also in progress, with the road alignment now cleared to the Eyre highway and foundations completed for over 17 km of this distance, while village construction was 80% complete and ahead of schedule. This comprised 270 rooms together with the dining room, tavern, gym and administration area, which were already fully functioning. The village was expected to be commissioned by end-June.

Sirius also reported that its central water management facility was 74% complete and the sewage treatment plant was being commissioned, while a 10 MB communications and information technology services link had been established with full Telstra 3G mobile phone service.

“Work on detailed engineering for the processing plant and paste fill plant has started and it is expected on site works will commence in September,” it added.

In addition, the power generation contract was expected to be awarded shortly, and mine optimisation studies were at an advanced stage.

The Nova nickel mine is expected to deliver about 26 000 t/y of nickel, 11 500 t/y of copper and 850 t/y of cobalt over a ten-year mine life.