PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel producer Western Areas has doubled production from its Flying Fox and Spotted Quoll operations had doubled to 6 810 t in the June quarter.

The company said in a statement that it reinforced the potential for future production upgrades at the Forrestania operations, in Western Australia.

Half of the combined production for the entire quarter was achieved during the month of June, with the Flying Fox operation having mined a total of 36 870 t of ore in the month, delivering 1 560 t of nickel, while the Spotted Quoll mined 18 930 t of ore, for 1 520 t of nickel.

The increased mine production coincided with the completion of construction and the successful commissioning of the stage-two concentrate plant in June. The plant now had the capacity to process 550 000 t/y of ore, and is designed to meet a sustained production target of 25 000 t/y of nickel from the two operations.

A total of 83 639 t of ore, at 4,5% nickel was milled at the Cosmic Boy concentrator during the quarter under review, producing 24 043 t of nickel concentrate.

Western Areas reported that the transport of concentrate from Cosmic Boy to diversified miner BHP Billiton’s smelter at Kambalda continued during the quarter, and a total of 16 936 t of concentrate was delivered, containing 2 307 t of nickel.

Meanwhile, the concentrate stockpile at Cosmic Boy now stood at 8 279 t, at a grade of 13,9%, containing 1 150 t of nickel metal. Around 6 000 t of this concentrate stockpile would be delivered as part of an offtake contract during July this year.

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