JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Base metals miner Independence Group has mined the first development ore at the Nova project, in Western Australia.
The company reported on Tuesday that the mining of the first ore was an important milestone as work progressed to complete construction and development of the nickel/copper/cobalt project.
Independence Group reported that the Nova project was 90% complete at the end of May and that it remained on schedule to start nickel and copper concentrate production in December.
Underground mining development continued to progress in accordance with the accelerated schedule adopted in the December 2015 optimisation study. The underground mining contractor, Barminco, had two jumbo drills operating at the Nova project.
Work on the processing plant and nonprocess infrastructure, which was being completed by GR Engineering Services, was ahead of schedule and about 79% complete at the end of May.
Independence Group stated that mechanical installation was 83% complete at the middle of June, with all major long lead-time items in place.
At full production, the Nova project was 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.