Nickel developer Horizonte Minerals has strengthened its management team with the appointment of Fernando Marino as operations director for the Araguaia project, in Brazil.
Marino has more than 35 years of experience in the resources industry, having worked across a range of mining operations for Vale in Brazil. He was previously director of operations at Onça Puma, a ferronickel operation in Para state, about 250 km from Araguaia.
During his time at Onça Puma, he managed the initial ramp-up phase and subsequently implemented improvements to the original furnace design in conjunction with Hatch (Araguaia's furnace vendor).
“Fernando's extensive experience in commissioning, production ramp-up, and operating Brazilian nickel operations, coupled with over 20 years of stakeholder engagement experience in the Para state, will be invaluable at Araguaia and we look forward to working with him,” commented CEO Jeremy Martin.
The Araguaia construction is about 65% complete. First metal is scheduled for the first quarter of 2024. When fully ramped up, with Line 1 and Line 2, it is forecast to produce 29 000 t/y of nickel.