PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel developer Sirius Resources on Monday said that the development of its Nova project, in Western Australia, was running on schedule, with the company also announcing GR Engineering Services as the preferred tenderer for the processing plant.
The Nova nickel mine 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.
Sirius told shareholders that the development and construction of the Nova mine was progressing on, or ahead of, schedule in all areas, with underground mining equipment already on site to start the development of the underground decline within the coming weeks.
Construction of the tailings dam has also started, while the run-of-mine pad has been largely completed. The construction camp has also been completed, and the 500-person village was now under construction and on track for completion in May.
Site infrastructure corridors were at an advanced stage of construction and the airstrip had been cleared and was being levelled to create the base for a 2 km sealed all-weather landing strip.
Meanwhile, Sirius has appointed GR Engineering Services as the preferred tenderer for the construction of the process and paste fill plants. Based on the proposed schedule, engineering and detailed design for the plants were expected to start in the second quarter of this year, with construction scheduled to start by the fourth quarter.
Contracts for the power station, overhead power distribution and the bulk earthworks had yet to be awarded.