PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel developer Poseidon Nickel has reported an initial ore reserve of 3.37-million tonnes, grading 0.63% nickel for 21 500 t of contained metal at its Black Swan openpit project, in Western Australia.
The completion of the reserve definition work was done prior to the acquisition of the Black Swan project from major Norilsk Nickel, for an undisclosed amount.
Poseidon MD and CEO David Singleton pointed out that the reserve estimate included 1.19-million tonnes of ore that had been previously mined from the openpit operation, but that was not processed prior to the operation being placed on care and maintenance.
He said that the mined ore offered Poseidon a quick processing ramp-up and reduced the operating costs of mining for the first 12 months of production, after the site is re-opened.
“Achieving a nominal three-year reserve life even before we have carried out any additional drilling is an important milestone for Black Swan. Acquisition activities are now well advanced and we still expect completion to occur this year,” Singleton said.
Poseidon had initially planned to use the 2.2-million-tonne Black Swan processing plant to treat the ore from its Windarra operation, but following a deal with major BHP Billiton earlier this year, the Windarra ore would now be treated at BHP’s Nickel West division, leaving Black Swan to be developed as a standalone operation.
A current feasibility study on the Black Swan project was based on a 1.1-million-tonne-a-year operation, based on a resource of 30.7-million tonnes, grading 0.58% nickel for 179 000 t of contained nickel.