PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Department of Mines and Petroleum has awarded nickel developer Sirius Resources a mining lease over its Nova project, in Western Australia.
The lease was granted just nine business days after signing a mining access agreement with the region's traditional owners, Sirius pointed out on Tuesday.
The mining lease enabled Sirius to start obtaining the approvals and permits necessary for the start of mining operations, which had been contingent on the award of a mining lease.
“This is yet another important milestone on our path to creating the best nickel mine in Australia,” said Sirius MD Mark Bennett.
He noted that on the basis that no issue was identified that could act as a possible hindrance to the permitting process, the company was expected to start project development as early as 2015.
A recently completed definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the Nova project estimated that it could generate net cash flow of A$2.74-billion from a nickel revenue of some A$4.53-billion, over the project’s ten-year mine life.
The DFS was based on a processing rate of 1.5-million tonnes a year, 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.