PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel miner Mincor on Monday announced that its Kambalda nickel operation, in Western Australia, was on track to achieve its nameplate mining rates by May this year, ahead of schedule.

During May this year, the underground operation mined 49 955 t of ore, with the project on track to achieve its nameplate capacity of 600 000 t/y. The company told shareholders that nickel-in-concentrate production had reached 1 839 t for the June quarter to date, and 5 161 t produced in the year to date.

Meanwhile, Mincor said that the company has approached mining major BHP, with which it has an ore tolling and concentrate purchase agreement (OTCPA) to seek a waiver to the nominated minimum annual quantity (NMAQ) for the contract year, as the company was anticipating that its delivery acceptance levels would fall very close to this level if some of the ore mined could not be placed.

The move to negotiation comes after BHP said it would not agree to amend offtake agreement specifications after Mincor delivered off-specification product to HP’s Kambalda concentrator.

Mincor warned that if the company failed to meet the NMAQ, and if a waiver was not provided by BHP, it would result in a default under the syndicated facilities agreement, giving BHP the ability to terminate the OTCPA and claim damages.

The company said that while there was no guarantee that the waiver would be granted, Mincor and BHP had a strong and collaborative working relationship, which continued.

The company on Monday reiterated its suggestion that shareholders accept a A$1.40 a share offer from Wyloo Metals, which has gained a 72.77% interest in the company. The offer will close on July 5 and Wyloo intends to delist Mincor from the ASX following the close of the offer.

Mincor told shareholders that given Wyloo’s majority shareholding in the company, there was minimal risk that a competing offer would arise.