PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel sulphide producer Western Areas on Friday reported that it was in negotiations with fellow nickel producer Minara Resources to treat ore from the Spotted Quoll mine, in Western Australia.

Minara would treat an estimated 25 000 t of oxide and upper supergene sulphide ore with an average grade of 4,7% nickel from the Tim King pit, at the Spotted Quoll operation.

Western Areas noted that this mineralisation, a significant portion of which was in addition to a reserve that could not be treated by the Cosmic Boy concentrate plant, would be transported to Minara’s Murrin Murrin plant, in Western Australia, for treatment.

The company noted in a statement, that the stage-two upgrade of its Cosmic Boy concentrate plant has reached practical completion, and commissioning was currently under way.

The plant upgrade was completed one month ahead of schedule, but would still be officially opened at the beginning of June.

The plant would have the capacity to treat 550 000 t/y of ore, which was sufficient for the current production schedules for the Flying Fox and Spotted Quoll mines.

The plant’s new crushing circuit is already fully commissioned and has the capacity to crush around one-million tons of ore a year.

Western Areas noted that the new crushing circuit, increased flotation capacity and the doubling of the concentrate storage would provide the basis for future plant upgrades to accommodate the potential production increases from the two mines, as well as the new mines at the Forrestania development.

Meanwhile, it has reported that high-grade nickel concentrate shipments to China’s Jinchan group were scheduled to start in June.

Western Areas has negotiated to transport concentrate from the Forrestania development, through the Esperance port to China, in 30-t containers. The first shipment would be a significant milestone for the company, which has a strategy to divide the supply of concentrate from its operations between two smelter operations, one in Australia and one offshore.