PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Nova base metals project, in Western Australia, has exceeded production expectations for the full year, owner Independence Group reported on Thursday.

Nickel production for the full year ended June reached 30 708 t, which was above the 27 000 t to 30 000 t previously estimated, while copper production for the same period reached 13 693 t, above the 11 000 t to 12 500 t predicted.

Cobalt production for the full year was also well above the targeted 850 t to 950 t, at 1 090 t.

During the three months to June, the Nova project produced 7 906 t of contained nickel, 3 462 t of contained copper, and 280 t of contained cobalt.

Independence on Thursday also reported that its Tropicana joint venture (JV), in Western Australia, had delivered well within expectations, producing 132 945 oz during the quarter, and 518 172 oz in the full year, compared with the guided 500 000 oz to 550 000 oz.

Independence’s 30% interest in the Tropicana asset meant that its share of quarterly production reached 40 463 oz, while the full-year delivered 154 402 oz.

“The better than guidance production performance at Nova and on-guidance production from Tropicana for the 2019 financial year reflects the quality of our assets and, more importantly, the consistent high performance by our world-class operating team at Nova and the JV team at Tropicana,” said Independence MD and CEO Peter Bradford.

“Strong operating discipline and ongoing optimisation at Nova have delivered nickel production rates which have exceeded the average production rate determined in the feasibility study for each of the last five quarters. With capital development and grade control drilling substantially completed during 2019, Nova is positioned to continue to deliver strong results into the 2020 financial year.”

Bradford noted that at the Tropicana operation, JV partner AngloGold Ashanti had delivered a solid year of production, achieving an annualised processing rate of more than eight-million tonnes, while also starting the development of the Boston Shaker underground mine, which is set to produce its first gold in the September quarter of 2020.

“The impressive operational performance from both Nova and Tropicana is underpinning our growth strategy which remains focused on exploration and discovery as well as the potential downstream processing opportunity to produce battery-grade nickel sulpide from Nova concentrate,” Bradford said.