PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel developer Poseidon Nickel has shortlisted a number of potential partners for its Mt Windarra gold tailings operation, in Western Australia.

MD and CEO Peter Harold told delegates at Paydirt’s Battery Minerals conference, in Perth, that adviser Argonaut was currently undertaking the partnering process for the gold projects, having received indicative offers and undertaking due diligence.

A 2021 definitive feasibility study into the tailings operation confirmed that the project could produce between 53 500 oz and 55 200 oz of gold, subject to the mining method, over a 45-month period.

The project will have a modest development cost of between A$25.8-million to A$29.5-million, subject to the mining method selected, and a pay-back period of between 27 and 28 months.

The Windarra gold tailings project comprises the Windarra gold tailings mineral resource contained within the North and South tailings dams and the Lancefield gold tailings mineral resource contained on the Lancefield tenement.

The mineral resource comprises 4.75-million tonnes at the Windarra North and South dams at an average grade of 0.73 g/t gold and 1.21-million tonnes at Lancefield at an average grade of 1.27 g/t gold, all classified as indicated resources.

Poseidon has previously noted that there is 161 000 oz of gold contained within the project mineral resource at indicated classification, and that the project also has access to an additional 0.38-million tonnes at an average grade of 1.20 g/t gold at Lancefield currently classified as an inferred resource. With additional resource definition drilling it is considered likely this material would be reclassified to an indicated resource, Poseidon said.

Harold said on Thursday that while Argonaut was focused on the gold tailings partnering process, Poseidon was focused on starting nickel production at its Black Swan operation, where a final investment decision was due in September this year, and commissioning of the mill was scheduled for the first quarter of 2023.

A bankable feasibility study on the Black Swan operation is currently under way, focused on a 1.1-million-tonne-a-year processing circuit, which would likely require a capital investment of A$22.1-million.