PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Commercial sales have started from the Oracle nickel project, in Indonesia, ASX-listed Nickel Mines reported on Tuesday.
At the end of March, the Oracle project had produced 5 953 t of nickel met with all four of the rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF) lines having been commissioned, and ramping up in line with expectations.
The remaining stockpiles of nickel metal will be progressively sold across the June quarter.
“Having stockpiled nickel metal from Oracle since late January we are delighted to have now received this industrial business licence and to have commenced selling nickel metal. Our first sales from Oracle mark another important milestone for the project and we now look forward to seeing production continue to ramp up in the months ahead and for Oracle to become a material contributor to the company’s RKEF operations,” said Nickel Mines MD Justin Werner.
At full production, Oracle will have a yearly nameplate capacity of 36 000 t of contained nickel in nickel pig iron.