Jaguar DFS and FID delayed

5th October 2022 By: Esmarie Iannucci - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Centaurus Metals has pushed back the completion of its definitive feasibility study (DFS) on its Jaguar nickel sulphide project, in Brazil, to mid-2023 rather than the end of March.

A final investment decision for the project has also been pushed back to the fourth quarter of 2023, rather than the third quarter, after front-end engineering work is sufficiently advanced to place long-lead orders and once the second stage of the environmental approval process has been completed.

Centaurus told shareholders on Wednesday that the rescheduling of the DFS was done to accommodate additional sample requirements for pressure oxidation and downstream solution purification test work, as offtake discussions continued.

MD Darren Gordon said the additional time being taken to finalise the DFS would allow the company to take advantage of enhancements to the pressure oxidation process flowsheet and optimise capital and operating costs.

“We remain focused on delivering a project capable of supplying high-quality battery-grade nickel sulphate directly into the rapidly expanding electric vehicle market globally,” he said.

“The economic rationale for value-adding in Brazil remains compelling, especially where the product can be delivered with an extremely low-emission footprint, which we know we can achieve at Jaguar.”

A 2021 scoping study into the Jaguar project found that it could produce 275 600 t of nickel and would have an initial mine life of ten years. The scoping study estimated that the project would require a capital investment of $178-million, and would have life-of-mine C1 cash costs of $2.41/lb.

First production from Jaguar is currently targeted for 2025.