PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel miner Panoramic Resources fell just short of reaching its production targets for the financial year ended June 30, as the fourth-quarter output from its Lanfranchi operation, in Western Australia, continued to be affected by seismic events that happened in April.
Following two separate seismic events in the vicinity of the Deacon orebody, Panoramic was forced to reduce production at Lanfranchi and to reschedule some of the Deacon production into the 2016 financial year.
As a result, the Lanfranchi project delivered 2 233 t of contained nickel during the quarter, which was down 9% on the previous quarter, and below expectations.
For the full year, the Lanfranchi operation produced 13 775 t of contained nickel.
However, production from the Savannah operation increased to 2 348 t, from the 2 259 t reported in the March quarter. The project produced a record 8 726 t of contained nickel in the full year.
Group nickel production for the full year reached 19 301 t of contained nickel, which was just below the guidance of between 20 000 t and 21 000 t.
Looking ahead, Panoramic expected production from the Lanfranchi operation to benefit in 2016 from a combination of the depletion of the Deacon ore reserve, the recent discovery of the high-grade Lower Schmitz mineralisation and the prevailing low US dollar nickel price.
Panoramic would maximise cash flow from the Deacon and Jury-Metcalfe orebodies during the first half of 2016, while advancing the Lower Schmitz discovery towards production and potentially ramping up during the March quarter.
The company expected the Lower Schmitz mineralistaion to potentially provide an opportunity for higher-grade, higher-margin results at Lanfranchi.