Name: Savannah mine.
Location: The Savannah project is located 240 km south of Kununurra, in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Controlling Company: Panoramic Resources, through its sub- sidiary Savannah Nickel Mines.
Brief History: The Savannah deposit was discovered by Anglo American in 1973 and acquired by Sally Malay Mining (Panoramic) for $1.7-million in 2001.
Brief Description: The Savannah mine consists of a nickel sulphide orebody, an underground mine, a process plant and associated infrastructure. The mine currently has ore reserves until 2018.
Products: Nickel, copper and cobalt concentrates.
Geology/Mineralisation: The Savannah sulphide-rich nickel, copper and cobalt orebody is hosted by the layered mafic- ultramafic Savannah intrusion, which is enveloped by aluminous metasediments and paragneisses of the Tickalara Metamorphics. The orebody is mostly confined to a marginal norite unit up to 40 m thick, developed above the base of the intrusion. Areas of massive, matrix and disseminated sulphide mineralisation, dominated by pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, pentlandite and minor pyrite occur throughout the marginal norite unit.
Prior to the development of the Savannah openpit, the marginal norite unit outcropped as a prominent 250-m-long, limonite-goethite gossan, with fresh sulphide mineralisation developing about 20 m below surface. At about 500 m below the surface, a significant subhorizontal fault, the 500 fault, cuts the orebody and offsets it 200 m to the north-west. Mineralisation above the 500 fault is referred to as the upper zone and that below the 500 fault as the lower zone.
Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at June 30, 2014, were estimated at 156 600 t of nickel, 34 300 t of copper and 2 800 t of cobalt.
Resources: Total measured, indicated and inferred resources as at August 11, 2015, were estimated at 128 800 t of nickel, 68 400 t of copper and 7 800 t of cobalt.
Mining Method: The majority of the ore is currently mined using long-hole open stoping, which is a highly mechanised and low-cost method.
Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The process plant at Savannah comprises a single-stage crusher and a semiautogenous mill, as well as flotation, thickening and filtering stages to produce a bulk nickel, copper and cobalt concentrate.
Prospects: Ongoing exploration around the Savannah orebody above and below the 900 fault has led to an upgrade in the Savannah resource.
The Savannah North maiden resource drill programme is currently the main exploration focus on site.
A maiden resource of 905 000 t at 1.65% nickel was announced by Panoramic in August 2015.
Contact Person: GM Mark Recklies.
Contact Details:
Panoramic Resources – Savannah Nickel Mines,
tel +61 8 6103 2399,
fax +61 8 9167 8113,
email info@panres.com, and
website http://panoramicresources.com.