Name of the Project
Black Swan nickel operations restart project.

Location
Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia.

Project Owner/s
Poseidon Nickel.

Project Description
The mine has 16 200 nickel tonnes derived from measured and indicated material and other modifying factors, such as dilution, which represents 70% of the mine plan or 82% sulphide ore tonnes.

The mine plan also includes additional inferred material, which excludes probable reserves. This amounts to 30% of the nickel tonnes of the mine plan or 18% of the processed sulphide ore tonnes.

A feasibility study has confirmed that the Black Swan operations – the Black Swan openpit mine, the Silver Swan high-grade underground mine, the Black Swan sulphide concentrator and supporting infrastructure – can be brought back into operation at a low level of capital investment without any regulatory or technical barriers.

The study envisages production of about 8 000 t/y of nickel in a smeltable grade concentrate from the Black Swan process plant and direct shipping ore (DSO) from the Silver Swan underground mine. Ore previously mined and currently stockpiled at Black Swan will be processed at Black Swan. Combined mill feed will average 1.1-million tonnes a year, compared with a process plant capacity of 2.2-million tonnes a year, which will be able to process third-party feed on a toll treatment basis or buy at the gate under contract terms.

Several mines within the Kalgoorlie region will be out of contract and the opportunity exists to competitively bid for the ore. The project has a mine life of 3.1 years, with several promising extensions to be considered.

Potential Job Creation
An estimated 180 jobs will be created on site.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $43.6-million and an internal rate of return of 92%.

Capital Expenditure
Total project capital requirements are estimated at $56.66-million, including plant and mine refurbishment and development.

Planned Start /End Date
Commissioning of Black Swan is expected during December 2022.

Latest Developments
Poseidon Nickel has reported that it will revisit a DSO option for the Black Swan operation, once a preliminary mining schedule for the Silver Swan and Golden Swan deposits is in place.

The operation could provide interim cash flow ahead of the recommissioning of the 1.1-million processing plant at Black Swan.

“Since announcing our ‘fill the mill’ strategy in July, the company has made considerable progress on workstreams progressing our Black Swan project towards a restart, targeting late 2022 plant commissioning,” Poseidon MD and CEO Peter Harold has said.

Of particular importance is the release of the maiden Golden Swan resource and the start of resource drilling at Silver Swan to convert inferred resources to indicated resources, as well as drilling the Black Swan disseminated orebody to increase confidence on the grade and the amount of serpentinite ore in the resource.

The company has also released a maiden resource on the Silver Swan tailings and started metallurgical testwork on blending the various feed sources through the Black Swan 2.2-million-tonne-a-year concentrator, derated to 1.1-million tonnes a year. These workstreams are aiming to create a longer-life project, produce a marketable concentrate and optimise the project economics, compared with the 2018 Black Swan study, which treated ore for only 25 months and produced a low iron/magnesium oxide concentrate that would be more challenging to sell in the current market.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
GR Engineering (resource definition drilling programme down plunge of Silver Swan, mining studies on openpit and underground resources, metallurgical testwork on blending the various feed sources and capital and operating cost estimates).

Contact Details for Project Information
Poseidon Nickel, tel +618 6167 6600, fax +618 6167 6649 or email admin@poseidon-nickel.com.au.