PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed nickel miner Mincor on Wednesday told shareholders that it was on track to suspend mining operations at its Mariners and Miitel mines, in Western Australia.

The company noted that over the last 12 months, Mincor had responded rapidly to the deteriorating nickel price, implementing a series of mining decisions that progressively scaled down its operations.

These decisions included the suspension of capital in April last year, which resulted in 88 redundancies, and the implementation of the ‘one operation, two mines’ strategy in July.

During the December quarter, the unified Mariners/Miitel operation was put on a single shift basis, with mining focused on the efficient extraction of the remaining fully-developed ore. This decision led to a further 40 redundancies.

The miner said on Wednesday that given the continued fall in the nickel price, the final phase of the flexible mining strategy would now be implemented, which would see Mincor wind down operations completely during the March quarter.

Mining would cease at the end of January, and the mines would be prepared for a period of suspension until the nickel price recovered.

While substantial developed ore remained easily accessible at the Miitel mine, Mincor had called into question the future of the Mariners mine, saying that by the end of January this year, accessible ore at Mariners would have been depleted, with only the undeveloped N11 surface remaining.

During the three months ended December, Mincor produced 739 t of nickel in ore, bringing its half-year production to 2 290 t of nickel in ore.

Meanwhile, Mincor reported that while operations were wound down at Kambalda, the company would continue with its definitive feasibility studies on the Durkin North and Burnett projects, with a view of having these ready for rapid development, once conditions improved.

In addition, and subject to a successful drill-out phase, a definitive feasibility study would also be undertaken on the new discovery at Cassini.