Name of the Project
Sconi cobalt/nickel/scandium project.

Location
North Queensland, Australia.

Client
Australian Mines.

Project Description
A bankable feasibility study (BFS) has shown Sconi to have robust project and financial metrics.

The project has a total combined ore reserve estimate of 33.89-million tonnes at 0.67% nickel, 0.10% cobalt and 42 parts per million scandium, supporting an initial life-of-mine of 18 years.

The cobalt, nickel and scandium resources are located in three main deposits – Greenvale, Lucknow and Kokomo – which can be extracted and processed on commercially attractive terms through the development of openpit mining operations and building a central processing plant to be built on site.

Ore will be fed into a two-million-tonne-a-year, latest-generation high-pressure acid leach and solvent extraction processing plant to produce 8 500 t/y of cobalt sulphate, 53 300 t/y of nickel sulphate and 77 t/y of scandium oxide.

The expected average feed grade of ore to the plant is 0.10% cobalt and 0.67% nickel, with exceptional recovery rates of 95.7% and 94.8% respectively.

Potential Job Creation
Construction of the project would create up to 500 jobs from 2019 to 2021, followed by more than 300 full-time positions once the mine, processing plant and associated infrastructure are in steady-state operation.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an estimated pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.31-billion and an internal rate of return of 21%, with a payback of 5.2 years.

Value
The project will cost about $974-million, including $110-million in contingency.

Duration
The project will take about 24 months to construct, with the processing plant expected to require a 27-month ramp-up schedule.

Latest Developments
An independent nickel and cobalt sulphate market study has flagged the planned Sconi project as one of the most competitive producers in the world, once operational.

Construction of the Sconi project is expected to start this year.

The study has forecast that the 2025 value-adjusted business cost of the project will place it in the first quartile, compared with other existing and proposed analogue operations globally.

The study has also found that the decision to process the Sconi ore into a battery-grade nickel sulphate project will be more beneficial in the long term, as premiums for the product will increase beyond 2025 and higher-cost processing routes are factored in to meet the growing demand.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Ausenco (BFS).

On Budget and on Time?
Sconi is on track to start first production in 2021.

Contact Details for Project Information
Australian Mines, tel +61 8 9481 5811 or email info@australianmines.com.au.