PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A scoping study into a high-grade nickel concentrate operation, at the Jaguar mine in Brazil, is slated for completion early in 2021, ASX-listed Centaurus Metals said this week.
MD Darren Gordon told shareholders that the scoping study for the Jaguar project would lay the foundation for Centaurus to deliver on its aspirations of becoming a clean and efficient 20 000 t/y nickel producer by the end of 2024.
Gordon said that the project was well positioned to meet the accelerating demand for nickel required to meet the global electrification of vehicles and industry more broadly.
“Jaguar is globally unique in that a large percentage of the mineral resource is sitting in the top 200 m from surface. With this, the company remains confident that a large portion of the resource will support openpit mining operations, and when combined with the company’s ability to access low cost hydro generated power in Brazil, the overall operating costs for the project should compare favourably with other nickel projects globally,” said Gordon.
He noted that the scoping study would not only be assessing the base case production of nickel concentrate via traditional flotation processes, but would also look at value adding opportunities such as pressure oxidation to further process the nickel concentrate through to a nickel sulphate or nickel metal product.