Tag Archives: nickel

Horizonte granted construction permit for Araguaia nickel project in Brazil

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Horizonte Minerals has been awarded the construction licence for the development of its 100%-owned Araguaia ferronickel project in Brazil.

The award of the licence, called Licença de Instalação (LI) in Portuguese, was granted by SEMAS, the Brazilian Pará State Environmental Agency. It allows the London- and Toronto-listed company to construct the rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF), processing plant and associated infrastructure, the company said.

Receipt of the permit follows release of the feasibility study (FS) in October 2018. This study envisaged a $443 million project able to produce an average of 14,500 t/y of contained nickel, within some 52,000 t of ferronickel. It also showed the potential for a doubling of production capacity to 29,000 t/y.

Jeremy Martin, CEO of Horizonte, said: “I am very pleased to announce the award of the LI for Araguaia as this is a major milestone for the company. Subject to funding, the company is now in a position to commence construction with the necessary environmental permits approved, including water abstraction permits issued in 2018 together with the newly issued LI.

“The LI award follows on closely from the completion of the FS, demonstrating that Araguaia is a Tier 1 asset with the potential to be a low-cost supplier of nickel in the form of high-grade ferronickel to the stainless-steel industry. Over the initial 28-year mine life, Araguaia is expected to generate cash flows after taxation of $1.6 billion and sits on the lower half of the global cost curve.”

Araguaia is in the southeast of the Brazilian state of Pará, some 760 km south of the state capital Belém. The project comprises an open-pit nickel laterite mining operation that mines 27.5 Mt of reserves over the mine life. The metallurgical process comprises a single line RKEF to extract ferronickel from the laterite ore.

The RKEF plant and project infrastructure will be constructed over a 31-month period. After an initial ramp-up period, the plant is expected to reach full capacity of approximately 900,000 t/y of dry ore feed.

Sherritt signs up for data security trial with Leonovus

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Sherritt International has signed up for a trial of Leonovus’ data security software as the nickel and cobalt miner looks to support its evolving storage infrastructure.

The pilot, which starts in January, will see Leonovus apply its “next generation of secure software-defined storage (SDS) solution” at the company’s operations in Canada, Cuba and Madagascar.

John Kiousis, Vice President of Global IT, Sherritt International, said the software will give the company the flexibility to segment data across multiple cloud storage providers, enabling it to take advantage of cost savings while protecting its data.

“Moving to the cloud will extend our IT infrastructure capabilities and support our goal of achieving operational excellence,” he added.

When using Leonovus, customers receive the following benefits, according to the Ottawa-based software provider:

  • “Ability to balance business growth with a flexible hybrid, multi-cloud storage infrastructure;
  • “Greater data security with Leonovus patented ‘encrypt, shred, spread’ capability;
  • “Maintain complete, on-premises control, of their encryption keys;
  • “Greater flexibility and simplicity to meet future data growth requirements through a single pane of glass.”

Outotec battery chemicals production technology on its way to Terrafame

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Outotec and Finnish multi-metal company Terrafame have agreed on the delivery of pressure leaching and solvent extraction technologies for a battery chemicals plant to be built in Sotkamo.

The two firms had already agreed on a supply deal, but had yet to confirm the specifications.

The total order value booked in the December quarter order intake is approximately €34 million ($39 million).

Outotec has partnered with Terrafame on this project since the prefeasibility study phase, helping the firm design the 170,000 t/y of nickel sulphate and 7,400 t/y of cobalt sulphate plant, which will be built nearby to the company’s existing mine.

“Outotec’s scope of delivery comprises the technology and engineering of the leaching and solvent extraction plants, supply of proprietary equipment as well as advisory services for installation, training, commissioning and start-up,” the company said.

The battery chemicals plant is expected to be ready for commissioning in 2020. As a by-product, the plant will produce approximately 115,000 t/y of ammonium sulphate used as a fertiliser and in process industry.

Kalle Härkki, Head of Outotec’s Metals, Energy & Water business unit, said: “We are pleased to be Terrafame’s trusted technology partner in this project. The demand for battery chemicals is expected to grow significantly in the future and we have the required expertise and proprietary equipment for their processing.”

Terrafame confirmed in October that it would go ahead with building the plant after securing the €240 million ($273 million) it needed for construction.

Nordmin to survey European Electric Metals’ Skroska project in Albania

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European Electric Metals has engaged the Nordmin Group of Companies to undertake a site inspection and to comment on the apparent condition of the surface and underground infrastructure and equipment of the Skroska project in Albania.

The site inspection will allow Nordmin to judge whether the existing underground workings and mine equipment can be used if the operations at the Skroska mine are restarted at present capacity of approximately 200 t/d. It will also allow the company to ascertain the requirements for potential expansions.

The Skroska deposit had a ‘historic’ resource of 22.4 Mt of laterite grading 0.99% Ni, 49.13% Fe and 0.065% Co. The laterite deposit is estimated to range from 2 m to 10 m in thickness and to average approximately 6 m thick.

The deposit occurs between the ultramafic rocks below and limestone on top or as a capping. The limestone is a competent rock making it an excellent candidate for use as a natural roof for the open stope underground mining method employed historically at the mine and proposed for the future.

Records indicate around 1.15 Mt of laterite ore was mined during 1985-1990 (by the state-owned mining enterprise) and between 2008-2013 (by a local private company).

The Nordmin Group of Companies is a 100% North American owned and operated provider of comprehensive EPC and EPCM solutions worldwide to industrial sectors spanning resource and project definition through construction and site closure. The group includes Nordmin Engineering, Nordmin Constructors and Nordmin Operators, and is based in Thunder Bay, Ontario with offices in Sudbury, Ontario, Kamloops, British Columbia and Salt Lake City, Utah.

European Electric Metals expects the technical team of Nordmin to be on site in December.

Australian Mines moves forward with Sconi cobalt-nickel-scandium project

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The bankable feasibility study on Australian Mines’ Sconi cobalt-nickel-scandium project in Queensland, Australia, has shown a three open pit, 2 Mt/y operation can be built for some $974 million.

For this investment, the company anticipates producing some 8,496 t/y of cobalt sulphate, 53,301 t/y of nickel sulphate and 89 t/y of scandium oxide over the 18-year mine life, generating a post-tax internal rate of return of 15%.

The 2 Mt/y processing plant is by far the biggest capital expense, coming in at $730 million. This will be based at the Greenvale site where the mining operation will also be centred.

The company then anticipates mining a separate open pit at Lucknow, 10 km to the southeast of Greenvale, with Greenvale and Lucknow being treated as a single-fleet mining area. The Kokomo open pit, 60 km to the north-northeast of Greenvale, will be operated with a separate mining fleet with ore to be hauled to the processing plant by road trains. Mining is expected to be carried out by contractor.

Total C1 cash costs for the Sconi production have come in at $0.48/Ib ($1,058/t) nickel (post cobalt and scandium credits). Given the near-surface nature of the laterite mineralisation at Sconi, the mining schedule encompasses a short pre-strip period of just three months, followed by around 12.5 years of mining operations, with a peak mining rate of up to 6 Mt/y, and then a further five years of stockpile processing operations.

The flowsheet includes a mix of crushing and grinding, high pressure acid leach, pressure oxidation leach and solvent extraction to produce the three separate products (scandium oxide, cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate).

In February, Australian Mines signed an offtake agreement term sheet with SK Innovation (a subsidiary of SK Holdings, one of South Korea’s largest companies) for 100% of the expected cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate production from the Sconi project for an initial period of seven years, with an option exercisable by SK Innovation to extend this commodity supply agreement for a further six years. SK will use the cobalt and nickel sulphate to supply their global electric vehicle battery manufacturing plants.

While the BFS anticipates only around 10% of scandium oxide produced being sold, the company is currently working with Metalysis and leading academic researchers at the Amrita Centre for Research and Development in India to develop new markets for the metal.

The next step for the company is securing the funds to complete development of Sconi, which Australian Mines envisages being wrapped up next year before mining and construction starts in 2020.

Norilsk Nickel continues digitalisation drive towards automation

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Russia-based Norilsk Nickel is actively implementing its Technology Breakthrough programme and is seeing significant returns when it comes to exploration and operations knowledge, Sergey Dyachenko told IM earlier this week ahead of the company’s Capital Markets Day in London.

While the programme, which started in 2014, aimed to digitise and automate most processes at the company’s extensive mining and processing facilities by 2020, Norilsk’s Chief Operating Officer said increasing the company’s exploration knowledge was a fundamental aim.

“We spent a substantial amount of money, time and expertise to get the best understanding of what our mineable reserve is,” he said. The company has now taken this fully-digitised dataset and put it into a 3D environment, where geologists, mine planners and engineers can analyse and interpret where the company may look to explore, drill, develop or mine next.

This is having a knock-on effect across the group, according to Dyachenko.

“The further we move with resource knowledge, the more precise figures will go into our strategic plan,” he said.

He talked about the company moving from longer-term planning scenarios to hourly planning with the help of an underground automated dispatch system and simulation models that could be run as regularly as every month.

After successful trials at one of the company’s mines, simulation models have been developed for every operation and are now in use for regular mine planning in order to confirm operating drivers, he said, adding that the vendor could launch this programme commercially in the next few years.

These investments have been bolstered by a new data centre platform and enterprise data network, and the installation of 956 km of high-speed fibre cable to its main Norilsk hub in Russia.

Norilsk is a city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, located above the Arctic Circle, where the company has been mining nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals for several decades. The mineral-rich region has played a big role in the company becoming and retaining its position as the largest high-grade nickel and palladium producer in the world.

These technology developments should allow the company to improve transparency at its underground mines and speed up operational changes and maintenance, according to Dyachenko (pictured, left).

“By mid-next year, we will have all of our processes – not just loading and hauling – in a real-time environment,” he said.

Moving maintenance procedures into real-time and predictive mode, plus transitioning from a paper-based to electronic metal accounting system were two of the other aims of the Technology Breakthrough programme, he added.

Automation and electrification

The company is to continue spending on what it calls “advanced digital technology”, with some $80 million set aside for 2018 to 2021.
From January 1, SAP’s enterprise resource planning software will have been rolled out across all production sites for improved productivity, and sensor equipment (such as bucket teeth monitoring on excavators) will also be installed at key operations.

Pilot projects in computer vision, robotics and data mining will also progress, while exploration projects using drones and other airborne surveillance tools are being weighed up.

“In all of our operations, we look at the opportunities to use artificial intelligence and big data, end-user analysis and preventative maintenance,” Dyachenko said, adding that the drivers for these were around safety, productivity, operational performance and cost efficiencies.

And, as is becoming commonplace across the mining space, Norilsk is looking into bringing greater means of automation into future underground operations.

“Currently, we have a vision to introduce a fully-automated mine,” he said.

The first candidate for such a shift is likely to be the Skalisty nickel-copper-PGM underground project (pictured) at the company’s Polar Division, Norilsk’s key production asset located on the Taimyr Peninsula.

The project is currently commissioned at an operating capacity of 700,000 t/y and is expected to be ramped up by an additional 1 Mt/y by 2021. The overall target capacity is 2.4 Mt/y and the total capital expenditure (2013-2020) will amount to $2 billion.

Dyachenko said the company was in the process of finishing the shaft sinking and lateral development work and, after completion, would start to look at how to utilise new technologies to automate operations.

The development of Skalisty, the deepest mine in Eurasia at more than 2,000 m depth, according to Norilsk, could also see the company introduce battery-electric equipment, according to Dyachenko.

While the company has not yet identified a specific piece of battery-powered equipment for the task, Dyachenko said the company was already analysing how it could accommodate such loading and hauling machinery into operations.

“Those technologies don’t provide a continuous operation for extensive periods of time and we will have to take this into account,” he said, explaining that the mine plan will need to incorporate battery re-charging or change-out approximately every five hours.

Panoramic looks to RCT teleremote solution for quick wins at Savannah North

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Panoramic Resources has looked to RCT’s Guidance Automation system to increase productivity at its soon-to-be-producing Savannah North nickel project in Western Australia.

Already familiar with RCT’s Smart Technology – having implemented the company’s teleremote function on its machines at the previously-operating Savannah mine – Panoramic is aware of the safety aspects of the technology and looked towards an upgrade to further drive productivity and profitability, according to RCT.

RCT’s ControlMaster® Guidance Automation, Point-to-Point and G-Dash will soon be installed on the site’s existing CAT R2900 LHDs; allowing operators to safely control the machines from the comfort of an Automation Centre on the site’s surface.

In this instance, RCT will be retrofitting the site’s existing Telecabins, to make use of existing infrastructure.

These cabins will undergo a full refurbishment and be fitted out with the latest control chairs, Laser Guard containment and communication hardware features.

“Guidance Automation and Point-to-Point features will increase productivity by allowing for ‘hot-seat’ during shift changes, significantly reduce unexpected downtime associated with machine damage, and increase overall machine utilisation which will in turn increase profitability,” RCT says.

RCT will also provide specialised training for operators, to make them more self-sufficient on site to further reduce downtime.

Delivery of this project is underway, while Panoramic is due to start mining at Savannah North this quarter.

The project is expected to ramp up to full production over 15 months to a forecast life of mine average annual production rate of 10,800 t of nickel, 6,100 t of copper and 800 t of cobalt metal contained in concentrate.

Terrafame to go ahead with nickel-cobalt sulphate plant in Sotkamo, Finland

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Terrafame is to build a battery chemicals plant in Sotkamo, Finland, after finding the €240 million ($273 million) it needs to build the nickel-cobalt facility.

Terrafame, which took over the zinc-nickel-cobalt mine following the bankruptcy of former owner Talvivaara, said it intends to have the plant completed at the end of 2020 and commercial production started in 2021. Back in July, the company received permitting permission for the plant.

“The intention of the investment is the further processing of Terrafame’s current main product nickel-cobalt sulphide into nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate, used in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries,” Terrafame said.

The production capacity of the battery chemicals plant will be 170,000 t/y of nickel sulphate and 7,400 t/y of cobalt sulphate. This amount of nickel sulphate should prove to be enough to produce around 1 million/y electric vehicle batteries, with the cobalt sulphate enough to cover around 300,000/y.

Outotec is to supply the pressure leaching technology for the battery chemicals plant, with the contract including the planning of the leaching technology area, the supply of key equipment, and installation supervision and training services.

Pressure leaching is the first of the three main phases of the battery chemicals plant. During the pressure leaching, nickel-cobalt sulphide, which is Terrafame’s current main product, is first placed in a elutriating unit, where it is mixed with the process water. The slurry is then fed into an autoclave (ie a pressure leaching reactor, with a raised pressure and temperature) to produce a metal sulphate solution. After thickening and filtration, the solution is directed for further refining and finally for the production of battery chemicals.

Outotec has been involved in Terrafame’s battery chemicals plant project since the prefeasibility study phase. Construction of the electric vehicle battery chemicals plant is due to begin in the first half of 2019, with deliveries of pressure leaching technology estimated to begin in early 2020.

A funding package of $200 million related to the financing of the plant project was agreed by Terrafame, Finnish Minerals Group (previously Terrafame Group Ltd), Galena Asset Management, Trafigura Group and Sampo plc back in November 2017. In connection with the plant’s final investment decision, the parties have agreed on an additional funding package of approximately €100 million, Terrafame said.

Matti Hietanen, CEO of Finnish Minerals Group (which currently owns 77% of Terrafame and is wholly owned by the Finnish government), said: “This is a very important investment for Terrafame and its owners as well as the whole Finnish and European electric vehicle battery manufacturing value chain. Terrafame’s investment also improves the conditions for attracting more operators in the battery manufacturing value chain to Finland.”

Mika Lintilä, the Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs, said the Finnish state was willing to do its part in advancing the development of the Finnish battery production value chain “and to take forward the necessary efforts in research & development, operating conditions of businesses as well as investments”.

This week, BASF selected Harjavalta, Finland, as the first location for a battery materials production hub serving the European automotive market.

Barminco and Independence Group establish Technology Development Committee

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Barminco Holdings and Independence Group have established a Technology Development Committee at the same time as the two agreed to extend the services contract at the Australian miner’s Nova nickel-copper-cobalt operation in Western Australia.

The committee’s aim is to identify and implement innovative methods and technologies to advance safety and productivity in underground mining. According to Barminco Chief Executive Officer, Paul Muller, this will initially target projects such as the early stage development of electric vehicles, enhanced mine control systems, machine vision and proximity detection.

In the meantime, a four-year contract extension for underground mining services at Nova will see Barminco pocket some A$240 million ($170 million). There is an option for a two-year extension within the contract.

Muller said Nova was an important project for the company, with Barminco delivering 29 km of development and extracting 2.4 Mt of ore since development started in 2015.

“Barminco has supported the Nova project’s transition from development, starting with excavation of the box-cut on Australia Day 2015, to production, delivering a successful first year of commercial production in the 2018 financial year.” The 2018 financial year saw the operation produce 22,258 t of nickel and 9,545 t of copper.

Muller added: “We now look forward to working closely with IGO under a formal arrangement to drive further productivity and safety improvements at Nova.”

Peter Bradford, IGO’s Managing Director and CEO, said: “Barminco has been an important partner in the development of Nova. With the majority of the capital development completed at Nova there is a focus on incremental operational and productivity improvements associated with stope mining activities.

“The four-year term, with the option to extend by two years, allows us to work together to unlock this value.”

He added that both companies are committed to mapping and implementing these productivity improvements through new technologies, with the establishment of the technology committee representing an important step towards this objective.

Just last week, Barminco, which is in the middle of being taken over by Ausdrill, was awarded two four-year contracts at Gold Fields’ Agnew gold mine in Western Australia.

On the same day the Nova contract extension was announced, Ausdrill confirmed its shareholders had signed off the deal for Barminco. The offer values Barminco’s equity at A$271.5 million. The deal is now expected to be completed by the end of the month.

Capital Drilling wins contract at Yepleu nickel-copper-cobalt-palladium project

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Capital Drilling has been awarded a contract with Canada-based Sama Resources at its Yepleu base and platinum group metal deposit in Côte d’Ivoire.

Drilling is anticipated to commence in November with the initial programme being 6,000 m of diamond core drilling, targeting semi-massive and massive polymetallic sulphide targets for nickel-copper-cobalt-palladium between 600 m and 900 m from surface.

The contract is Capital Drilling’s first in the country following its strategic expansion into West Africa where the company now has 31 rigs – a third of its fleet.

“This contract will initially utilise two diamond drill rigs, sourced from the group’s base in Yamoussoukro, which was established in H1 2018 as part of the group’s strategic growth focus into the West African market,” the company said.

Commenting on the contract, Jamie Boyton, Executive Chairman, said: “It is very pleasing to see our increased presence in the high-growth West African region continue to deliver results and we look forward to starting our first contract in Côte d’Ivoire.

“With the increased fleet and new infrastructure in place, we are well positioned to continue to secure additional work in the country in the future.”

Sama said the drilling programme will test high-conductivity targets defined by the Phase 1 Typhoon™ electromagnetic geophysical survey carried out earlier this year.

“It is at the Yepleu area that Sama made the first discovery of nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation at surface in West Africa with material grading up to 1.39% Ni and 2.26% Cu sulphide (tested using a hand held Niton XRF analyser),” the exploration company said.

The Yepleu area is 18 km southwest of Sama’s Samapleu nickel-copper deposit.