Centaurus Metals (ASX: CTM) is gathering momentum across multiple project development work streams as part of the ongoing Nickel Sulphate Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for its flagship Jaguar Nickel Sulphide Projectin Brazil.
Managing Director, Darren Gordon, said the activities – including ongoing metallurgical testwork, characterisation of the geo-metallurgical characteristics of the ore, infrastructure studies, an upgrade of the key access road and permitting activities – will put Jaguar in a strong position to move rapidly towards development next year,” he said.
“Together with the extensive drilling being undertaken over the past six months, which has laid the foundations for a soon-to-be- completed Mineral Resource update, we have also made significant progress with project development activities.
“The robust results of the Nickel Sulphate Scoping Study delivered at the end of May, for the production of over 20,000 tonnes of nickel-in-sulphate over an initial 13-year mine life, gave us the confidence to move straight to a DFS and, since then, we have already completed a significant amount of important study work.
“The key workstreams required for the DFS are already well underway, allowing us to target completion by the end of CY2022. Importantly, the detailed works completed to date align well with the Scoping Study assumptions and, in some cases, reveal the potential for material savings in capital and operating costs from those previously modelled while also delivering significant reductions in what are already class-leading GHG emission levels for the Project.
“Ongoing metallurgical testwork results continue to give us confidence that the DFS is likely to enhance the Jaguar Nickel Project’s already strong project economics beyond those initially established in the Scoping Study.”
MINING
Mine Production Planning
The Company is on target to deliver a new Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) this month that will underpin an update of the open-pit and underground optimisations and a suite of production profile trade-off studies that will commence in January 2022. These studies will investigate what the new MRE can deliver in terms of production scalability, given that the current plant production capacity stands at 2.7Mtpa1. Any expansion of the processing plant capacity and/or production profile is likely to have a materially positive impact on the project economics set out in the Nickel Sulphate Scoping Study delivered to the market at the end of May 2021.
A number of studies have commenced to improve production planning and cost estimation for use in the DFS mine planning program. These include:
Ø Blasting studies to improve drill pattern design parameters and explosives selection to achieve the desired rock fragmentation;
Ø Location and layout of explosives magazine and emulsion storage facilities to facilitate permitting; and
Ø Updated productivity, fleet selection and costing for open pit mining contractors for open pit optimisation.
Geotechnical
An update to the project geotechnical model is well advanced with a comprehensive geotechnical core logging program and correlation to updated geological lithological modelling completed. This work has defined a number of geotechnical domains for both open pit and underground mine planning. Drilling of an 8-hole, 2,000m geotechnical diamond drilling program has commenced.
This program will provide core for mechanical strength testwork in Q1 2022 and will assist in the quantification of geotechnical design parameters for open pit and underground mining, as well as dilution modelling for underground production planning.
In addition, drilling, test pitting and auger drilling commenced in October to provide information for infrastructure foundation design and to define clay sources for construction materials. The program, which is almost 50 per cent completed, has defined several potential construction material sources, with samples sent to a geotechnical laboratory for mechanical testing.
PROCESSING
Significant work has been completed subsequent to the release of the Nickel Sulphate Scoping Study to increase the understanding of key project value drivers. A summary of these drivers (Mineralogy, Comminution, Ore Sorting, Flotation Response and Pressure Leaching Conditions) is outlined below.
Mineralogy
Extensive mineralogical investigations are in their final stages. A total of 228 individual mineralogy composites have been selected from across the known sources of mineralisation at Jaguar. In total over 2,700m of drilling has provided the material for the mineralogical investigations, representing more than 95% of the mineralisation, with additional sample density given to ore anticipated to be mined during first three years and zones of high nickel concentrations.
In addition to comprehensive assaying, 128 of these samples have had x-ray diffraction (XRD) and optical mineralogy investigations completed, which have provided important information on the variability within these ore zones.
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