Australia’s Centaurus Metals has revealed an estimated resource of 48mn mt at 1.08pc nickel for 517,500mt of contained metal for its Jaguar nickel mining project in northern Brazil.
The project also has a higher grade portion of 20.6mn mt at 1.56pc nickel for 321,400mt of contained metal. The company will be drilling in the second half of 2020, Centaurus Metals said in a statement.
The Jaguar nickel project, located in the Carajás Mineral province of northern Brazil, is one of the largest near-surface undeveloped nickel projects in the world, Centaurus’ Managing Director, Darren Gordon, said, adding that around 80pc of the nickel tonnes are less than 200m from the surface.
Centaurus Metals acquired the Jaguar mining project from Brazilian miner Vale in September 2019, with Vale retaining a net operating royalty.
Under the deal, Centaurus agreed to enter into a future off-take agreement for the product from Jaguar whereby Vale can purchase 100pc of the production from the project.