Mincor Resources announced that the Cassini nickel mine under its Kambalda nickel operations in Western Australia has officially opened to begin nickel concentrate production from early next year. The company estimates its production capacity to increase to 14,515mt.
Based on a feasibility study done last year, Cassini and Northern operations comprising Durkin North and Long mines will contribute to the enhanced production.
The Cassini mine project is expected to create close to 200 jobs in the region and the company plans to invest around $68mn as pre-production capital investment, it said in a statement. Mincor had decided to re-start its nickel production in 2019 and had landed a landmark agreement securing a processing and sales solution with BHP Nickel West.
The miner expects BHP to process its nickel ore output produced in Cassini at BHP’s Kambalda nickel concentrator and buy the resulting nickel concentrate back to be processed into nickel sulphate for electric vehicle batteries.