Pretty good summary of the mining aspects I thought. The Fe:MgO...

Pretty good summary of the mining aspects I thought.
The Fe:MgO ratio is iron to magnesia (magnesium oxide) ratio….not manganese!
The main issue with talc…other than the ground stability/mining issue that was well covered….is that its hydrophobic, and floats along with the sulfide. Which results in a high magnesia (MgO) in concentrate….i.e., a low Fe:MgO ratio. Which is both a process issue (increased slag viscosity) but more importantly a final product issue…particularly in the case of stainless-steel quality. It’s a problem that specifically relates to the particular mineral type and abundance, high MgO rock is fine…as long as its in olivine, pyroxene, amphibole etc. With the ability to repurpose the existing SilverSwan mill for regrind circuit, and blended tailings feed, shows that a pretty marketable con can be produced...and then pursue various options for the >20%Talc material.
The other problem with talc, along with the other phyllosilicate minerals like serpentinite is the sliming potential and much lower Ni recovery (if untreated)…relatively easily fixed with various reagent options, just adds to the bottom line.