- NIS looking at being very cheap in terms of Metallurgical Proccess due to Heap Leach + gets the gigantic Enviro tick whilst we're on the forefront of Renewable Transition & focus on Emissions. - Amenable to several downstream & metallurgical processes, furthermore giving it a competitive advantage of being able to deliver Battery Grade Ni sulphate and/or concentrate with a clear pathway. - Clearly EV manufactures and downstream buyers are filtering out the rubbish supply chains who don't surpass the insatiable increase in ESG. - BSX a clear mover in this space & can be viewed upon as a clear example of scalable, viable, deposit with longevity (large/long-life operation).
Obviously, very very early/premature stage but the evidence to suggest this could be a large system is stacking up. Lithium-Ion Batteries used in circa 80% of EV's are looking to contain circa 40kg of Ni. For those interested in previous WA disseminated Ni deposits - A few key notes from Mt Keith deposit & discovery below:
- Initial discovery delivered a strike length of 2km, being 300-350m in Width and stood open below about 500-600m. - Nickel Sulphides hosted in metamorphosed ultramafic intrusion. - Mt Keith feeds a ~40Mtpa concentrator with a resource grade averaging around 0.6% nickel. - The primary sulphide zone contains lobate aggregates 1-2mm across, mainly pentlandite with magnetite. 20% of the orebody is pentlandite-millerite and heazlewoodite and magnetite. - The Ni-Fe sulphides show oxidation/weatheringwhere pyrrhotite has been replaced by marcasite, pentlandite replaced by violarite, violarite by millerite and finally the decomposition of the sulphides. - At the end of 2004 the total reserve + resource was 647 Mt @ 0.52% Ni. Of this the economic reserve was 260 Mt @ 0.52% Ni.
"In early 1969, magnetic and induced-polarisation geophysical surveys were undertaken in the Mt Keith region, along with extensive shallow rotary drilling to gain geological and geochemical data Targets generated from this preliminary exploration were diamond drilled systematically and, in November 1969, Ni sulphides were intersected by drill-hole MKDS Development of the MKDS deposit commenced in May 1993 by the current owners, WMC Resources Ltd, with the first nickel sulphide ore crushed in September 1994 The current resource at MKDS stands at 460 Mt at 0 6% Ni (1996 WMC Annual Report to Shareholders)" Reference: http://crcleme.org.au/Pubs/Monographs/regolith98/29-brand&butt.pdf
"At the time of its $9.2 billion purchase of WMC Resources - the previous owner of Mount Keith and BHP's other nickel sulphide operations in Western Australia - nickel was trading at about $US16,000 a tonne. BHP earned a record $US3.7 billion ($4.3 billion) before interest and tax from its nickel division last year, compared to $US901 million the previous year, but the figure could fall this year along with the nickel price." Reference: disallowed/business/big-nickel-bhps-mines-in-the-west-20070924-gdr6ew.html
