now it the time to load up the truck, page-54

cougzen,
you are a dope.

Mt Keith is a suphide nickel deposit NOT laterite, it's the biggest in Australia by a large margin.

WA has 90% of the country's nickel deposits. 90%!!!!!!!!!

You said "Everyone in mining knows it costs more to extract ore in WA than Tasmania because in WA the veins are narrow and difficult to access"

You are wrong, wrong, wrong.

Laterite deposits are usually quite shallow and broad, the difficulty lies in extracting the ore. Usually it's leached under pressure but there has been a huge push into atmospheric leaching as well as technology improves.

Again from Geoscience Australia;

Allegiance Mining NL announced results of a feasibility study indicating that the Avebury deposit is
economic and envisages a 600 000 tpa throughput to produce 5700 tpa nickel metal in a 20% (plus)
nickel concentrate. The study envisages an increased throughput to in excess of 1 000 000 tpa to
produce over 10 000 tpa nickel metal in concentrate. As at 31 March 2006, total resources amounted
to 12.81 million tonnes of ore averaging 1% Ni with 132 000 t of nickel metal. The resource included
total reserves of 4.4 million tonnes with a grade of 1.14% Ni. The company reported that the resource
remains open along strike to both east and west and down dip. The Avebury nickel concentrates will
be hauled by road 24 km to the Melba Flats base metal concentrate rail loading facility and then by
rail to Burnie, on north coast of Tasmania, for export. In April 2006, Allegiance Mining NL executed an
agreement with Jinchuan Nickel Group Limited for the sale of approximately US$1.3 billion worth of
nickel-in-concentrates from the Avebury nickel mine. Production is expected in the first half of 2007.

Mt Keith averages approx. 0.5% and is concentrated to about 23% before being shipped to smelter. Their resource is in the millions of tonnes.