Glencore to process Estrella nickel ore at Murrin Murrin on path to 5A mine production

Mining and crushing of high-grade nickel sulphide ore at Estrella Resources’ Spargoville 5A deposit has been completed, as the company pushes ahead with its plan to mine the site 20km south-west of Kambalda. Estrella told the ASX on Friday it planned to truck about 2500 tonnes of ore to to Glencore’s Murrin Murrin high-pressure acid leach process facility south of Laverton this month. The nickel company said laboratory assays were under way to determine the expected delivered ore grade and moisture contents. It said a further 1000 tonnes of low-grade nickel sulphide material would be retained by the company to be utilised for metallurgical test work on new process flowsheet designs for the nickel sulphide resources. “A positive process outcome for the nickel sulphide ore via the Murrin Murrin HPAL route will provide the company with a strong basis to fully develop the 5A nickel mine resources via simple pit cut back mining methods and further develop remaining nickel resources at Andrews, 5B and 1A nickel deposits,” the company said. “As nickel prices continue to rally, pushing through $40,000 per tonne prior to the year ending, our decision to retain the Spargoville Nickel Rights assets and push forward with their development looks at this stage to be the right decision and well timed for shareholders.” Estrella in May last year announced the resurgence of the nickel price had encouraged it to embark on a journey to become a producer by developing its Spargoville 5A resource as a cash-flow source for its other Goldfields assets. The company said it had withdrawn the project for sale after several offers were made and a formal sale process was being undertaken because the price of nickel had appreciated to levels not seen for more than 15 years. In October Estrella released a resource upgrade estimate, and said it was working on a definitive feasibility study targeting 16,000t of massive sulphide grading 7.8 per cent nickel below the existing pit. Managing director Chris Daws in October said compared to the 2019 mineral resource estimate, the upgrade highlighted a shift of bulk tonnages into the measured resource category in the area immediately below the open pit which was being targeted for production. “We remain firmly on target in bringing Spargoville into operation (this) year should the DFS be favourable,” he said.