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Horizonte Minerals awards mining services contract to Fagundes for nickel project

Published by , Editorial Assistant
Global Mining Review,


Horizonte Minerals Plc has announced that it has entered into a five-year mining services agreement, thereby securing services for mining, stock pile generation, plant feeding and slag handling activities for its 100%-owned Araguaia Nickel project in Brazil, where construction is underway and first production remains on track to commence in 1Q24.

Highlights:

  • Five-year mining services contract signed, pre-stripping to begin in early 2Q23.
  • Mining operating costs are in line with overall feasibility study assumptions, ensuring Araguaia remains on target to be a lower quartile cost nickel operation.
  • Construction at Araguaia remains on schedule and on budget.

The contract has been awarded to Fagundes Construção e Mineração a leading Brazilian company with a strong track record of providing mining services in Pará State. The five-year contract (with an option to extend for a further five years) is in line with Horizonte’s operating cost assumptions stated in the feasibility study, and represents another key de-risking milestone, ensuring that the operational costs will be in the lower quartile of the nickel cost curve.

Fagundes will provide a mining fleet consisting of over 70 units at any one time linked to the phase of mining sequence and seasonality, comprising leading brands in terms of safety, embedded technology, performance and reliability. The core mining fleet will include 45 t hydraulic excavators, 35 t dump trucks, 28 t articulated trucks and 18 t wheel loaders.

All services provided by Fagundes will comply with Horizonte’s health, safety and environmental standards (HSE), in addition to the current legislation. HSE was a core focus for the company during the tender and now the mobilisation process, with Horizonte able to select from a broad group of pre-qualified equipment operators active in the region. Horizonte’s management will work closely with Fagundes to provide direction, governance and support as mobilisation of the mining services team is completed and pre-stripping activities begin in early 2Q23.

Jeremy Martin, CEO of Horizonte Minerals, commented:

“We are pleased to be working alongside Fagundes, a leading mining contractor which has been operating in Brazil for over 35 years. With other clients such as Vale and Anglo American, they are an experienced operator with a solid track record. The signing of the mining services contract is an exciting step forward with pre-stripping activities due to begin in early 2Q23, the next step in our journey from a developer to a producer.

“Construction activities at Araguaia continue to run on schedule and on budget, with first nickel expected in 1Q24. As we hit each of our milestones, we continue to move closer to unlocking the full value of Araguaia, and more broadly across Horizonte’s portfolio of Tier 1 assets, realising our objective of becoming a low-cost nickel producer.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/09022023/horizonte-minerals-awards-mining-services-contract-to-fagundes-for-nickel-project/

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This article has been tagged under the following:

Nickel mining news South American mining news