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NICKel CoNFeReNCe PReVIeW

Poseidon prepares for Swan,

Lake restart

ts name may conjure images of a nickel “We believe we have a nine-month lead capacity of 2.2 mtpa but Poseidon plans to
Iboom from half a century ago but Poseidon time to production at Black Swan,” Riekie run it at 1 mtpa over a 3.1 year mine life,
Nickel Ltd is positioning itself very much as told Paydirt. “We have done a lot of de- processing 16,000t @ 9.5% nickel from the
a 21st century company. risking in the last year or so and worked Silver Swan underground and 179,000t @
Poseidon is synonymous with the origi- hard to bring down the operating costs of 0.6% nickel from the Black Swan open pit
nal West Australian nickel boom of the this project.” and stockpiles.
late 1960s and early 1970s and while the The company has been inspired to lift In early September, the Poseidon board
present incarnation has never quite hit the the pace at Black Swan given the current approved an accelerated programme of
heights of its predecessor it has displayed supportive nickel price environment. It is works which will see rehabilitation of mine
more longevity. Now, with a long winter estimated $13 million would be needed to escape ladder-ways at Silver Swan and
having given way to a warm nickel spring, get the Silver Swan underground mine re- the dewatering of the Black Swan open pit
newly installed interim chief executive Da- started with a further $19 million to get the as well as rehabilitation of the Black Swan
vid Riekie is intent on taking the company Black Swan processing plant operational plant.
quickly up the development curve. again. The concentrator has a nameplate The decision follows a recent round
of drilling on both orebodies.
Drilling at Silver Swan allowed
Poseidon to double indicated
resource tonnes to 10,130t @
9.4% nickel which the indicat-
ed-inferred resource increased
30% to 16,030t @ 9.5% nickel.
At Black Swan, Poseiden
has been pioneering an under-
ground RC drilling programme
below the open pit. Using a
Cubex 5200, track-mounted
long-hole rig, it is the first under-
ground RC drilling to be used
in WA. The company said it al-
lowed for the recovery of large
samples for statistical and met-
allurgical purposes while also
having flexibility in drilling direc-
tions.
Riekie said the resource ex-
Innovative underground RC drilling has allowed Poseidon to cheaply and efficiently define additional tension programme had been a
resources at Black Swan success and hoped further posi-

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