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nIcKeL conFeRence ReVIeW

Panoramic readies for processing

nly something completely unexpected been contracted to oversee the processing
Owill prevent Panoramic Resources Ltd at Savannah North, which is adjacent to the
from processing first ore from Savannah original Savannah orebody mined by Pano-
North this month. ramic from 2004 to 2016 and again briefly in
Speaking at the Australian Nickel Confer- 2019 before production was halted in March
ence early last month, Panoramic managing 2020 due to low nickel prices and the onset
director Victor Rajasooriar confirmed the of the COVID-19 pandemic.
company’s mining contractor Barminco had According to the feasibility study published
reached the 100,000t ore stockpile target re- in April, Panoramic is set to produce 9,027
quired for processing to begin at the start of tpa nickel, 4,863 tpa copper and 676 tpa co-
November. balt over an initial 12-year mine life. Assum-
With everything continuing to run accord- ing a base case nickel price of $US7.28/lb,
ing to schedule, it almost certainly means production from Savannah North is set to
the company will be waving goodbye to its generate pre-tax cash flow of $610 million
first concentrate shipment in December, and NPV of $353 million, after an all-in cost Victor Rajasooriar
as outlined when the Panoramic board ap- of $6.76/lb payable nickel, net any by-prod-
proved the restart of operations at the East uct credits and royalty payments. the upside in the economics, including a ris-
Kimberley mine in April. Rajasooriar said the company’s mine plan ing nickel price environment.
“We anticipate that processing will start in remained conservative with the processing “We are unhedged and we are definitely
the first week of November, that’s been our plant to be ramped up from 40,000 tpm to exposed to the commodity cycle,” he said.
plan all along,” Rajasooriar said. 80,000 tpm over a nine-month period and “Even today with the metal prices slightly
“We’ve built an ore stockpile on the sur- the assumed nickel recoveries being 83% softer, the exchange rates have dropped
face of 103,000t. The reason for that was so compared to the historic 86% from 12 years down a bit, it still gives us over $1 billion in
that when we start the processing plant, it’s of production at the original Savannah mine. cash flow that this little Savannah mine is go-
going to run steady, we don’t have to shut it Life-of-mine nickel grade of 1.23% also ing to be producing over the next 12 years…
down frequently, and there’s a steady supply includes a 22% dilution factor, compared to this small junior company is going to gener-
of concentrate coming out.” the historic 12%. ate over $1 billion over the next 12 years.”
NRW Holdings Ltd subsidiary Primero has Rajasooriar said it was hard to overlook – Michael Washbourne

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