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Western Areas managing director Dan Lougher talks exploration strategy
with Graeme Gribbin – general manager, exploration

tonnage to get through,” Lougher said. and acted as sub-underwriter to a $38
“We expect the mine life to push out and million retail entitlement offer in Pano-
there are optimisation studies in play on ramic Resources Ltd, owner of the asset.
throughput rates.” Panoramic has struggled to get Savan-
There also remains wider exploration nah performing, weighed down as it has
opportunity in the Cosmos complex. been by poor underground conditions,
“There are a lot of unanswered ques- equipment availability issues and venti-
tions around AM6 and the Odysseus lation problems as well as a heavy debt
deposit, as well as Mt Goode which sits burden.
above us,” Lougher said. “There are a lot Western Areas’ arrival has bought
of lenses of high-grade nickel there for Panoramic time and expertise to solve
which we don’t have the structural set- the crisis and come up with a plan to get
ting telling us why they are there. We will the Savannah North deposit into produc-
begin underground drilling from Novem- tion.
ber which will hopefully give us some an- In September, Panoramic announced
swers; that was one of the drivers of the an updated underground development
acquisition. Once we are up and running plan which will see the Savannah North
exploration will become more of a focal ventilation access drive completed this
point.” month after contractor Barminco started
Lougher is excited about the wider im- the project in August.
pact Odysseus will have on Western Ar- “That investment gives us strategic
eas’ growth projections. optionality. It is one of the few remain-
“It means we have production out to ing nickel sulphide projects available, so
the 2030s which is something few nickel it was always going to get attention. The
sulphide producers can claim.” balance sheet was in a mess and there
There is no doubt nickel is back in were a lot of things technically to sort out.
vogue. BHP’s Damascene moment over But it is nickel sulphides in WA, and it will
Nickel West has led it to build a new nick- come into play for the EV market require-
el sulphate plant at its Kwinana refinery, ments.
while at the junior end Mincor Resources It just adds another production front
NL raised $60 million in June to fund a for us. It is not absolutely critical to get
restart at its Kambalda operation. it producing now, we have to sort out the
For those aiming to emulate Western ventilation shaft but we’re sharing techni-
Areas’ growth plans, options are cur- cal support on that.”
rently limited. A recent wave of nickel ex- Lougher wouldn’t be led on the com-

body makes hoisting compelling,” Lough-
er said. “The pre-production capital is At the time, nickel generally was on the nose
higher but over a seven-year mine life “
the cost-effectiveness of hoisting over and Glencore wanted rid of the asset. Now,
trucking is considerable. You are talking
single digits versus double digits which the overall view is that we got a bargain.
lowers cut-off grades, which then boosts
tonnages and makes it a bigger overall
operation.” ploration success has fuelled excitement pany’s ultimate plans for its Panoramic
Despite pandemic restrictions, Odys- in the sector but discoveries by the likes investment but admitted it had pole posi-
seus development is now in full swing. of Legend Mining Ltd and Chalice Gold tion for any future corporate play.
In September, the company announced Mines Ltd are still at the earliest stages, “We’ve paid for the right to take an op-
it had started firing the main Odysseus leaving established producers contem- tion on it. It is an option on the future of
decline with first ore expected to be plating how they will fill out production nickel. If the price goes up, the desire
developed in September 2021. In addi- pipelines. for it will increase. We will see how the
tion, a maiden reserve of 2.1mt @ 2.2% “Try looking for a reasonable nickel sul- technical challenges pan out but if things
for 47,100t nickel was produced for the phide mine and the options are limited,” start to stack up then it would be good
AM6 orebody – directly accessible via Lougher said. “You have Forrestania and to add to the production profile, it is very
the AM5 decline – lifting the global Od- Cosmos, then Nova, Kambalda, Leinster quick to get into production.”
ysseus reserve to 10.3mt @ 2.1% for and Savannah and that’s it.” While new project growth is the priority,
212,000t nickel. Mention of the Savannah mine in the Western Areas is also assessing ways to
“It is obviously a big addition to Odys- Kimberley leads to Western Areas’ next keep its longstanding Forrestania opera-
seus and it takes us beyond 200,000t punt on nickel. In June, the company- tions where Flying Fox (two years mine
nickel at more than 2%, which is a decent committed to a $21 million placement life) and Spotted Quoll (five years) have

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT OCTOBeR 2020 Page 23