JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed RNC Minerals has said it plans to double nickel production from its Beta Hunt mine, with production of four-million pounds of contained nickel forecast for 2018.
RNC Minerals is ramping up gold production at the Beta Hunt mine in Western Australia’s Kambalda mining district, with gold production expected to reach an annualised rate of 70 000 oz/y by the end of 2017.
President and CEO Mark Selby said on Monday that the mine provided good optionality from both gold and nickel production. “With the much larger scale in gold production, versus a standalone nickel mine, nickel production can be added at much lower cost compared to many other nickel producers in Western Australia,” he said.
The company believed sufficient development would be completed by early 2018 to allow mining access to nickel resources in the 1820-1825 Beta area of the mine.
“As with other nickel deposits in the mine, there is the potential for bonanza grade gold mineralisation to occur in close proximity to ultramafic/basalt contact, and for gold mineralisation extending below the contact.”
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