Mining company RNC and its joint venture (JV) partner Waterton are ready to accelerate discussions with potential participants to advance the Dumont nickel/cobalt project – tipped to be one of Canada’s largest base metals mines – to construction, CEO Mark Selby reported on Thursday.
This comes as RNC published a “milestone” update to its 2013 feasibility study for Dumont, which ranks the Quebec-based $1-billion project among the top-five sulphide nickel producers globally.
With initial production of 33 000 t/y, ramping up to 50 000 t/y in the Phase 2 expansion, Dumont would produce about 1.2-million tonnes (2.6-billion pounds) of nickel concentrate over three decades, at a life-of-mine cash cost of $3.22/lb nickel and an all-in sustaining cost of $3.80/lb payable nickel.
The average nickel concentrate grade over the 30-year mine life was estimated to be 29%, which made the concentrate suitable for alternative paths to the market, such as roasting, instead of traditional smelting and refining.
One of the key elements of the updated feasibility study was to decouple the mine production rates from that of the plant, with the mining rate maintained at about twice the milling capacity.
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