NORTHERN SUN MINING CORP LBEFF

Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine

[JohnEStromJr]

Not good news for any nickel miner.  The small bit of good news is that, if approved, it will be about 24 months before Ravensthorpe nickel reaches the market.  


BHP will sell Ravensthorpe to First Quantum for $340m

The agreement is subject to relevant approvals from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and the West Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum and, subject to these approvals, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2010.
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JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and LSE-listed First Quantum Minerals would spend about $120-million in capital expenditure (capex) to bring the Ravensthorpe nickel operation in Western Australia back into production and to ramp up the operation’s production.

Chairperson and CEO Philip Pascall said in a conference call on Wednesday that the company had made provision to spend about $140-million on the project, thus allowing it to have $20-million of contingency funding available for the project.

BHP Billiton, which had shut down the Ravensthorpe mine in early January owing to low nickel prices, which it said made the operation unprofitable, on Tuesday announced that it would sell the operation to First Quantum for $340-million.

Pascall said that the operation would ramp up to full production in less than 18 months after concluding the acquisition.

First Quantum expected the asset to produce an average of 39 000 t/y for the first five years after operations restart. Overall, production over the expected 32-year mine life is forecast at 28 000 t/y.