King River Resources Ltd T.KRR.W

RE:Low-Grade Nickel: Attention Turning to North America

[Joe455]

horace5 wrote:

“BHP’s decision to move its primary exploration office from Chile to Canada shows, in our view, the likely direction of travel. The fact that Rio Tinto has also been active in North America highlights for us that the big boys are starting to look at this key mineralogical region once again.

Given that production focus in the world of nickel has always been on higher grade projects (Norilsk, Western Australia), many investors turn their noses up in the air at the thought of investing in a low grade, high tonnage deposit. But actually this view is rather blinkered, and to explain that let’s use the example of copper.”

“Small high grade or large low grade? Well, it kind of depends what your preference is. Australian investors often get sniffy about lower grade deposits abroad, but the fact is that from a mining point of view it’s simpler and cheaper to mine a large tonnage open pit than it is a high grade, underground occurrence, particularly as those high grade mines get older and the operating areas move further away from the shaft or decline.

Most Australian sulphide projects are in the ballpark of 1.2-1.8% nickel in resources, but the occurrences are much smaller. This in turn supports lower production over shorter mine lives. This is why you don’t find too many Majors operating in WA. While the projects are often very profitable they don’t scale enough to excite the Majors.”

https://www.kitco.com/commentaries/2021-12-22/Is-it-time-for-lower-grade-nickel-sulphide-projects-to-shine.html

 

 

Good to see.