Posted on 03 Oct 2023
Australian miner Poseidon Nickel is reducing its board and senior executive team effective Monday to reduce costs at corporate level, amid the deferred restart of Black Swan.
The company says in a statement that its chief executive Peter Harold will become non-executive chair, with Craig Jones, current mining general manager, replacing him.
For the Black Swan nickel operations, a revised operating model will be implemented to “materially” reduce care and maintenance costs. The company explains that the restart of Black Swan remains a key strategic initiative, and other non-core asset rationalisation and cost-cutting strategies will be considered.
According to Harold, Poseidon Nickel is not in a position to make the final investment decision for Black Swan due to a number of reasons. These include the current weaker-than-anticipated nickel price, the short-term outlook for commodity prices and the need to complete additional metallurgical testwork, Kallanish notes.
He adds the firm aims to ensure costs are reduced while at the same time putting Poseidon in the best position for the restart. The primary focus remains to restart Black Swan “in the right nickel price environment.”
“Our immediate priorities are to confirm the metallurgical recoveries for the smelter grade concentrate project, complete the expansion project pre-feasibility study, continue exploration activities at Lake Johnston along the highly prospective Western Ultramafic Unit and keep reviewing our assets and costs and make further adjustments where necessary,” he adds.
The Black Swan nickel mine, located near Kanowna, in Western Australia, was shut in 2008 on the back of low nickel prices. Poseidon Nickel had planned to make a final investment decision on the mine’s restart in late June/early July. It has since put the decision on hold.
The project has two open-pit mines and a concentrator. It consists of the Silver Swan underground mine, the Black Swan open-pit mine and the Black Swan processing plant. Poseidon Nickel said in June Black Swan’s disseminated mineral resource estimate (MRE) stood at 26.3 million tonnes at 0.72% nickel for 189,000 t of contained nickel.
Source:Kallanish
