Tag: Ravensthorpe

WA LITHIUM Australia has had a positive year with promising developments including the acquisition of Mt Deans East and the completion of the Ravensthorpe mine rehabilitation. The company has updated its raw material strategy for 2020 in order to establish a high-quality lithium resource base. Primary supply opportunities, including the Medcalf prospect, are being explored. Mine-waste streams (historical dumps and tailings) and discharge from currently operating mines are also being considered as sources. The Medcalf prospect has a cluster of stacked pegmatite dikes with abundant spodumene and a possible extension suggested by a lithium-in-soil geochemistry anomaly that was later discovered. The spodumene samples show positive signs with very low levels of deleterious elements. The company also announced that the Mt...

Ravensthorpe reopens on nickel surge FIRST Quantum Minerals expects to ship its first nickel concentrate from its mine in Ravensthorpe, WA, by April this year. The first shipment of sulphur, a vital component of nickel production, arrived through the Esperance port last week. The Canadian company has made significant upgrades to the processing plant since acquiring it in February 2010 for the cut-throat price of $340m. The plant cost BHP Billiton $3b to build and commission. When it was closed in 2017, it was the nickel project’s second major closure and loss of jobs. The mine is wholly owned by First Quantum and currently employs around 250 people with another 100 jobs projected to be filled. Locals and residents from...

WHILE 68pc of global nickel is still used for the production of stainless steel, and only 3pc for battery metals, an announcement by the Chinese government may have changed the fortune of the metal, along with the future of the automotive industry forever. In 2018, China sent ripples throughout the car manufacturing and mining worlds when it announced its New Energy Vehicle (NEV) deal. The deal set a quota for the number of zero-emissions vehicles that carmakers must sell, with companies each receiving a certain number of credits, depending on certain characteristics of the vehicles. From 2019, major Chinese manufacturers would be punished unless they met quotas for zero and low-emission cars, or bought credits from companies that did not...