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Madagascar
Ambatovy Mine

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 Location:
11 km NE from Moramanga, Madagascar

  Address:
Ambatovy Immeuble Tranofitaratra 7ème étage Rue Ravoninahitriniarivo Ankorondrano
Antananarivo
Madagascar
101
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Fax+261-20-22-540-30
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  • Overview
  • Owners
  • Geology
  • Mining
  • Processing
  • Production
  • Reserves
  • Costs & Financials
  • Fleet
  • Personnel
  • Filings & News

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Overview

StageProduction
Mine TypeOpen Pit
Commodities
  • Nickel
  • Cobalt
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Processing
  • Sulfuric acid (reagent)
  • Purification & Electrowinning
  • Calcining
  • Water leach
  • Filter press plant
  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Counter current decantation (CCD)
  • High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL)
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
Mine Life2043
Located in Madagascar, the Ambatovy Joint Venture is the largest finished nickel and finished cobalt operation from lateritic ore in the world.

Ambatovy JV recommenced production of nickel in March 2021, after suspending operations due to COVID-19 from March 2020.
Latest NewsSherritt Reports Financial Results for Q3 2020     November 4, 2020


Owners

Source:
CompanyInterestOwnership
Korea Resources Corp. 33 % Indirect
Sumitomo Corp. 54.17 % Indirect
On August 31, 2020, Sherritt International Corporation reduced its interest in the Ambatovy Joint Venture to nil.

Sumitomo Corp. share in equity has been raised from 47.67% to 54.17% since Sep. 2020.

Korea Resources Corporation's 33% stake in the Ambatovy Joint Venture.

Deposit Type

  • Laterite


Summary:

The Ambatovy orebody consists of two large, thick, weathered ultramafic lateritic nickel deposits located approximately 3 km apart. The regional geological setting is a north-south belt of basic gneisses and migmatites, which are part of the high- grade metamorphic rocks underlying the eastern two- thirds of Madagascar. The dominant feature of the Ambatovy resource is the Antampombato Complex, a large intrusive that cuts the metamorphic rocks. The intrusive is composed of gabbroic to syenitic rocks with two small outer ultramafic bodies rimming the intrusive. Exploration suggests that the complex represents multiple, magmatic intrusions that commenced with ultramafic intrusive, then was followed by gabbroic intrusives and terminated with the more felsic intrusive.

The Ambatovy Deposit occurs towards the southern margin of the complex and is approximately 3 km x 2.4 km and oriented in a west-northwest to east-southeast direction. A northwest trending gabbroic intrusive cuts the Ambatovy Deposit resulting in three sub- blocks: Ambatovy West, Central and Southeast. The Analamay Deposit is located at the eastern margin of the complex and is approximately 4 km x 2.8 km, oriented north-south and it also is divided into sub- blocks known as Analamay North, Central and South. Ambatovy West is cut by numerous block faults that strike northwest/southeast with a conjugate set, striking northeast/southwest. Evidence indicates that faulting continued during the laterisation.

The Deposits cover an area of about 1,300 ha, and range in thickness from 20 m to 100 m, with the average thickness being approximately 40 m. Within the lateritic profile, there are three distinct zones:

- Ferricrete is the uppermost layer, and forms an extremely hard, coherent crust of iron oxides up to 3 m thick and acts as a deterrent to mechanical erosion.

- Limonite, referred to locally as ferralite, constitutes more than 90% of the economic grade nickel mineralisation and is predominately a spongy mass with iron concentrations of 40–50%, predominately in goethite. Enriched nickel and cobalt grades are largely achieved by depletion of other elements through the weathering process, rather than additions to the system. The nickel grade of the laterite is influenced by the nickel content of the underlying bedrock.

- Saprolite lies at the base of the lateritic zone, on top of the bedrock.


Mining Methods

  • Truck & Shovel / Loader


Summary:

The mining method used by the Ambatovy Joint Venture is open pit mining using an excavator/truck operation. Bench mining is executed in opened deposits using hydraulic backhoe excavators equipped with 5.4 m3 buckets and a combination of rigid and articulated haulage trucks. The mine operates 365 days per year. Ore is either directly fed to the OPP or stockpiled for future processing.

Pit Limits.
The pit limits are well defined; generally, the base of the pits is the floor of the saprolite (the exception being if the slope is greater than 27° when the bedrock may form the pit floor), whilst the lateral extents are constrained either by lease/environmental boundaries or economic limits.

Pit design parameters:
- Ramp width (single/double) - 30 m
- Ramp gradient - 8 %
- Bench height - 4 m
- Bottom pushback minimum size - 0 m
- Standoff from haulroad - 10 m
- Standoff from boundary - 30 m
- Haulroad gradient - 8 %
- Haulroad section - 300 m
- Pushback minimum width - 30 m
- Minimum switchback width - 60 m
- Bench face angle (batter angle) - 45 m
- Berm width – 8 m.

A mixed fleet is used at Ambatovy, large Cat 6030 and 6020 excavators and Cat 777 haul trucks (90-t payload) move the bulk of ore and waste material. A smaller fleet of Cat 385 excavators (90-t, 5.4 m3 bucket) and Cat 745 (41-t payload) articulated dump trucks are used for residual ore mining, stockpiling reclamation, quarrying activities and road sheeting movement and to assist the large fleet when capacity is available.

The ancillary and support fleet includes additional excavators, dozers, graders, wheel loaders, service trucks etc.


Crushing and Grinding
Flow Sheet: Source

Processing and Recovery Operations.
The mine-site facilities includes, among other things, the ore preparation plant (the ‘‘OPP’’) and the slurry transfer pumping plant. These facilities are located between the Deposits.

Ore mined at the Ambatovy mine site is either directly fed to the ore preparation plant, or stockpiled for future processing.

Ore processed through the OPP is slurried with water in a rotary drum scrubber and the resultant slurry is screened at <0.8 millimetres to reject partially or un-weathered material with a high magnesium content. The screened oversize material is processed through a second scrubber and screening circuit that achieves high recovery of the limonite contained in the ore. The final reject material is used for road construction or is deposited into mined-out areas. The product ore slurry is thickened and transported down a 600 millimetre diameter pipeline that is approximately 220 kilometres to the Plant Site.

The route selected for the pipeline is as direct as practical, but some significant deviations were required to avoid environmentally and culturally sensitive areas. The design for the pipeline was prepared by Pipeline Systems Incorporated, a Canadian company.


Processing

  • Sulfuric acid (reagent)
  • Purification & Electrowinning
  • Calcining
  • Water leach
  • Filter press plant
  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Counter current decantation (CCD)
  • High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL)
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning

Flow Sheet: Subscription required

Summary:

The nickel and cobalt recovery process from lateritic ores that has been selected by the Ambatovy Joint Venture uses Sherrittdeveloped technology which is in operation at other facilities.

The Plant Site, includes, among other things, a pressure acid leaching plant, a metals refinery, and associated utility and ancillary plants including: water treatment, steam and power, hydrogen, hydrogen sulphide, sulphuric acid, air separation, limestone comminution, and lime-calcining and slaking. The Ambatovy Joint Venture holds several long-term leases for the land on which the plant and nearby tailings management facility are located. Such leases are registered at the appropriate local land titles registries.

At the processing plant, the slurry is thickened and pumped to an acid pressure leaching circuit consisting of horizontal, mechanically-agitated autoclaves. Sulphuric acid is added to the autoclaves to dissolve nickel and cobalt from the slurried ore. The discharged ........


Production:
2020 Nickel production is reported since recommenced production in Q4 2020.

CommodityUnits2021202020192018201720162015
Nickel t  ......  Subscription required ^  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required33,18331,52442,10547,271
Cobalt t  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required
All production numbers are expressed as powder. ^ Guidance / Forecast.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Operational Metrics:

Metrics2016
Annual production capacity 60,000 t of nickel powder
Annual production capacity 5,600 t of cobalt powder

Reserves at December 31, 2019:
Mineral Reserve estimates are based on a cut-off grade of 0.45% nickel.
Mineral Resource estimates are based on a cut-off grade of 0.45% nickel.

CategoryTonnage CommodityGradeContained Metal
Proven 39.2 Mt Nickel 0.89 % 349.5 kt
Proven 39.2 Mt Cobalt 0.08 % 30.4 kt
Probable 85.3 Mt Nickel 0.87 % 738.9 kt
Probable 85.3 Mt Cobalt 0.08 % 68.9 kt
Proven & Probable 124.5 Mt Nickel 0.88 % 1,096 kt
Proven & Probable 124.5 Mt Cobalt 0.08 % 99.6 kt
Measured 46.3 Mt Nickel 0.96 % 444.5 kt
Measured 46.3 Mt Cobalt 0.08 % 37 kt
Indicated 126.9 Mt Nickel 0.91 % 1,155 kt
Indicated 126.9 Mt Cobalt 0.08 % 101.5 kt
Measured & Indicated 185.9 Mt Nickel 0.91 % 1,697 kt
Measured & Indicated 185.9 Mt Cobalt 0.08 % 146.2 kt
Inferred 68.7 Mt Nickel 0.85 % 584 kt
Inferred 68.7 Mt Cobalt 0.08 % 55 kt

Commodity Production Costs:

CommodityUnits201920182017201620152014
Credits (by-product) Nickel USD  ......  Subscription required -2.98 / lb -2.35 / lb -0.82 / lb -0.87 / lb -1.09 / lb
Cash costs (sold) Nickel USD  ......  Subscription required 6.79 / lb 6.01 / lb 4.89 / lb 5.49 / lb 7.82 / lb
Cash costs (sold) Nickel USD  ......  Subscription required† 3.91 / lb† 3.83 / lb† 4.27 / lb† 4.83 / lb† 7.04 / lb†
† Net of By-Product.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Financials:

Units20192018
Operating Income M CAD  ......  Subscription required-340.5  
Pre-tax Income M CAD  ......  Subscription required-619.7  
After-tax Income M CAD  ......  Subscription required-625.1  


Heavy Mobile Equipment as of June 30, 2018:
HME TypeModelSize
Excavator ....................... Subscription required
Excavator ....................... Subscription required
Excavator ....................... Subscription required 90 t
Truck (dump) ....................... Subscription required
Truck (haul) ....................... Subscription required 90 t
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Mine Management:

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 29, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 29, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 29, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 29, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 29, 2021
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Staff:

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
Subscription required Subscription required Subscription required 2019
Subscription required Subscription required Subscription required 2018
Subscription required Subscription required Subscription required 2017
Subscription required Subscription required Subscription required 2016
Subscription required Subscription required Subscription required 2015

Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
Annual Information Form 2018
Fact Sheet 2018
Quarterly Report 2018
Technical Report 2018
Annual Information Form 2017
Annual Report 2017
Annual Report 2017
Sustainability Report 2017
Annual Information Form 2016
Annual Report 2016
Sustainability Report 2016
Annual Information Form 2015
Annual Report 2015
Annual Report 2015
Fact Sheet 2015
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

News:

NewsDate
Sherritt Reports Financial Results for Q3 2020 November 4, 2020
Sherritt Announces Successful Closing of Its Transaction to Improve Its Capital Structure August 31, 2020
Sherritt Announces Amendment to Its Transaction to Improve Its Capital Structure Relating to Its Ambatovy Joint Venture Partner Loans July 17, 2020

Aerial view:

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