The Nova Operation comprises an underground mine consisting of two orebodies, Nova and Bollinger.

Nova-Bollinger lies within the 425km by 50km wide, Mesoproterozoic-age Fraser Zone of the Albany-Fraser Orogen. The Fraser Zone is fault bounded by the Biranup Zone to the northeast, and the Nornalup Zone to the southeast. The Arid Basin forms the basement to the Fraser Zone and the Snowys Dam formation of the Arid Basin is the basement package in the Nova-Bollinger area.

Mafic, ultramafic and granitic intrusions were emplaced in the region during the first phase of the Albany-Fraser Orogeny (~1.30Ga). Later, intense tectonic events (1.12-1.14Ga), metamorphosed the Fraser Zone rocks to granulite facies grade, and the zone is now characterised by gneissic fabrics, complex refolding and major mylonitic zones.

The rocks within the Nova-Bollinger region are consistent with the regional descriptions of the Snowys Dam formation and include pelitic to psammitic gneisses, a local carbonate unit, along with metamorphosed mafic/ultramafic and volcanoclastic rocks. The Nova-Bollinger mafic-ultramafic sill complex that hosts the Nova-Bollinger deposit, is a doubly plunging synform, where a magnetite-bearing footwall gneiss has been identified as the cause of ‘The Eye’ magnetic feature.

The mafic/ultramafic sill complex is a dishshaped package ~ 2.4km by ~1.2km in plan and ~450m in thickness. The rocks of the complex range from peridotite to pyroxenite, to gabbronorite and norite, with both sharp and gradational contacts between different intrusive phases.

The mine area is covered by a (<3m) thick regolith and/or transported cover, with some of oxidation of sulphides in fresh rock down to ~20m in the western end of the Nova area.

Nova-Bollinger’s mineralisation is associated with a mafic magmatic conduit known as the Nova Gabbro, from which the sulphide mineralisation precipitated and accumulated within the conduit and the fracture zones surrounding this source intrusion. The Nova Gabbro and associated sulphide mineralisation is interpreted to have been emplaced in a dynamic environment, at peak metamorphism, with most of the sulphide mineralisation remobilised into structures and/or fracture zones surrounding the mineralising intrusion.

There are several mineralisation styles in the NovaBollinger Deposit ranging from massive sulphide accumulations, breccias, net-textured zones (olivine + sulphide matrix), stringer-sulphides in metasediments, and disseminated and blebby textures in gabbroic units.

The massive sulphide mineralogy is dominated by pyrrhotite (80-85%), minor pentlandite (10-15%) with lesser chalcopyrite (5-10%). Concentrations (up to 5%) of magnetite also occur locally within massive sulphides. Cobalt is strongly and positively correlated with nickel as both elements are found concentrated in pentlandite, albeit both also occur in minor concentrations in solid solution with pyrrhotite.

Mining of the Nova-Bollinger deposit is and will be, by underground mining methods including mechanised mining, open stoping and/or paste backfill stoping.

The Nova Operation is based on a designed 1.5Mtpa underground operation with decline access, 1.5Mtpa processing plant and associated infrastructure and services. The principal stoping methods is sub-level open stoping with paste fill to maximise extraction of the orebody. The stopes measure up to 25 metres by 25 metres horizontally and 70 metres in height.

Underground mining contractor - Barminco.

The plant included single stage crushing, with conveyors that deliver the ore to a coarse ore bin. Coarse ore is ground in a two stage grinding circuit that comprises a SAG and ball mill.

The Nova Operation consists of a processing facility with nameplate production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum that produces a nickel concentrate and a copper concentrate.

The plant included single stage crushing, with conveyors that deliver the ore to a coarse ore bin. Coarse ore is ground in a two stage grinding circuit that comprises a SAG and ball mill. The ore/slurry from the grinding circuit is classified via the mill cyclones and the cyclone overflow undergoes differential flotation. The nickel and copper flotation circuits have dedicated regrind, cleaning and re-cleaning processes to optimise metal recovery in each circuit.

Plant tailings are pumped to a cemented paste back-fill plant with the paste product delivered underground via a borehole and underground distribution system, or plant tailings can be pumped to a tailing storage facility when paste fill is not required in the mine.