Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
|
Mine Life | 4 years (as of ) |
Summary:
The Cliffs nickel deposit, is an underground, narrow veined nickel deposit, located ~700 km NE of Perth ~4 km south of Mt Keith.
The deposit lies within the more than 240 km long, NNW-SSE trending Agnew-Wiluna greenstone belt which also hosts other significant nickel sulphice deposits such as Mount Keith, Perseverance, Yakabindie, Honeymoon Well, Waterloo, Cosmos-Alec Mairs, Sinclair, Tapinos, Prospero, Rocky's Reward-Harmony and 11 Mile Well.
Cliffs ultramafic unit - which is locally >150 m thick, comprises a sequence of differentiated olivine spinifex-textured flows and trends NNW, consistent with the regional trend of the Agnew Wiluna greenstone belt. The basal member is the thickest and contains basal massive nickel sulphide mineralisation at Cliffs, 11 Mile Well and Sinclair. The Cliffs ultramafic unit is interpreted to represent a broadly comagmatic equivalent of the Mount Keith ultramafic unit, which is taken to be a subvolcanic sill that intruded and partially assimilated rocks of the Mount Keith Dacite.
The Cliffs ultramafic unit is the hosts to mineralisation at Cliffs. It has a variable thickness and comprises two main lithofacies along its strike extent: spinifex-bearing thin flows, which are barren and abundant higher in the unit, and ii). thicker ortho- to mesocumulate-dominant units, such as the mineralised, up to ~200 m thick peridotite unit (as at the Cliffs deposit) that occurs sporadically along the basal portion of the Cliffs ultramafic unit, generally beneath a thin, spinifex-rich upper komatiites member (Dowling and Hill, 1992). Massive nickel sulphide mineralisation occurs at the base of this unit.
Summary:
Underground Steeply dipping massive textured nickel-sulphide mineralisation associated with metamorphosed ultramafic lava flows.
Nickel West Cliffs is located approximately 12 kilometres south of Nickel West Mt Keith. Cliffs underground Nickel Mine is a sub-level open stoping operation down to a depth of approximately 700m. The close to 200 employees at Cliffs reside at the Mt Keith village.
Source:
Summary:
Concentration plant with a nominal capacity 11 Mtpa of ore.
Nickel concentrate transported by road to Leinster nickel operations for drying and on-shipping.
High-grade nickel sulphide ore is mined at Cliffs and Leinster underground mines. The ore is processed through a concentrator and dryer at Leinster. Nickel West’s concentrator plant in Kambalda processes ore and concentrate purchased from third parties.
Combined production numbers are reported under
Nickel West Operation
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
Plant annual capacity
| ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | 11 Mt of ore |
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Reserves at December 1, 2020:
Category | OreType | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
Proven & Probable
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
1.1 Mt
|
Nickel
|
2 %
|
Measured
|
Mill / Sulphide
|
0.94 Mt
|
Nickel
|
3.6 %
|
Indicated
|
Mill / Sulphide
|
1.1 Mt
|
Nickel
|
3.7 %
|
Indicated
|
Disseminated
|
6.6 Mt
|
Nickel
|
0.87 %
|
Inferred
|
Mill / Sulphide
|
0.53 Mt
|
Nickel
|
3.7 %
|
Inferred
|
Disseminated
|
1.7 Mt
|
Nickel
|
1 %
|
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
Document | Year |
...................................
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2020
|
...................................
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2019
|
...................................
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2018
|
Annual Report
|
2017
|
Annual Report
|
2016
|
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Aerial view:
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