Overview
Stage | Pre-Feasibility |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
- Nickel
- Cobalt
- Palladium
- Platinum
|
Mining Method |
|
Mine Life | 30 years (as of Jan 1, 2023) |
The Turnagain project is one of the few significant undeveloped sulphide nickel and cobalt resources globally.
The Turnagain project will implement both trolley-assist and autonomous technologies as part of the hauling fleet. |
Source:
Giga Metals Corporation is the majority owner of Hard Creek Nickel Corporation (HCNC). HCNC holds 100% interest of the Turnagain Project and all its assets.
The Turnagain Project is held in HCNC, a subsidiary owned 85% by Giga Metals Corporation and 15% by Mitsubishi Corporation.
Contractors
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Summary:
The Turnagain deposit is a magmatic sulphide resource hosted by an Alaskan-type intrusion.
While Turnagain exhibits these Alaskan-type characteristics, it is unusual in that it hosts magmatic sulphide mineralization in appreciable abundance. Nixon (1998) concluded that the iron-nickel-copper (Fe-Ni-Cu) sulphides in the Turnagain complex are primary and magmatic (as opposed to having resulted from a post-emplacement process) and that wall rock inclusions which have been observed in drill core may have provided a mechanism for sulphur saturation and precipitation of Fe-Ni-Cu sulphides. This has been confirmed by sulphur and lead isotope results reported by Scheel (2007).
Disseminated and rare net-textured mineralization at Turnagain is hosted in dunite, wehrlite, olivine clinopyroxenite and clinopyroxenite and serpentinized equivalents. Sulphides include pyrrhotite, pentlandite, chalcopyrite and trace bornite. Valleriite is sometimes present where serpentinization is intense.
Property Geology
The Early Jurassic (190 ±1 million years ago [Scheel, 2007]) Turnagain complex comprises a central core of dunite with bounding units of wehrlite, olivine clinopyroxenite, clinopyroxenite, representing crystal cumulate sequences, hornblende clinopyroxenite and hornblendite. The complex is elongated and broadly conformable to the northwesterly trending regional structural grain.
The ultramafic rocks are generally fresh to mildly serpentinized ........
Summary:
The Turnagain deposit will be mined using conventional open pit mining methods consisting of drilling, blasting, loading and hauling with large-scale mining equipment. Vegetation, topsoil and overburden will be stripped and stockpiled for future reclamation use. The ore and waste rock will be drilled and blasted on 15-meter benches and loaded into autonomous trolley-assist diesel haul trucks with a fleet of electric rope shovels and front-end wheel loaders.
To maximize the NPV of the project, mining phases (pushbacks) have been designed and incorporated into the mining sequence to bring higher grade material forward and to defer waste rock stripping. The phase designs were guided by the lower RF pit shells from the pit optimization analysis.
A total of six phases have been designed. To confirm the phases can be mined safely and efficiently with the selected mining fleet, a minimum width of 100 m has been considered between each phase. For all phases, design of the haul ramps included the trolley-assist infrastructure, maximizing haul road usage and reducing infrastructure requirements.
A stockpile strategy has been defined to feed the process plant with the highest-grade material at the start of the operation and stockpile the lower-grade material to be processed in the later years. The goal was to optimize the pit to schedule the high-grade ore as early as possible and process the low-grade ore contained inside the pit at the end of the LOM ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Source:
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Reserves at September 22, 2023:
Open pit mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.1% Ni.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven & Probable
|
950,485 kt
|
Nickel
|
0.205 %
|
1,949 kt
|
Proven & Probable
|
950,485 kt
|
Cobalt
|
0.013 %
|
121 kt
|
Proven & Probable
|
950,485 kt
|
Palladium
|
0.022 g/t
|
727 koz
|
Proven & Probable
|
950,485 kt
|
Platinum
|
0.022 g/t
|
739 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1,573,939 kt
|
Nickel
|
0.21 %
|
3,305 kt
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1,573,939 kt
|
Cobalt
|
0.013 %
|
205 kt
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1,573,939 kt
|
Palladium
|
0.02 g/t
|
1,015 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1,573,939 kt
|
Platinum
|
0.022 g/t
|
1,090 koz
|
Inferred
|
1,163,830 kt
|
Nickel
|
0.206 %
|
2,397 kt
|
Inferred
|
1,163,830 kt
|
Cobalt
|
0.012 %
|
140 kt
|
Inferred
|
1,163,830 kt
|
Palladium
|
0.016 g/t
|
583 koz
|
Inferred
|
1,163,830 kt
|
Platinum
|
0.018 g/t
|
674 koz
|
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