Atlantic Nickel, along with Appian Capital Advisory, has announced the first sale of nickel concentrate from its Santa Rita nickel sulphide re-start project, an open-pit nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide operation located in Bahia, Brazil.
The company has achieved the early production of nickel concentrate, by completing the refurbishment of the plant, and advancing the commissioning activities.
Atlantic Nickel & Appian Brazil CEO Paulo Castellari said: “I am delighted to announce the official re-start and first sale from Santa Rita. This important milestone for both Atlantic Nickel and Appian demonstrates the technical excellence of our team who have brought the project back to production ahead of schedule in a safe and responsible manner.
“The team and I am now looking forward to bringing the asset to full capacity. Following our updated mineral resource estimate, Santa Rita is an asset with significant upside, with the potential for further expansion both underground and through an open pit satellite resource.”
Atlantic Nickel is expected to supply its first shipment in January of 2020
Having produced more than 11,000dmt to date, Atlantic Nickel is expected to supply its first shipment in January of 2020.
In addition, the company intends to establish relationships with different offtake partners with strong global reputations, supported by its strong commercial interest.
As part of its plans, Atlantic Nickel has signed a three-year offtake contract with Trafigura for a portion of Santa Rita’s production and a $40.8m financing arrangement. The agreement is aimed at providing the funding required for the restart of the project and strengthem the relationship with the company.
The company is expected to be complete an updated open pit reserve statement in the first quarter of 2020 and undertake further drilling in 2020.
Castellari added: “Today’s announcement further de-risks the project and I remain confident in Santa Rita’s prospects as a low-cost, long-life mine that is well positioned to benefit from the growth in electric vehicles to generate strong investor returns.”
