Nickel miner LionOre Australia continues to storm up the local nickel production charts, this year looking at doubling its annual production.
However, longer term it is eyeing substantial growth opportunities in WA.
LionOre managing director Mark Ashley said while the company did not have a target of being the biggest or the fastest producer, he conceded increased cash flow normally went together with increased production.
“So to grow, we do want to continue increasing our production but not at all costs,” he said.
LionOre will more than double its nickel production from 9,000 tonnes last year to at least 20,000 tonnes this year. The increase will come from increased throughput capacity at the Emily Anne mine due to a plant upgrade at the Lake Johnston operations.
LionOre also recently acquired MPI Mines nickel assets including the Black Swan/Silver Swan operation (80 per cent LionOre) – forecast to produce 12,000 tonnes of nickel this year.
Where Mr Ashley said LionOre was really eyeing growth opportunities, though, was through its Activox hydrometallurgical process at the Avalon plant near Kalgoorlie, which has a back-end capacity 20,000 tonnes of nickel and a front-end capacity of 40,000 tonnes.
LionOre is also trying to develop the giant Honeymoon Well deposit with a resource of about one million tonnes of contained nickel.
Mr Ashley said the two projects went hand in hand and would provide a quantum leap forward in LionOre’s growth strategy.
