After a year-long evaluation, and following a October 2020 announcement it was eyeing the restart of the Savannah nickel mine in Western Australia, Panoramic Resources said it is ready to revive the mine and has awarded more than A$315 million in work for projects to get it to production.

Underground production and development is scheduled to begin again in August at Savannah North.

As part of the restart, Panoramic has signed a deal with Parenti Group subsidiary Barminco for a four-year mining contract. That team should be mobilised in July and will be using a new mining fleet.

Additionally, the operator has come to an agreement with NRW Holdings‘ processing engineering group Primero, with which it now has a three-year deal for its processing plant. The scope of that transaction includes processing as well as maintenance work.

Also supporting the restart, Panoramic now has a five-year nickel and copper concentrate offtake agreement for February 2023 through February 2028 with Trafigura Group. The deal was concluded after a competitive tender process.

“The new offtake agreement and loan financing facilities with Trafigura are a critical piece of the restart,” said Panoramic Managing Director and CEO Victor Rajasooriar.

“The financing package avoids any dilutive equity raising by providing what we expect to be sufficient working capital to support a smooth ramp-up. The offtake agreement with Trafigura … has terms which overall are more attractive than our current contract which is scheduled to expire in February 2023.”

He added that production from Savannah is now committed until February 2028, or for about half of the operation’s current 12-year mine life.

Over its life, Panoramic projects producing 9,072 tonnes of nickel, 4,683 tonnes of copper and 676 tonnes of cobalt annually.

Source: Panoramic Resources