IGO puts nickel project on care and maintenance

The Review, which commenced in mid-2023, has been focused on identifying risks and assessing opportunities to optimise the life of mine plan, capital cost estimates, and schedule.

Having thoroughly assessed the Project, the outcomes of the Review has demonstrated a reduction in the expected life of mine, delays in getting the mine to full capacity to fill the processing plant, and further increases in operating and capital costs. In parallel, commodity prices have deteriorated significantly since the Review commenced, impacting the economics of Cosmos.

As a result, IGO has made the decision to transition Cosmos into care and maintenance. The transition, which is expected to be concluded by 31 May 2024, will prioritise the safe preservation of the Cosmos assets and the completion of select key workstreams include finishing the wet commissioning of the processing plant and processing of existing ore on the ROM pad.

During the transition to care and maintenance, IGO will also assess the value of continuing work on select exploration programmes to increase the size and definition of the mineral resource, in particular the AM5 and AM6 orebodies, and optimising the mining and materials handling methods. IGO intends to protect the optionality to restart Cosmos in the future should market conditions improve.

This transition will have an impact to the company’s staff and IGO is currently working on a resourcing plan for the transition and care and maintenance phases. While the company expects to be able to offer some redeployment opportunities, there will be roles which will become redundant. IGO is providing all the necessary support for their staff as they work through this process.

IGO’s Managing Director and CEO, Ivan Vella, commented, “This is not the outcome anyone at IGO wanted, however we cannot ignore the operational and financial risks involved in continuing to develop Cosmos in the current environment. We still believe there is value in Cosmos, however in this nickel environment we need to be disciplined with our allocation of capital, while retaining our optionality to restart if market conditions improve.

“I’d like to thank the team on site who have done an outstanding job to work through the challenges, and to progress the Project to where it is today. Prioritising and minimising the impact on our team through this process is our absolute focus and we will provide every support we can to those people affected.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/02022024/igo-puts-nickel-project-on-care-and-maintenance/