Mineral miner Chalice has announced a positive result from a scoping study on its Gonneville nickel-copper-platinum group element (PGE) project in Western Australia.
The study outlined a new long-life, low-cost, low-carbon green metals mine with the potential to deliver strong financial returns and regional benefits, plus significant upside.
PGE was found to be an executable, Tier 1 scale development project in a world-class jurisdiction, with early high-grade underground development options.
Compelling returns on the project were generated over its modelled life with a short payback period of about two years.
The project was also scoped to have world-class sustainability metrics with low carbon intensity.
“Gonneville has the potential to deliver a large suite of metals which are essential to global decarbonisation and urbanisation,” Chalice managing director and chief executive officer Alex Dorsch said.
“With a low carbon footprint and a development plan which is deliberately constrained to Chalice-owned farmland, Gonneville is scoped to become a modern mine that can co-exist with the local environment and our science-based biodiversity strategy, which is embedded from the outset and ensures no net-loss of habitat or species.
“The study shows that we have the opportunity to do this while generating both exceptional financial returns for our shareholders and delivering social and economic benefits for the surrounding region, the state and the nation over decades.”
Formal referral of the project to the WA and Federal Governments is targeted for 2024. Once submitted the regulatory environmental approval process will commence, with the pre-feasibility study targeted for completion in 2025.