Canadian miner Giga Metals has filed a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Turnagain mine in British Columbia.
According to the PEA, the first phase will see 15mn mt of ore processed in a year, grading at 0.26pc, leading to metal production of 22,574mt for the first five years. The net operating cost will be $2.93/mt initially at a construction cost of $1.3bn.
In the final phase, the miner expects a throughput of 90,000mt of ore per day at the mine, producing 33,000mt of nickel per year at a low-emission standard of 2.5mt of carbon per tonne of nickel. The miner also indicated that it can lower emission to 0.7mt per nickel tonne if electric mining equipment is available by the time production is underway. The mine’s estimated life is 37 years.