Sydney based Malachite Resources has acquired Sunshine Minerals and agreed to purchase an 80pc stake in Kolosori Nickel, both of which operate the Jejevo and Kolosori Nickel Project, in the Solomon Islands.
The Solomon Islands, located west of Papua New Guinea, contain large nickel deposits. The Kolosori Project alone has an indicated 6mn mt of mineral deposit, graded at 1.6pc nickel, of which 3.9mn mt is a Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) compliant resource.
The Jejevo Project run by Sunshine has approximately 10-15mn mt of nickel resources with grades ranging from 1.1-1.3pc nickel. The project was previously owned by Metminco and Sumitomo.
Both mines contain direct shipping laterite nickel ore. Malachite intends to quicken the JORC confirmation of the deposits and begin mining activities over the next two years.