Weda Bay completes revised PFS for Halmahera Nickel project

Toronto Stock Exchange listed nickel explorer Weda Bay Minerals Inc. announced on Thursday that it had completed a revised Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for a nickel-cobalt Pressure Acid Leach (PAL) project incorporating saprolite neutralization based on its extensive laterite deposits on Halmahera Island, North Maluku province.

Weda Bay said the revised PFS incorporated a neutralization process that uses nickel bearing saprolite ore (replacing limestone) to neutralize the excess acid in the pulp discharged from the PAL process.

The company said this extraction method would rise expected production to an average of 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,000 tonnes of cobalt per annum over a 20-year project life from 48,500 tonnes of nickel and 4,600 tonnes of cobalt per annum in the previous PFS.

?Peak production occurs in years 3 to 5 when approximately 64,700 tonnes of nickel and 5,300 tonnes of cobalt are produced annually. The majority of the infrastructure as detailed in the first study was retained. The estimated capital cost is US$ 902 million inclusive of contingency and owners costs,? said the company in a statement.

The average operating cost is estimated to be US$0.78 per pound of nickel in a mixed sulphide intermediate product, exclusive of cobalt credit, said the company.

?The facility as detailed in this revised PFS achieves a 24 percent increase in nickel production over the previous study. The estimated capital cost has increased by 7 percent and the operating cost per pound of nickel is reduced by 21 percent. These factors combined have resulted in a substantially more robust project.?

Meanwhile, the company also announced that International Mining Consultants Pty Ltd. (IMC)had reviewed the Santa Monica data compiled by the Company over the past three years and constructed a computer based block model of the resource. IMC estimates Santa Monica resource deposit at 71.5 million dry tones at 1percent Ni or 0.1 percent Co Cut-off Grade with 1.35 percent of nickel and .11 percent of cobalt. Santa Monica is only one of the many deposits within the company's Contract of Work

The company said activities over the next few months would include the consideration of alternative financial structures as a means to reduce project risk and continuing discussions with Indonesian authorities to build further support for the project.

Weda Bay owns 90 percent stake at PT Weda Bay Nickel, which operates the giant nickel and cobalt prospect. The remaining 10 percent stake is held by state miner PT Aneka Tambang Tbk. (alex)