Poseidon remains committed to building Poseidon into a sustainable nickel producer delivering value through performance and growth. The commencement of mining and processing at Black Swan is viewed as a first step in the Company's "Fill the Mill" strategy and growing the business to a 15ktpa plus nickel producer over the next 5-10 years.
Poseidon owns three significant nickel assets with a combined resource of over 400kt of nickel and processing capacity of up to 3.7Mtpa of ore to produce nickel concentrate. The Company’s business strategy remains focussed on leveraging its existing asset base to grow Poseidon into a significant nickel producer.
Poseidon’s strategic pillars are developing a pathway to production, targeted exploration across its nickel asset portfolio and considering proximal business development opportunities. The key enablers for the Company’s strategy to be successfully executed are ensuring key capabilities are resourced and the business is sufficiently funded for growth underpinned by a strong ESG framework.
The Company’s pathway to production was significantly progressed during FY22 with two metallurgical breakthroughs which could significantly improve the economics of the Black Swan project. The first involves incorporating a rougher concentrate regrind into its process flowsheet to significantly improve the quality of the smelter grade concentrate, which is expected to result in improved nickel payability. The second was testwork on a combined serpentinite and talc carbonate ore blend to produce a rougher concentrate which is amenable to both pressure oxidation and high-pressure acid leach to produce a mixed hydroxide precipitate the Expansion Project.
This culminated with the delivery of the Feasibility Study on the 1.1Mtpa project to produce high grade nickel concentrate suitable for conventional nickel smelters. Refer to ASX Release dated 21 November 2022 "Positive Black Swan Feasibility Study". The Company is now working with potential offtakers and project financiers with the aim of finalising an offtake and debt financing package.
The Company expects a more favourable environment for project development beyond 2023. The primary aim of the Company remains to restart Black Swan as soon as it is feasible to do so.
With the assistance of Poseidon’s geological consultants, Newexco, the Company has completed exploration targeting reports for Black Swan, Lake Johnston and Windarra.
The Lake Johnston report identified the Western Ultramafic Unit (WU) as a priority, with the initial drill program undertaken in May 2023 returning exciting results along 14km of the WUU. Follow up drilling is planned for Q4 2023.
The Company’s other business development efforts have been on monetising the Windarra/Lancefield gold tailings project. Following Green Gold Technologies decision not proceeding with the project in July 2023 another resources company with a plant proximal to Windarra has expressed an interest in treating the Lancefield gold tailings and accessing the water resource in the South Windarra open pit. A definitive agreement is currently being negotiated with the new entrant.