Pacific Nickel is advancing two near term development high-grade nickel exploration projects, Kolosori (80%) and Jejevo (80%), located on Isabel Island within the Solomon Islands. The remaining 20% of both projects is held by landowners.
The Company is initially focussed on advancing its flagship Kolosori Nickel Project into production, which is anticipated for November 2023. The Kolosori Project is a Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) with a high-grade nickel laterite Mineral Resource Estimate totalling 7.06 million tonnes at 1.57% Ni at a 1.2% Ni cut off.
The Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) released in February 2023 for the Kolosori Project confirmed a relatively low technical risk operation with a pre-production CAPEX of US$18.6m with a less than one year payback period. The NPV of the Project for the extended case was A$118m (on a 100% project basis).. Following the release of the positive DFS, the Company received Project Financing from Glencore, who provided a loan facility of up to US$22.0m and a 6-year term Offtake agreement. Importantly, this loan facility covers the pre-production CAPEX and working capital assumed in the DFS.
Construction of the Project began in earnest in August 2023 following the arrival of the contract mining equipment from PNG. The Project is currently in development with first shipment of ore scheduled for November 2023.
The Jejevo Nickel Project will likely follow the same development blueprint as the Kolosori Project and the Company submitted a Mining Lease application, which was accompanied by a preliminary Scoping Study in support of the application.
