Inco‘s (N-T) Goro lateritic nickel deposit on the French Pacific island of New Caledonia has taken another step toward reality with the selection of U.S.-based Bechtel Overseas Corp. and France’s Technip as prime construction contractors.
The contractors will be responsible for engineering, procurement, construction and management services for the US$1.4-billion project.
The Bechtel-Technip joint venture plans to employ Hatch Associates of Canada as a subcontractor. All of the selections are subject to the finalization of definitive agreements and CMX board approval.
Construction is slated to start this year and Inco expects to be in commercial production by late 2004. The project is expected to produce 54,000 tonnes nickel and 5,400 tonnes cobalt annually at a cash cost of less than US$2,200 per tonne.
The Goro deposit is a nickel-bearing laterite. It is near the southeastern end of the island and about 35 km east of Noumea. Inco estimates a minable reserve of 47 million tonnes grading 1.59% nickel and 0.17% cobalt, plus a resource of 219 million tonnes grading 1.57% nickel and 0.18% cobalt.
Inco says Goro’s laterite ores have responded well to the company’s pressure-acid-leach (PAL) technology, which differs from the PAL system that has been used, with limited success, in Western Australia. The company’s US$50-million pilot plant is working well. The overall recovery rates are 96% for nickel and 94% for cobalt.
Inco owns an 85% interest in the project. The remainder is held by the French state agency, Bureau de recherche gologiques et minires.
Meanwhile, negotiations with the government of Newfoundland, aimed at reviving development of Inco’s long-stalled Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper-cobalt project in Labrador, are back on track and expected to run through the summer. A conclusion is hoped for in the fall.
Inco CEO Scott Hand says the two projects could conceivably be developed together and that new partners may be brought in for both.
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