Jordex looking at laterite nickel deposit in Venezuela

A Venezuelan company 50% owned by Jordex Resources (VSE) recently received the exploration and mining rights for the Loma de Hierro nickel deposit in Venezuela.

Inco originally owned the concessions and did extensive work on the deposit in the 1960s before ownership of the property reverted back to the government. Inco did more than 70,000 ft. of drilling and outlined preliminary reserves totalling 42.4 million tons of laterite ore grading 1.55% nickel and 0.05% cobalt.

Inco estimated annual nickel production at 45 million lb. over the mine’s 20-year life. The estimate is based on a yearly throughput of 1.9 million tons.

Referring to Inco’s data, consultants Davy McKee recently estimated the project could be brought on stream for a capital cost of US$250-300 million at a similar production rate. McKee estimated operating costs at US$1.10-1.30 per lb. in mid-1991 dollars and noted that electricity, which represents 40-60% of operating costs for a lateritic deposit, is relatively cheap in Venezuela due to the abundant supply of electricity.

Nickel in lateritic ore is not as easily recovered as that in a sulphide ore which can simply be floated prior to smelting. Lateritic ores, essentially oxidized sulphide deposits, must have sulphur added at very high temperature before the nickel can be smelted.

Jordex plans to rebuild a primary data base for the project with additional drilling and other work to bring the property to feasibility level. David De Witt, a director of Jordex, said the property became available for development after the Venezuelan government introduced a number of initiatives to promote mining in the country. He added that the company is interested in bringing a major mining company into the project at a later date.