Forrestania nickel project

The Forrestania Project, that is located 150 kilometres south of Southern Cross and 400 kilometres east of Perth in the Goldfields region of Western Australia, is wholly owned by ASX listed nickel mining company, Western Areas Limited, and includes; the Flying Fox and Spotted Quoll mines that are regarded as being two of the world's highest grade nickel producers, the Cosmic Boy Concentrator plant, a highly prospective regional tenement holding, grid power supply, 450 bed accommodation village, airstrip, water management network and a nickel export facility.

The Flying Fox Underground Nickel Mine is a High Grade Producer for the Forrestania Project

The Flying Fox underground nickel mine was the first to be developed by Western Areas in 2006. The company discovered extensive mineralisation existed below the original underground operation that had been operated by its previous owner, Finnish company, Outokumpu, between 1992 and 1997. The low cash cost mine, that is currently operating at a depth of more than one kilometre, is one of the highest grade nickel producers in the world. The Flying Fox mine produced around 12,000 tonnes of nickel bearing ore in 2015.

The Flying Fox nickel bearing ore body, that exists from between 250 metres to 1.2 kilometres below the surface, includes several independent ore bodies that are believed to extend to even greater depths. The Flying Fox mine is operated using the Avoca longhole primary stoping method of mining to facilitate the aim of achieving 100 percent recovery of the high grade nickel. Narrower sections are mined using hand held air-leg mining methods and modified Avoca techniques.

Spotted Quoll was Forrestania Second High Grade Nickel Producer to be Developed

Western Areas ongoing policy of near mine and regional exploration was rewarded in October 2007, when it discovered the Spotted Quoll ore body. The new mine at Spotted Quoll was quickly developed and two years later, in 2009, it too, was producing a high grade nickel that was equally as good and sometimes exceeding that being mined at the Flying Fox mine nearby. By 2015 it was producing around 12,500 tonnes of nickel ore a year.

The underground mining operation at Spotted Quoll is to extend to just over one kilometre below the surface using a primary stoping method known as top down technology that incorporates long hole open stoping with paste fill. Shallow and narrow areas are mined using the top down narrow vein method with paste fill. The Spotted Quoll underground mine has an expected life of mine of more than 10 years.

Cosmic Boy Concentrator Treats ore From Both Flying Fox and Spotted Quoll Mines

The Cosmic Boy concentrator plant at the Forrestania Nickel Project, processes nickel bearing ore from both the Flying Fox and Spotted Quoll underground mines, producing a concentrate grading at around 14 percent nickel. It currently has a capacity to treat 600,000 tonnes of ore a year with the potential to expand to one million tonnes annually. The Cosmic Boy Concentrator Plant is made up of a three stage crusher circuit and a single circuit ball mill as well as several flotation tanks and a thickening and filtration system.