Savannah

The Savannah underground mine, located 240 kilometres south of Kununurra in the East Kimberly Region of Western Australia, is predominately a nickel sulphide mine with an associated processing plant and required infrastructure. It is 100 percent owned by Panoramic Resources.

Underground Mining at the Savannah Mine is Operated at low cost
The ore mined at the Savannah Mine is extracted by means of long hole open stoping that is highly mechanised. This contributes to low cost mining that is imperative for the survival of outback mining operations.

The ore body at the Savannah Mine can be accessed from the top and bottom via a system of established tunnels. To mine the ore a slot hole raise is created from which holes are drilled to blast off vertical slabs of rock. After the rock has been removed the remaining stope is filled with a tailings and cement paste to stabilise the void. This makes it safe to mine adjoining areas. The waste material is either trucked to the surface or stockpiled underground.

Savannah Mine Processing Plant Performs Extremely well
The processing plant at the Savannah Mine consists of a single stage crusher, a SAG mill and a flotation plant along with thickening and filtering facilities. This process produces bulk nickel, cobalt and copper concentrate. From a metallurgical point of view it is a plant that performs extremely well. The cobalt recovery at the mine averages between 89 and 92 percent, copper 94 and 97 percent and nickel 86 and 89 percent. Although the plant was originally designed to process 750,000 tonnes of ore annually it has consistently placed more than that through the mill and management is confident it can reach 950,000 tonnes a year.

All Concentrate Pre-sold to the Jinchuan Group in China
The mineral concentrate produced the Savannah Mine is all contracted to be sold to the Chinese Jinchuan Group until mid 2020. It is trucked 240 kilometres to the port at Wyndham from where it is shipped to Jinchuan's refinery and smelter complex in north west China's Gansu Province.

Savannah Mine well Resourced for a Long Future
Mineral resources at the Savannah mine site stood at 5.41 million tonnes at June 30, 2010. This resource containing 1.54 percent nickel, 0.78 percent copper and 0.08 percent cobalt that equates to 4,300 tonnes of contained cobalt, 42,000 tonnes of contained copper and 83,100 tonnes of contained nickel. The mineral ore reserve at the same time was reported to be 5.30 million tonnes of ore containing 1.2 percent nickel, 0.06 percent cobalt and 0.63 percent copper. This comes down to 3,200 tonnes of contained cobalt, 33,300 tonnes of contained copper and 63,400 tonnes of contained nickel. These resource amounts and the current level of production gives the Savannah Mine a projected life beyond 2018.

Panoramic Resources Limited is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and is a growing miner particularly involved in PGM, gold and base metals. The company employs more than 500 personnel and since it became listed in 2001 has produced 114,000 tonnes of nickel, 30,000 tonnes of copper and 3,000 tonnes of cobalt.
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