Weak Nickel Prices May Push Redesign of Horizonte Project

Mineweb’s Lawrence Williams reported that after talking to Jeremy Martin, CEO of Horizonte Minerals plc (TSX:HZM,LSE:HZM), he is “fairly confident in predicting” that the nickel company will redesign its Araguaia nickel project on a smaller scale as a result of low nickel prices.

As quoted in the market news:

Overall the Araguaia nickel project is located close to  Glencore Xstrata’s somewhat similarly sized Serra do Tapa deposit, which may now be being put on hold as the merged Glencore Xstrata re-examines all its high capital-cost greenfield projects.

It is in the same area also as Vale’s Onca Puma mine, currently shut down for an extended furnace rebuild, and Vermelho nickel project.  It hosts over 100 million tonnes of ore grade material near surface so stripping ratios are very low.  The smaller project size would enable it to focus on a higher grade area running at 1.8% nickel plus which would certainly enhance project economics.  Extension possibilities are good with the nickel bearing horizons running north east towards Glencore Xstrata’s ground.

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