The nickel development company Horizonte Minerals recently completed results of a pre-excavation drilling programme on its Araguaia project, situated in Brazil.
Trial excavation work is underway with the aim of converting Probable Reserve to Proven Reserve, conform resource re-conciliation and overall mining conditions.
Horizonte CEO Jeremy Martin said, "I am pleased to report the completion of the diamond drill programme over the trial excavation site, the aim of this work was to define an area with near surface transition and saprolite mineralisation that would be representative of the first five to eight years mine life. The drill results demonstrate this and additionally confirm the high grade nature of the nickel mineralisation that has been drill defined across the project. The next stage is the trial excavation programme over this area, which is now underway.
”The trial excavation programme targets the removal of approximately 20,000 tonnes of ore down to a depth of around 14 metres utilising two 35 tonne excavators and four 35 tonne trucks. We look forward to providing updates on this work stream, and the rest of the FS as we work to develop Araguaia as the next major ferronickel operation."
Horizonte Minerals plc is an AIM and TSX-listed nickel development company focused in Brazil, which wholly owns the advanced Araguaia nickel laterite project located to the south of the Carajás mineral district of northern Brazil. The company is developing Araguaia as the next major nickel mine in Brazil, with targeted production by 2019.
