Mincor Resources (ASX:MCR) has formalised a nickel sulphide deal with BHP as the major looks to shore up more ore for its Nickel West operations.

The deal, which has been in the works since March, is now binding and provides Mincor with a processing and sales route for the planned restart of its nickel operations in Kambalda.

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The binding ore tolling and concentrate purchase agreement gives Mincor the right to process up to 600,000 tonnes of nickel sulphide each year at BHP’s Kambalda nickel concentrator.

That nickel would then be sold to BHP Nickel West for further downstream processing at the Kalgoorlie nickel smelter and Kwinana nickel refinery.

“Mincor and a growing number of industry participants believe in the potential generational change for nickel contained in battery technology, specifically for electric vehicles and electrical storage solutions,” Mincor managing director David Southam said.

“With hundreds of billions of dollars earmarked for investment in the battery industry over the next decade, I believe Mincor’s timing could not be better as we head into a development phase, given the dynamic shift in forecasted nickel consumption over the coming years.

“At the same time, the stainless steel market – which accounts for around 70 per cent of today’s consumption – is forecast to continue to grow strongly, especially in the nickel content rich 300 series market.”


 

In other ASX base metals news:

Poseidon Nickel (ASX:POS) has more than doubled its indicated “restart resource” for the Silver Swan project to 10,130 tonnes at 9.4 per cent nickel. The total indicated and inferred resources have increased 30 per cent to 16,030 tonnes at 9.5 per cent nickel.
 
Estrella Resources (ASX:ESR) has found nickel sulphides at a gold mine in Western Australia. The company said drilling intersected an 8.3m zone of nickel sulphides at its Munda gold mine.
 
Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) is spinning out its Northern Territory polymetallic assets, which includes the Rover 1 iron oxide-copper-gold discovery. The company is demerging with the owner of the projects, Castile Resources. Westgold shareholders will receive one Castile share for every four Westgold shares they own. Meanwhile, Castile is buying high purity alumina-focused Andromeda Metals’ (ASX:ADN) Rover copper and gold project, which sits next door to its Rover 1 project, for $650,000.
 
Encounter Resources (ASX:ENR) has uncovered a new anomaly at its Lamil copper and gold project in WA’s Paterson Province. The new anomaly, which lies within a 2km-long zone of intense alteration, was discovered during an induced polarisation survey. Encounter says the Lamil project is located on a regional scale gravity lineament in a structural setting analogous to Rio Tinto’s Winu copper-gold discovery located 120km to the north.