Poseidon’s (ASX:POS) Black Swan set to take flight

Poseidon Nickel has ticked off an important milestone of its ‘Fill the Mill’ strategy with an increase in overall contained nickel tonnes and a boost to the higher confidence Measured and Indicated Resources at its Black Swan Project.

Significantly, the recent drilling results included in the updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) have also given Poseidon Nickel better knowledge of the mineralisation below the existing Black Swan open pit. This improved metallurgical understanding is pivotal to Poseidon (ASX:POS) further de-risking the restart of the WA project.

The updated MRE now totals 28.9 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.63% nickel containing 181 kilo tonnes (kt) of nickel at a 0.4% cut off.

That includes a 35% lift in contained nickel compared to the 2014 Resource, with Measured and Indicated Resources now at 10.7Mt at 0.75% nickel containing 80kt nickel.

The Global Resource metal inventory has increased by approximately 10kt contained nickel and is at a higher average grade.

Fill the Mill

Managing Director and CEO Peter Harold commented: “The update to the Black Swan Disseminated Resource is an important milestone towards our Fill the Mill Strategy.

“Black Swan has a 2.2Mtpa process plant (mill) and our strategy is to ‘Fill the Mill’ to leverage off the existing infrastructure and large resource base at Black Swan.

“The latest MRE incorporates the results from the recent underground drill programs undertaken from the Gosling drill drive.

“We are pleased the updated Resource has resulted in both an increase in the overall tonnes of contained nickel together with an increase in the inventory of the Measured and Indicated Resources.

“The improved metallurgical understanding from the recent drilling will help us to further de-risking the restart of Black Swan.

“Work is well advanced on optimising the pit shell designs from the new MRE and from the underground mining studies of the Silver Swan and Golden Swan Resources. Once completed, this work will allow the updating of Ore Reserves for the Black Swan Project to underpin the Bankable Feasibility Study.”

The updated MRE closely follows the upgrade to the Resource for the Silver Swan deposit, which could provide more high-grade feed to the Black Swan plant.

The updated MRE prepared by independent resource consultants Golder Associates incorporates 5,144 metres of new drilling completed by Poseidon between October 2021 and March 2022 as well as drilling completed in 2019.

Poseidon’s journey to becoming a sustainable nickel producer is advancing as significant demand growth is expected in the nickel market due to its use in lithium-nickel ion batteries for a range of clean energy applications such as electric vehicles, as well as consumer electronics, medical equipment and a range of alloys.

This article was developed in collaboration with Poseidon Nickel, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.