Chalice confirms $4.7b critical minerals development 

Chalice Mining’s (ASX: CHN) pre-feasibility study has been completed for the Gonneville palladium-nickel-copper project in WA, confirming a 23-year open pit phase. 

Gonneville is set to become Australia’s first primary platinum group metal (PGM) mine and second largest nickel mine, producing an average of 220kozpa of 3E precious metals (palladium, platinum and gold), plus 7ktpa of nickel, 8ktpa of copper and .7ktpa of cobalt. 

This would help diversify global supply as about 93% of current PGM supply comes from Russia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. 

According to Chalice, about 50% of the resource remains unmined (about 7.9moz 3E, 450kt nickel, 250kt copper, 46kt cobalt contained). 

Chalice managing director and chief executive Alex Dorsch says the PFS is a major milestone for the company and highlights its plan to develop a major critical minerals mine. 

“The study demonstrates that Gonneville is viable and will generate solid returns, even at bottom of the cycle prices,” he said. 

“The project development plan has been dramatically simplified, with a two-stage open-pit and conventional concentrator-leach process flowsheet, which with recent improvements and optimisations in the PFS have underpinned a low-risk and financially strong study.” 

The initial two-stage open pit phase could generate cumulative free cashflow pre-tax of $4.7b, increasing to $6.2b at spot prices, according to Chalice. 

Chalice chief operating officer Dan Brearley comments on the project. 

“We now will progress the feasibility study, the next stage of regulatory approvals and continue to de-risk the project through engineering,” he said.  

“It’s a very exciting time for our team and we have come a long way in just over 5 years since our discovery.” 

Chalice plans to employ a primarily residential workforce with 1200 FTE construction jobs in Stage 1 (2028-2029) and Stage 2 (2033) and 500 FTE operations jobs for 23+ years (2029+). 

Direct royalties and taxes to state and federal government are anticipated at $1.5b.