Poseidon Nickel (ASX:POS) considers plant upgrades following scoping study

• Poseidon Nickel (POS) is floating the prospect of upgrading two nickel plants after determining the upgrades would be relatively low in cost and take six months to complete
• The company undertook a scoping study to estimate costs for refurbishing two processing plants at its Black Swan Project
• The upgrades are projected to cost around $22 million and take six months to complete
• Poseidon said it will need to increase its high-grade ore inventory before committing to the refurbishments
• Poseidon Nickel shares are up 7.14 per cent to trade at 15 cents

Poseidon Nickel (POS) is floating the prospect of upgrading two nickel plants after determining the upgrades would be relatively low in cost and take six months to complete.

The results stem from a scoping study undertaken by POS to determine the estimated costs for refurbishing two processing plants at the Black Swan Project 50 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie.

The 150,000 tonne per annum Silver Swan circuit — which is used to treat high-grade sulphide ore — was estimated to cost between $13.4 million and $15.9 million to refurbish.

Meanwhile, the 1.1-million-tonne-per-annum lower grade circuit could be refurbished for $22.1 million.

Both are estimated to take approximately two months to complete.

Based on the outcome of the study, Poseidon said it will be continuing to study options of selling ore to third parties but processing at Black Swan leads as the “the most attractive option” for high-grade ore.

Poseidon said it will need to increase its high-grade ore inventory before committing to restarting the 150 kilotonne per annum concentrator.

Poseidon Nickel shares are up 7.14 per cent to trade at 15 cents at 1:53 pm AEST.