Giga Metals (TSXV: GIGA) announced that it has filed a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Turnagain nickel project in northwest British Columbia, Canada.
In a press release, Giga Metals said that the project is estimated to produce nickel in concentrate with a low greenhouse gas footprint of <2.5 t/t Ni over the project life.
The company said that the carbon footprint could be reduced even further to <0.7 t/t nickel if it is able to get access to electric mining fleet equipment in suitable capacities.
“At these rates, the CO2-sequestering capabilities of the Turnagain tailings may enable the project to be carbon-neutral,” the media brief states.
According to Giga Metals, the Turnagain PEA demonstrates the potential for establishing a long-life, open-pit mine and mill using conventional froth flotation technology to produce high-grade nickel sulphide concentrate.
“With a phased implementation to a facility with a throughput rate of 90,000 tonnes per day, annual production is projected to average more than 33,000 tonnes per year nickel (73 million pounds per year) for a project life of 37 years,” the release states. “The PEA has identified numerous opportunities for project improvement.”
Considered one of the largest undeveloped sulphide nickel deposits in the world, Turnagain hosts measured and indicated resources of 5.2 billion pounds of nickel and 312 million pounds of cobalt and inferred resources of 5.5 billion pounds of nickel and 327 million pounds of cobalt.