Centaurus' Jaguar Ni mine in Brazil eyes 2027 output

Australian mining company Centaurus Metals said that its Jaguar nickel sulphide project in Brazil is undergoing a feasibility study and aims to start production in mid-2027.

Jaguar, bought from Brazilian mining firm Vale in 2020, is estimated to hold 109mn t of 0.87pc grade nickel for an estimated 948,900t of contained nickel. The nickel product will be largely targeted at the Atlantic market, with expectations that demand will strengthen in the region.

"Demand for nickel we believe is not going away. And if you look at what's going to happen in the US and European markets in particular, nickel will probably be a bigger part of the battery composition than anywhere else," Centaurus' managing director Darren Gordon said at the Tribeca Futures Commodities conference held in Singapore on 26 March. "There's a huge amount of nickel that still needs to come into the market."

Many Australian mining firms have struggled with a slump in global nickel prices earlier in the year because of a supply glut caused by increased volumes from Indonesia, coupled with a slowdown in demand. Several Australian mines have halted operations, while other processing facilities were placed on care and maintenance programmes. But Centaurus is hopeful that Jaguar will be able to compete on a cost and environmental basis with Indonesian supplies.

"Nickel is going to continue be supplied out of Indonesia in very large ways so we are going to compete on costs. And we think that when we deliver the feasibility study, we will be able to demonstrate that we can compete on costs. But overlay on that, we have this very low carbon footprint associated with our project," Gordon added.

Centaurus said Jaguar is one of the lowest carbon footprint nickel project globally, following a review done by a metals and mining ESG research company. Once operational, greenhouse gas emissions from the project are forecast to be 7.27t of carbon dioxide/t of nickel equivalent, which is assessed to be lower than 94pc of other global nickel production.

By Sheih Li Wong