BLACK SWAN FLOCKS TO GOLD

POSEIDON NICKEL HAS BEEN COY ABOUT RESTARTING ITS BLACK SWAN NICKEL MINE, BUT RECENT DRILL RESULTS MAY PROVE THE PROJECT TO BE AN IRRESISTIBLE GOLDEN GOOSE.

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It was a big year in 2024 for Poseidon Nickel’s Black Swan project in Western Australia.

The mine, out of action since 2008, had its care and maintenance program replaced with possible expansions and a new lease on life – but it’s not the first time the mine has gone from hot to cold and back.

Operations first commenced at the Black Swan open pit in 1997 and it operated continuously until 2008. In that time the mine, and its underground sister Silver Swan, produced around 179,000 tonnes of nickel.

The project had a number of owners over the years, including Finnish company Outokumpu until 2002, followed by MPI Mines, Lionore from 2004 and Norilsk Nickel from 2007.

Norilsk acquired the mine through a takeover of Lionore, but a nickel slump soon after saw a number of mines in WA shuttered, including Black Swan.

Poseidon took over the mine’s reins in 2014 but held steady on any firm decision to resume operations until it announced Black Swan would be restarting in 2022.

The company undertook various testing and studies to prepare the mine for production following the announcement, but in mid-2023 a string of hiccups led Poseidon to consider putting its restart plans on hold again.

At the time, then-chief executive officer (CEO) Peter Harold said Poseidon’s plan was to continue expanding Black Swan’s resource estimates with the aim of restarting as soon as feasible.

“While the team has made solid progress advancing the project towards the restart, we have been advised that grid power will not be available at site until late 2024,” Harold said. “In addition, we have determined that further metallurgical test work is required to confirm the recoveries used in the feasibility study for the disseminated open pit ore.