The Forrestania nickel operations in Western Australia may soon have a new owner as IGO plans to transition the mine to care and maintenance in the next 12 months.
Medallion Metals has been given sole rights to negotiate a deal for the site’s Cosmic Boy processing facility and associated infrastructure at Forrestania through an ‘exclusivity deed’.
Production at the Forrestania’s Flying Fox underground mine ceased in November 2023, with the Spotted Quoll underground mine becoming the last active producer of nickel left at the operation.
“After 18 years of commercial nickel production from the Flying Fox and Spotted Quoll mines, Forrestania’s nickel reserves are approaching depletion,” IGO said.
“The opportunity to divest the valuable assets at Forrestania to another party, such as Medallion, would be a positive outcome for both IGO and Medallion.”
Importantly, IGO will retain lithium and nickel rights at Forrestania. The IGO exploration team is continuing to progress work at the South Ironcap prospect, where spodumene bearing pegmatites have been discovered.
During the nine-month exclusivity period, IGO and Medallion’s intent is to conduct due diligence, progress discussions and negotiate binding transaction documentation.
Medallion seems to be more interested in the project’s gold potential than its flagging nickel deposits, as the companies also intend to negotiate – on a non-exclusive basis – the grant of gold and silver rights to Medallion across the Forrestania tenement package.
Medallion’s Ravensthorpe gold project sits to the south nearby Forrestania and holds a mine life set to continue for another nine years.
“This is a transformational opportunity for Medallion. Bringing the established high-grade gold-copper resources at Ravensthorpe together with the Forrestania infrastructure has the potential to unlock significant value in a short space of time,” Medallion managing director Paul Bennett said.
“Additionally, establishing gold processing capability at Forrestania creates an opportunity to commercialise stranded deposits in the region as well as reinvigorate gold exploration across the highly prospective Forrestania greenstone belt.
“We welcome the opportunity to partner with IGO to seek to create a new gold business at Forrestania while allowing IGO to continue to pursue its corporate objectives in the region.”
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