Mineral Resources buys WA nickel plant from Poseidon
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The news: Mining giant Mineral Resources plans to develop a lithium hub in the Southern Goldfields region in Western Australia after snapping up the Lake Johnston nickel concentrator plant from Poseidon Nickel.
The numbers: Mineral Resources will pay $1 million upfront for the site, another $6.5 million on completion of the sale and $7.5 million a year after that.
Lake Johnston is a nickel concentrator plant with a flotation circuit, with capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum and is capable of being converted to treat lithium ores. The asset is licensed to operate to 2041 and has an active groundwater extraction licence.
The context: Mineral Resources plans to develop Lake Johnston as its third lithium processing hub in the state, which will process fines from its Bald Hill and Mt Marion lithium operations, new discoveries as well as third-party ore in exchange for project equity.
The miner said internal studies had indicated that repurposing a brownfield site would reduce the approvals timelines by about two years compared to a greenfield development, and would also result in significant capital savings.
The source: ASX announcement
