26th Jan 2015 08:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - Horizonte Minerals PLC saw its shares rise Monday after it said that drill results from bulk sample sites on the Araguaia nickel project in Brazil confirmed high nickel grades.
The nickel development company, which is focused on its fully-owned Araguaia nickel project in north central Brazil, said its drilling programme is on schedule, having already drilled 113 diamond holes, while it has so far received high grade nickel assay intersections from the first 15 holes of the bulk sample drilling. It said that further infill drilling results are due from the Pequizeiro Deposit where drilling is currently underway.
"We are making good progress on the Feasibility work at Araguaia with the drilling and collection of the 200 tonne bulk sample running to schedule. The drill results received from the bulk sample sites confirm the high nickel grades that are scheduled for the early part of Araguaia's mine life. The next major step will be the running of the pilot programme with the aim of confirming the detailed design parameters around the Rotary Kiln Electric Arc Furnace process and the production of nickel," said Chief Executive Jeremy Martin in a statement.
Horizonte Minerals shares were up 7.4% at 3.49 pence Monday morning.
Martin said that despite "current challenging market conditions", the company is still on track with its planned milestones for 2015. The company said it is on track to commence bulk sampling collection early next month, with a 200 tonne bulk sample to be used to feed a continuous large scale pilot plant in the second quarter.
"We have a solid funding position and the ongoing results from Araguaia continue to deliver. The fundamentals behind the nickel markets over the next 24 to 36 months from consensus forecasts are positive. This combined with the use of a proven processing route to produce ferronickel and Araguaia's favourable mining jurisdiction make a strong investment case for our flagship development project," said Martin.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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