The Foreign Investment Review Board has given the green light for a “globally significant” joint venture to develop a nickel-cobalt resource near Kalgoorlie.
West Perth-based Ardea Resources told the market today it had received FIRB approval for its joint venture with Japanese giants Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corporation to develop the Goongarrie Hub nickel project near Kalgoorlie.
Ardea managing chief executive Andrew Penkethman said he was pleased to receive the approval.
“The support from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board is a strong endorsement from the Australian government for this major critical mineral collaboration between Australia and Japan,” he said.
Speaking on the feasibility study in July, Mr Penkethman said DFS drilling was designed to outline the measured resource within the open-pit shells defined during prefeasibility studies in 2023.
“The Googarrie Hub definitive feasibility study is the first critical minerals collaboration between Australia and Japan, with the project expected to be a multi-decade nickel-cobalt operation that provides supply chain diversity, security and meets the ESG standards expected from Australia and Japan,” he said.
Ardea revealed in May that the Japanese consortium had committed to backing the development of the project.
Details of the deal show that Sumitomo and Mitsubishi have agreed to jointly fund the $98.5 million DFS for the Goongarrie Hub, which is part of Ardea’s wider Kalgoorlie nickel project.
The Japanese companies can claim up to 50 per cent of the Goongarrie Hub operation by funding the DFS and also by helping Ardea secure debt financing for the project as part of the JV agreement.
The Kalgoorlie project features a resource of 854 million tonnes at 0.71 per cent nickel and 0.045 per cent cobalt for a total of 6.1mt of contained nickel and 386,000 tonnes of contained cobalt.
Goongarrie Hub comprises the bulk of the resource, with 584mt at 0.69 per cent nickel and 0.043 per cent cobalt.
Nickel prices have fallen to $16,300/t, mainly driven by a significant increase in global nickel production.
The rapid expansion of Indonesia's nickel industry has flooded the market, causing prices to drop from their peaks in 2022 and 2023.
The resource is, however, still a go-to material for use in electric-vehicle batteries, as well as a main component in most lithium-ion batteries.
