Conico has advised contracts have been awarded for the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the Mt Thirsty Cobalt Nickel Oxide Project – a 50/50 Joint Venture (JV) with partner Barra Resources Limited.

The Mt Thirsty Cobalt Nickel Oxide Project is located 16km north-west of Norseman, Western Australia. Mt Thirsty hosts a JORC 2004 31.9Mt at 0.13% cobalt and 0.55% nickel Mineral Resource. The Mineral Resource includes an Indicated portion of 16.6Mt at 0.14% cobalt and 0.60% nickel and an Inferred portion of 15.3Mt at 0.11% cobalt and 0.51% nickel.

The Scoping Study has shown that 73% of the cobalt is readily won through agitated atmospheric leaching using sulphur dioxide as a preferred reagent. This is a key competitive advantage for the project over many peers who require significantly higher capital to liberate cobalt and nickel through high pressure acid leaching. It is also why Mt Thirsty is so heavily leveraged to the rising cobalt price, with 84% of all revenue forecast to come from cobalt rather than nickel.

As part of the PFS, a number of consultants were selected:
AMEC Foster Wheeler Australia (a Wood company) was selected as the overall Study Engineer for the PFS. Wood is a global leader in the delivery of project, engineering and technical services to energy and industrial markets.

Snowden Mining Industry Consultants was selected to consult the Mining aspects of the study directly to the JV. Snowden were specifically selected for their expertise in geo-metallurgical optimisation of the mine plan.

Golder Associates were selected to consult many technical functions directly to the JV including mineral resources, hydrogeology and tailings management.

Talis Consultants were selected to progress the Environment and Community aspects of the study.
The JV will also contract directly with several independent consultants in the fields of geology, marketing and metallurgy to form the owner’s team. Each is an expert in its own field.

Source: www.conico.com.au