18 / 164
18 Independence Group NL
Development
In January 2015, following the receipt of all permits for mining, excavation of the boxcut commenced, along with construction of
the accommodation village and aerodrome.
Underground hard-rock mining contractor, Barminco Ltd, was awarded a three-year contract to excavate the boxcut, complete
the decline to access the ore body, and undertake initial mining. The boxcut has been completed and the decline is advancing
ahead of schedule. The Nova Deposit orebody is expected to be reached in the second quarter of 2016.
A 492-person accommodation village has been completed and the initial 192-person construction camp has been
decommissioned.
Foundation earthworks for a 2km long, all-weather, sealed airstrip have been completed. The airstrip is able to accommodate jet
aircraft such as the Fokker F100 or BAE146 and became operational in August 2015.
A 38km long, all-weather, sealed access road connecting the Eyre Highway with the Nova Project site is expected to be
completed in 2015.
The tailings dam is complete. The dam spans approximately 1,000m x 600m and construction of its bund wall (which averages
13m in height) and plastic lining is now complete.
In June 2015, GR Engineering Services Limited was awarded the $114 million Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EP&C)
contract for the design and installation of the mineral processing and paste fill plants for the Nova Project. Design work on the
plant is underway and the plant is expected to be completed in late 2016.
First concentrate production from the Nova Project is expected in December 2016 ahead of a ramp-up in 2017 to full production.
Offtake
Offtake agreements for 100% of the nickel sulphide concentrate produced from the Nova Project for the first three years
of operations have been signed with BHP Billiton Nickel West Pty Ltd and Glencore International AG. The offtake terms are
confidential, but reflect the anticipated exceptionally high quality of the Nova Deposit nickel concentrate, which is anticipated to
have very low deleterious elements and an extremely high Fe:MgO ratio of approximately 62.
A contract with commodity trading group, Trafigura Beheer BV, to sell all of the copper sulphide concentrate from the Nova
Project for the first three years of production has also been signed. The commercial terms of the offtake agreement are
confidential, but highlight the anticipated superior quality of the Nova Deposit copper sulphide concentrate, which has very
marginal levels of impurities and is expected to average 29% copper. These characteristics make the product highly desirable to
smelters and trading firms.
Near Mine Exploration
IGO has a 100% interest in various tenements covering 306km
2
including the mining lease containing the Nova Project. These
tenements also include the Talbot and Southern Hills soil anomalies and the Buningonia intrusion. All of these are located in the
Fraser Complex the geographical domain prospective for mafic-ultramafic intrusion-hosted magmatic nickel-copper-platinum
group metal and chromite deposits.
Around the Nova Project, a high powered Samson deep penetration electromagnetic survey (DPEM) was completed which was
successful in identifying 16 electromagnetic conductors. Twelve of these conductors remain to be drill tested.