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40 Independence Group NL
FY2015 Production
The Long Operation currently focuses on longhole stoping, supported by twin boom jumbo development. Safety and the
practicalities of the ore body dictate which extraction method is utilised.
The majority of production in FY2015 came from mining of the high grade Moran ore body. Production achieved (Table 1) was
258,634t (FY2014: 268,162t ) at an average grade of 3.94% nickel (FY2014: 4.07%) for 10,198t of contained nickel metal (FY2014:
10,909t), 2% above the upper range of FY2015 guidance.
Payable cash costs for FY2015 including royalties and by-product credits were $4.01/Ib Ni (FY2014: $3.78), which was 6% below
the lower end of FY2015 guidance.
Long Operation – FY2015 Ore Production
Orebody
Ore Tonnes
Ni %
Ni Tonnes
Source of Ore
Tonnes as %
Long (mechanised and hand-held)
37,955
3.0
1,148
14.8
Victor South (mechanised)
13,128
2.1
275
5.0
McLeay (mechanised and hand-held)
31,340
2.8
866
12.1
Moran (mechanised)
176,211
4.5
7,909
68.1
TOTAL
258,634
3.9
10,198
100.0%
Figure 10: Quarterly Mine Production and Cash Cost performance in last eight quarters
Contained Nickel (t)
Cash Costs ($/lb NI)
Sep 13 Dec 13 Mar 14 Jun 14 Sep 14 Dec 14 Mar 15 Jun 15
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
-
$7.00
$6.00
$5.00
$4.00
$3.00
$2.00
$1.00
$0.00
Production Guidance
Cash costs ($/lb Ni)
Cost Guidance
Contained Nickel (t)
Figure 11: Quarterly tonnes mined versus resources depletion at Long in last eight quarters
Sep 13 Dec 13 Mar 14 Jun 14 Sep 14 Dec 14 Mar 15 Jun 15
Ore tonnes
80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
Mined
Reserve Depletion