Sabre Resources Ltd (“Sabre Resources” or “Company”) holds a 70% interest in the Sherlock Bay Nickel (sulphide) Project (“SBNP”, or, “Project”) on M47/567, located 40km east of Roebourne in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (see Map below).
The SBNP includes a current JORC 2012 nickel sulphide Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 24.6 million tonnes @ 0.4% nickel (Ni), 0.09% copper (Cu), 0.02% cobalt (Co), containing nearly 100,000 tonnes Ni, 21,700 tonnes Cu and 5,400 tonnes Co (ASX SBR: 12/06/18).
In April 2021 the Company commenced a scoping study on the SBNP (“Study”) to determine the economics of the Project at current and projected nickel, copper and cobalt prices. Global nickel consumption is forecast to more than double by 2040 and the proportion used in battery precursors for electric vehicles (EVs) is projected to increase from 7% to over 30% of demand with almost exponential demand growth by 2030 (Wood-McKenzie, Paydirt Nickel Conference, Oct. 21). Nickel sulphide projects are favoured due to the high payability (>90%) of the nickel intermediates produced, that are suitable for EV battery production.
The current Study is based on previous work conducted from 2004 to 2007 by Sherlock Bay Nickel Corporation, that included heap-leach processing, and mining study reports completed by AMC consultants Pty Ltd (AMC), initially in 2005 and updated for the Company in August 2018.
The SBNP includes two nickel sulphide deposits, Symonds and Discovery, both of which are tabular and trend northeast-southwest over an approximately 1.5km strike corridor, within the regional scale Scholl Shear Zone (Figure 1). The deposits are each approximately 15m to 20m wide and dip and plunge almost vertically.
