The Ramu nickel mine in Papua New Guinea’s Madang Province had strong first quarter production, according to Nickel 28, the junior partner in the joint venture.

Kurumbukari mine, at the Ramu Nickel project. Source: Highlands Pacific

Nickel 28 , which changed its name from Conic in March this year, has a 8.56 per cent interest in the mine, which is operated by majority owner Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC).

‘Ramu had an exceptionally strong quarter, generating over US$11.8 million (K41.4 million) of attributable cash flow to Nickel 28, which will result in the extinguishment of our operating debt in the extremely near future,’ said Nickel 28’s Chairman Anthony Milewski in a statement issued overnight.

‘From these results, we now expect to begin to receive significant cash flow from Ramu in H2 2021 and we would like to recognise MCC for continuing to deliver outstanding financial and production results from Ramu.’

Nickel 28 reported project revenue of over US$163 million (K572 million) for the quarter, as a result of ‘strong nickel/cobalt pricing and increasing payables for both’, with the nickel being produced at a cost of US$1.70 a pound of contained nickel.

The mine produced 8,805 tonnes of contained nickel and 800 tonnes of contained cobalt during the quarter. This compares with Ramu producing 8,373 tonnes of contained nickel and 745 tonnes of cobalt in the preceding quarter.