The Nova operation in Western Australia. Image: Independence Group IGO has exceeded guidance for all metals produced at the Nova mine in Western Australia’s Fraser Range for the second year in a row.
This consisted of a total of 30,436 tonnes of nickel produced during the 2020 financial year, easily beating the guidance of 27,000 to 30,000 tonnes and 13,772 tonnes of copper, above the 11,000 to 12,500 goal.
IGO also had a consistent result at the Tropicana gold mine, also in Western Australia, producing 463,118 ounces of gold, within the 450,000 to 500,000-ounce guidance.
While accomplishing high results at IGO’s existing operations, the company in partnership with AngloGold Ashanti is edging closer to commercial production at the Boston Shaker underground mine.
Boston Shaker, which is being developed within the Tropicana site, is expected to be commercial production ready during the September 2020 quarter, according to managing director and chief executive officer Peter Bradford.
Bradford said he was proud of the company for working hard to achieve such strong results despite the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our teams have continued to deliver in a way that has shown resilience, professionalism and most of all, care for one another,” Bradford said.
“At Nova, full year production of all metals exceeded the top end of guidance for the second year in a row, achieved within our guided cost range and has underpinned the generation of $311 million of free cash flow for shareholders over the 2020 financial year.”
IGO has continued exploration of high priority targets in the Fraser Range and its newly consolidated Paterson project, targeting tier-1 copper discoveries.
The company intends to spend $38 million on drill testing targets within the Fraser Range during the 2021 financial year and a total of $65 million in total on exploration.
“We maintain our strong conviction that our exploration strategy with deliver significant organic growth opportunities and we look forward to what our 2021 financial year program of work will deliver,” Bradford concluded.