Gladstone Pacific Nickel Limited has signed an MOU with China Tianchen Engineering Corporation to develop a heap leach project at Marlborough in Queensland of Australia.
The Australian mine developer said that the Marlborough ore resource, which is 100% owned by GPNL, holds 71 million tonnes of laterite nickel ore at 0.91% nickel and 0.06% cobalt. It could produce up to 26,000 tonnes per annum of contained nickel and 1,700 tonnes per annum of contained cobalt in intermediate product and would establish the company as a nickel producer.
China Tianchen Engineering will assist with a targeted debt financing of 70% of the project which is expected to be provided through Chinese banks. The 2 companies will work together to find Chinese investors to provide equity funding for the remainder.
