It is reported that TSX and ASX listed Mirabela Nickel has produced the first nickel concentrate from its Santa Rita project in Brazil.

Mirabela said that "The commissioning of the crushing, grinding and flotation circuits is progressing well."

More than 119,000 tonnes of ore has been crushed and the mill stockpile contains about 78,000 tonnes. Some 42,000 tonnes of ore has been milled and the grinding circuit is operating at as much as 550 tonnes per hour.

Production at Santa Rita will ramp up substantially over the next three months. Santa Rita has total open cut proven and probable reserves of 121 million tonnes at 0.6% nickel, containing 726,000 tonnes of nickel. Mining is expected to ramp up to full capacity of 6.4 million tons a year over the next year.

(Sourced from www.miningweekly.com)