PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Nickel miner Panoramic Resources’ initial efforts to repair a crack in the filter press pressure plate at the Savannah process plant, in Western Australia, have proven unsuccessful.

In mid-June, the miner suspended ore processing and concentrate production at Savannah following the identification of the crack. The company initiated a short-term repair while a new fabricated pressure plate was being organised, however, the short-term repair has been unsuccessful, and has been halted.

In parallel, Panoramic has expedited the fabrication of a new filter press head unit. Fabrication of the pressure head plate is currently underway, and the machining of the plate is scheduled to be completed later this week. The company now expects the new filter press head unit to be installed in the first week of July, with commissioning shortly after.

The miner told shareholders on Thursday that during the downtime of the filter press over the past two weeks, the company had taken various steps to position the underground mine and set foundations for the continued ramp-up of productivity and concentrate production in 2024.

All other production activities have continued, including long hole drilling with drilled stocks increasing to 50 000 t available for blasting in the first half of July 2023. The ore stockpiled on the surface currently stands at 35 000 t of ore ready for processing and setting the operation for a positive start in 2024.

“It’s great to see our site team band together and keep their focus on finding solutions to bring the operations back into production as soon as possible,” said Panoramic MD and CEO Victor Rajasooriar.

"The commitment from our maintenance team, our external engineering consultants and contractors has been vital in compressing the forecast duration of fabricating the new head unit. Thinking outside the box has resulted in the filter tubes being successfully trialed to bring forward concentrate production as our underground teams build drilled stocks for the ramp-up of production in July to set up for a successful 2024.”