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Chalice Mining has commenced continuous pilot plant testing at its Gonneville critical minerals project in Western Australia, marking a significant step towards confirming the project’s processing design and advancing financing and offtake discussions.
The laboratory-scale program will test Gonneville’s complete processing flowsheet using approximately five tonnes of fresh sulphide ore representative of the project’s early production feed.
The material, grading 1.7 grams per tonne (g/t) combined palladium, platinum and gold, alongside 0.33 per cent nickel and 0.28 per cent copper, will undergo flotation and leaching under continuous operating conditions.
Chalice said the program is expected to represent the final processing de-risking step required by potential project financiers, while producing samples for future copper and nickel offtake partners.
The pilot will target three products: a copper-PGM-gold concentrate, a nickel-cobalt-PGM-gold concentrate and a PGM doré product.
Several international copper and nickel smelters and metals traders have already expressed interest in securing offtake, alongside emerging interest from hydrometallurgical nickel processing facilities in Indonesia.
The program will also use treated wastewater from Water Corporation’s Alkimos facility, replicating Gonneville’s proposed process water supply.
Meanwhile, Chalice said it has achieved further improvements to its PGM leach circuit, reducing the elution process from five steps to two.
The revised design replaces the previously proposed zinc-based stripping solution with a nickel-based alternative generated from the project’s own ore.
According to Chalice, the changes are expected to reduce capital and operating costs while simplifying the overall processing flowsheet.
The company is also investigating domestic refining opportunities for its PGM doré product, with discussions underway involving Australian refiners, including the Perth Mint.
The latest improvements build on earlier metallurgical breakthroughs at Gonneville, which demonstrated that the project could produce saleable nickel and copper concentrates without requiring a dedicated nickel hydrometallurgical processing circuit.
Furthermore, Gonneville’s December 2025 pre-feasibility study also outlined a two-stage open-pit development supporting more than 23 years of production.
The project is modelled to produce approximately 45,000 tonnes of copper concentrate and 95,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate annually, with potential for further expansion.
More recently, Chalice strengthened its board with additional major-project development experience, supporting its preparations for future financing and construction decisions.
Initial flotation pilot results are expected in early 2027, with the remaining leach testing results anticipated during the second quarter.
Chalice is progressing its definitive feasibility study, targeting completion in the second half of 2027, ahead of a final investment decision in the first half of 2028.
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