laterite

Then primary mineral containing nickel is laterite.


We are in the midst of the most ambitious program of metallurgical history of Hard Creek Nickel. Our goal is to improve the content of concentrate Turnagain - which is the key to unlock the value of our huge nickel deposit.

It is becoming apparent that nickel smelters tend to a threatening shortage of sulfide concentrates.

Smelter capacity vs. Concentrate supply (worldwide)

It is expected that the global supply will fall heavily on nickel concentrates, as new sulphide nickel projects are not in a position to increase the depleting mines reserves. For 2014 with a deficit of more than 50,000 tons is predicted nickel concentrate. The projections for 2020 predict a then be grown on 300,000 tonnes deficit. If smelters do not replace their sources for the required input materials, threatening the final closing. It is our opportunity to create a significant new source of such hungry smelters are able to.

"The quality of the concentrate is the key to unlock the value of the Turnagain deposit," said Mr. Johnson. "Any improvement of concentrate content comes the project enormously good - no matter what the next processing step is present, be it on-site refinery or the sale of the concentrate so far have made good progress to improve recovery rates, and. to develop robust processing system, there are certainly other ways to remove more waste rock from the concentrate. Mineralogy shows this clearly. Hard Creek has put together for the next 12 months a meaningful metallurgical program from a controlling committee of world-class Experts is managed. This is precisely the approach that the Turnagain project needed to realize its potential. "

If we can improve our concentrate content of the current 4% to the region of 6-8%, while recoveries are maintained so that we would be the refinery. Build locally smaller than the current design, which would reduce the cost of capital If we can improve our content to concentrate 10% or more, we would be able to eliminate the on-site refinery and sell our fully concentrate on conventional smelters. This would allow more than $ 800 million to eradicate in capital costs for our project - a massive reduction in capital and technological risk.

Our current design is competitive with laterite projects

Our project is now competitive with the giant nickel laterite projects (nickel in mudstone / "clay"), which represent most of the new nickel supply worldwide, which should be over the next 2 decades for days. As currently drafted, the Turnagain project would produce a concentrate at a grade of 4% nickel. The concentrate would then be refined in a refinery site to produce nickel metal. The refinery would use technology that is based on atmospheric pressure and the chlorine leaching and was developed by Outotec - a highly-respected mining technology companies in Finland.

In a technical report (April 2010) by Wardrop, who has taken this design as a basis, the operating costs (including cobalt by-product revenue) was estimated at U.S. $ 3.30 per pound of nickel. The forecasts for the project show an annual production rate of 35,000 tonnes (77 million pounds) for a nickel-metal mine life of 24.4 years. The average pre-tax profit is expected to be at U.S. $ 400 million per year. The capital cost is U.S. $ 2.9 billion, with only the kidney Raffi more demands than U.S. $ 800 million. (The NI43-101-compliant report "Preliminary Assessment" can be viewed in full on our website www.hardcreek.com)

The chart below shows our Turnagain project cheapest upper quarter of the cost of predictions for 25 "giant" nickel projects in the world (a "huge" / "giant" project is defined with a yearly production capacity of 20,000 tonnes of nickel).

C1 cost of "huge" undeveloped nickel projects


C1 is the cash cost of production of nickel metal - including by-product revenue. Laterite deposits (in blue) are home to nickel in a clay-rock matrix. Turnagain is one of only five "giant" undeveloped sulphide nickel projects globally, which is observed by the firm Brook Hunt, a Informations-Amalgamierer/-Verschmelzer.

We have a world-class nickel resource with expected low operating costs in a politically stable region. The ore rock is not mad; so that environmental influences are likely to be limited relative. We have signed a cooperation agreement on the so-called ("Memoranda of Understanding") with both indigenous peoples (First Nations), these claims have in our area, as well as avid appreciation for what it is necessary to look at the so-called social license ("social license") to earn, which is required for the opening of a mine in the area. Our federal and state government are mine-friendly and are working [to smooth the approval process as defined simplify and reorganize, "streamline"] and to coordinate. Our Government is committed to the expansion of the electricity grid, to a striking near our project and provided a budget, so we will have access to affordable electricity.

Our project, as currently designed, has a risk-reward ratio, which is competitive with many of the "huge" lateritic nickel projects that are classified as non-developed ("greenfield") classified - due to our lower operating costs and the lower technical risk. Many of the lateritic projects are dependent on a technology that is known as the HPAL ("High Pressure, High Temperature Leach Acid", a acid leaching under high pressures and temperatures). HPAL is an expensive and risky technology, the experiments are accompanied to use a trail of tears, because of technical and / or financial failures were involved.

The leaching technology from Outotec, which makes leaching at atmospheric pressure in fiberglass tanks is already inherently less risky than leaching under high pressure, what pressure vessels made of titanium needs are. By nature, it is also easier to leach metals from sulfide concentrates - instead of a laterite rock matrix of clay minerals.

The next 12 months are likely to be the most eventful period in our history.

Mark Jarvis, President

All our shareholders, I would like to express my thanks for their unwavering support and patience. The current market conditions are difficult for junior base metal companies, but our shareholders look beyond short-term market conditions and understand the magnitude of our assets ("asset"). Just as Winston Churchill said, to maintain: "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." I look forward to an exciting year.