Ardea Resources has obtained up to $10 billion in non-binding financial support for its Goongarrie nickel-cobalt project in Western Australia.
The company has received conditional letters of support and expressions of interest from Australia's Export Finance Agency (EFA) and the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) for potential project financing. Under the proposed arrangement, EXIM would provide up to US$3.5 billion (approximately AU$5 billion), with the EFA offering an additional AU$5 billion in support.
The funding relates to Ardea's project joint venture, Kalgoorlie Nickel Pty Ltd (KNPL), which will own and develop the Goongarrie nickel hub located about 70 km north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Joint venture partners include Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corporation.
Ardea stated that this financial backing reflects the project's strategic importance in developing global critical mineral supply chains, especially for battery, energy storage, and electric vehicle markets.
The letters of support and expressions of interest follow collaboration under the Critical Minerals One Stop Shop framework, established by the EFA and EXIM to streamline referrals and coordinate support for eligible critical minerals projects.
Goongarrie is a globally significant nickel-cobalt resource, designed to supply both traditional industrial markets such as stainless steel and the rapidly growing clean energy sectors that require high purity battery materials.
The company now eagerly awaits its comprehensive Final Feasibility Study (DFS), which is being funded with up to AU$98.5 million by a consortium of Japanese majors Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corporation.
The study will incorporate the latest design optimizations, including a reconfigured and simplified 3.5 million tonne per year high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) process flow, with initial mining focused on higher-grade ore near the plant site.
Andrew Penkethman, Managing Director and CEO of Ardea Resources, noted that upon completion of the DFS, Japanese partners will have the opportunity to increase their stake in the Goongarrie joint venture to 35%, and further to 50% following a final investment decision.
Ardea's broader Kalgoorlie Nickel Project is Australia's largest nickel-cobalt resource and one of the most significant globally within an established mining region. The project boasts a substantial resource of 854 million tonnes grading 0.71% nickel and 0.045% cobalt, equating to 6.1 million tonnes of contained nickel and 386,000 tonnes of contained cobalt.
The overall resource is divided into two key hubs: the Goongarrie Hub holds 584 million tonnes containing 4.0 million tonnes of nickel, while the Kalpini Hub contributes an additional 270 million tonnes with 2.1 million tonnes of nickel. A 2023 Pre Feasibility Study outlined a mine life of up to 40 years, producing approximately 30,000 tonnes of nickel and 2,000 tonnes of cobalt annually from shallow, flat lying laterite ore bodies with low strip ratios.
Written by Cora Ji, jiruyan@mysteel.com
