The crushing circuits etc would still be the same and only parts of the floatation circuit would be duplicated to separate the nickel and copper. Its not meant to be a perfect comparison but it an idea of quantum in the absence of the scoping study. Happy to see a better comparison for a 2Mt floatation plant (the initial comparison) if you have one. I mentioned the infrastructure costs should be lower but its not clear how much the reduction will be.
Additional drilling will be needed to prove up the resource (and upgrade to M+I level) along strike which may delay the timeframe if only using open pit.
Agree the floatation should reduce the amount of material to go through the autoclave but the costs/timeframe is still the risk. Also it doesn't factor in any grade dilution due to open pit mining which I would also be keen to see.
Some comparisons can be made with NZC although they have not indicated they will need autoclaves for their leach and they are looking at 1Mt ore throughput.
Scoping Study & Capex - Sulphides vs Laterites, Why CLA is so well positioned, page-7
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