Cosmos Project, Leinster, Leonora Shire, Western Australia, Australiai
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Cosmos Project | Project |
| Leinster | - not defined - |
| Leonora Shire | Shire |
| Western Australia | State |
| Australia | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
27° 35' 53'' South , 120° 34' 29'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Cosmos is one of the highest grade nickel deposits in the world. Grades regularly reach between 5 to 12% Ni, whereas most other nickel mines in Western Australia operate at 1 to 3% Ni. The mine is 40 kilometres north of Leinster and about 2 kilometres east of the Goldfields Highway.
The deposit was discovered by junior explorer Jubilee Gold Mines NL, led by Perth lawyer Kerry Harmanis, who initially got the gold bug. The company was floated just after the 1987 stock market crash, and its future did not look bright. In 1996 they started searching for nickel instead of gold. Cosmos was discovered in 1997, with open pit production commencing in April 2000, and later underground mining.
Xstrata purchased the mine from Jubilee for A$3.1 billion during a period of high nickel prices in late 2007. It made Harmanis a very rich man, and he has since entered semi-retirement, concentrating on philanthropic interests. No sooner had Xstrata purchased the mine when nickel prices crashed.
Xstrata extended the open pit, extracting about 3 million tonnes of ore for 127 000 tonnes of Ni concentrate. The mine was placed on care and maintenance in September 2012, with the loss of 150 jobs. After Glencore took over Xstrata, it began divesting of its Western Australian nickel assets. The mine was purchased by Western Areas for A$24.5 million in 2015. It comes with a 450 Ktpa concentrator, new SAG mill, 500 bed accommodation village, offices, supplies, airstrip etc.
The original Cosmos ore shoot is a tabular stratabound massive sulphide ore body, with a halo of semi massive sulphide, concentrated at the base of an ultramafic rock unit, overlain by felsic volcanics, and sedimentary rocks. 80% of the Ni resource mined at Cosmos has been from this ore shoot. It has a 250 metre length, up to 20 metres wide (averaging 7 metres), dips steeply east, and is 40 to 200 metres below the surface. Mineralisation is cut to the south by a dolerite dyke, and the north by a fault. To 2007, open pit mining produced 0.4 Mt @ 8.2% Ni grade.
Western Areas company, who mine nickel in the Forrestania region, purchased the mine in 2015.
Construction of the main Odysseus decline and the hoisting shaft began in 2020 with first ore drive development planned for Q1 FY22 with first nickel concentrate expected in Q2 FY22 (ASX:WSA 8/9/2020).
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Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded from this region.Mineral List
Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localitiesRock Types Recorded
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Alphabetical List Tree DiagramDetailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ 'Amphibole Supergroup' Formula: AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
| ⓘ 'Chlorite Group' |
| ⓘ 'Fayalite-Forsterite Series' |
| ⓘ 'Serpentine Subgroup' Formula: D3[Si2O5](OH)4 |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Unclassified | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | 'Amphibole Supergroup' | - | AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
| ⓘ | 'Chlorite Group' | - | |
| ⓘ | 'Fayalite-Forsterite Series' | - | |
| ⓘ | 'Serpentine Subgroup' | - | D3[Si2O5](OH)4 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| H | Hydrogen | |
|---|---|---|
| H | ⓘ Amphibole Supergroup | AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
| H | ⓘ Serpentine Subgroup | D3[Si2O5](OH)4 |
| O | Oxygen | |
| O | ⓘ Amphibole Supergroup | AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
| O | ⓘ Fayalite-Forsterite Series | |
| O | ⓘ Serpentine Subgroup | D3[Si2O5](OH)4 |
| F | Fluorine | |
| F | ⓘ Amphibole Supergroup | AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
| Mg | Magnesium | |
| Mg | ⓘ Fayalite-Forsterite Series | |
| Al | Aluminium | |
| Al | ⓘ Amphibole Supergroup | AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
| Si | Silicon | |
| Si | ⓘ Amphibole Supergroup | AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
| Si | ⓘ Fayalite-Forsterite Series | |
| Si | ⓘ Serpentine Subgroup | D3[Si2O5](OH)4 |
| Cl | Chlorine | |
| Cl | ⓘ Amphibole Supergroup | AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
| Ti | Titanium | |
| Ti | ⓘ Amphibole Supergroup | AB2C5((Si,Al,Ti)8O22)(OH,F,Cl,O)2 |
| Fe | Iron | |
| Fe | ⓘ Fayalite-Forsterite Series | |
Localities in this Region
- Western Australia
- Leonora Shire
- Leinster
- Leonora Shire
- Western Australia
- Leonora Shire
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
Australia
- Western Australia
- Mount Keith Nickel Metallogenic ProvinceGeologic Province
- West Australian ElementCraton
- Yilgarn CratonCraton
Australian PlateTectonic Plate
- West Australian Craton
- Eastern Yilgarn CratonCraton
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References
