Chalice Prepares Gonneville for Its Next De-Risking Test
Chalice Mining is preparing to run an eight-week full-flowsheet pilot plant at Gonneville as it advances feasibility work, environmental approvals and formal copper and nickel offtake talks. The company ended September with A$53 million in cash and listed investments, but major project funding remains unresolved.
- Eight-week Gonneville pilot plant due to begin in November
- Formal copper and nickel offtake negotiations have commenced
- Environmental Review Document and Public Environment Report targeted for Q4 CY26
- A$44.7 million cash plus A$8.2 million in listed investments
- Final Investment Decision remains targeted for H1 CY28
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Gonneville Pilot Plant Becomes the Next Major Test
Chalice Mining Limited (ASX:CHN) is moving Gonneville into one of its most consequential technical phases, with an eight-week continuous pilot plant of the full processing flowsheet due to commence in November. The pilot will process five tonnes of ore representative of the first three years of planned plant feed, with results expected in the first quarter of calendar 2027.
The work is intended to produce final copper and nickel concentrate specifications, as well as precious-metal doré specifications for refineries. Chalice says the pilot is the final major flowsheet de-risking step for the project and its potential financiers. An independent technical engineer, Palaris, is overseeing the pilot design and execution while reviewing the broader study work.
The update builds on the Gonneville execution plan, which previously outlined a feasibility study and a targeted Final Investment Decision in the first half of 2028. Chalice expects feasibility-study engineering to start in November, with no major changes anticipated to the pre-feasibility study’s two-stage, 5-to-14 million-tonne-a-year open-pit development plan, cost or schedule.
Offtake Talks Advance While Funding Structure Remains Open
Chalice has now commenced formal negotiations with potential copper and nickel concentrate customers. The company reports strong inbound interest from copper smelters amid what it describes as exceptionally tight market conditions, while tighter sulphur markets and diversification away from Indonesian supply have generated new interest in nickel concentrate.
Those discussions are important because the financing architecture is not yet settled. Chalice is targeting export-credit agencies, sovereign debt or grants for 60% to 70% of Gonneville’s pre-production funding requirement, with the balance expected to come from byproduct streams, offtake-linked finance, strategic investment and other sources. No binding offtake or financing agreement was announced in the quarter.
Chalice spent about A$4 million on Gonneville pre-development during the quarter and finished September with A$44.7 million in cash, plus A$8.2 million in listed investments. The reported cash position equates to 6.8 quarters of funding based on the quarter’s relevant outgoings, although that measure reflects current exploration and corporate spending rather than the substantially larger capital demands of mine construction.
Environmental Submissions Stay on the Critical Path
The company remains focused on submitting its Environmental Review Document to Western Australian regulators and its Public Environment Report to the Commonwealth in the fourth quarter of calendar 2026. Decisions on proposed amendments to the project scope are also expected during that period, before the documents enter detailed regulatory assessment.
An independent review by former Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority chair Dr Tom Hatton endorsed Chalice’s environmental approvals strategy, risk identification and planned mitigation measures, and supported the targeted H1 CY28 FID. That endorsement does not remove the regulatory process itself: Chalice identifies major environmental approvals as the critical path to the investment decision. Community engagement has also led to a decision to place the power line underground through a small rural-residential area in the Shire of Chittering, with the water pipeline to be co-located where practicable. The filing extends the environmental approvals review into the next formal submission stage.
Early Exploration Adds Optionality Beyond Gonneville
Chalice also completed a 16-hole, 3,110-metre reverse-circulation program at Warrego North in the Northern Territory, testing several greenfield targets and extensions of historical copper intersections. All assays remain pending, leaving the immediate value of the program unresolved.
At the Deep Blue prospect within the Goomalling Copper Project, drilling intersected broad copper-silver-gold mineralisation across 1.2 kilometres of strike. The reported results were mostly low grade, including 21 metres at 0.18% copper, 0.67 grams per tonne silver and 0.03 grams per tonne gold from 50 metres. Chalice plans induced-polarisation surveying, further soil sampling and follow-up drilling after the Deep Blue copper system was identified across multiple drill lines.
Board Renewal Prepares for Development Phase
Chalice has strengthened the project team with Paul De Ponte as Gonneville Project Director and Tim Langmead as General Manager Corporate Affairs. Subject to shareholder approval at the November annual meeting, former MMG and Woodside Petroleum chief financial officer Ross Carroll will replace Derek La Ferla as chair, while former Rio Tinto executive Gerard Rheinberger and sustainability executive Dr Soolim Carney will join the board.
The company’s immediate calendar is crowded: pilot commissioning in November, environmental submissions and scope decisions expected in Q4 CY26, and pilot results due in Q1 CY27. The harder question is whether technical progress can be converted into binding offtake, a complete financing package and approvals before the targeted H1 CY28 investment decision.
Bottom Line?
The next decisive evidence will come from the pilot plant and environmental submissions, while the funding plan still needs to move from discussion to committed capital.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the full-flowsheet pilot plant confirm the concentrate and doré specifications required by potential customers and financiers?
- Can Chalice secure binding offtake and project financing without materially changing the proposed Gonneville development plan?
- Will the environmental approval process remain aligned with the targeted H1 CY28 Final Investment Decision?
Sources
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September 2026 Quarterly Activities & Cashflow Report (opens in a new tab)Verified company source. Chalice Mining Limited · 27 Oct 2026 · chalicemining.com
