Amur Minerals offers two potential development scenarios for the Kun-Manie nickel sulphide deposit

  What does Amur Minerals do? Amur Minerals Corporation (LON:AMC) is a junior mining exploration company that holds assets in Russia. The company is run by long-standing chief executive Robin Young, who spends much of his time in Russia. Other directors, including Robert Schafer and Brian Savage also boast long years of experience in the mining industry.     What does Amur Minerals own? The principle asset is the Kun-Manie nickel deposit in the Amur Oblast of Russia’s Far East. This project is one of the world’s last remaining unexploited nickel sulphide deposits, and also contains significant amounts of copper. As it stands the JORC resource rings in at 155.1mln tonnes of ore grading 1.02% nickel equivalent for a total nickel equivalent tonnage of 1.58mln tonnes.     Plans for development A prefeasibility study released in early 2019 showed that production is likely to come from four open pits and one underground operation. It’s envisaged that the overall mine life will be 15 years, although precisely how the ore is mined depends on which of the two options presented in the prefeasibility study is adopted. Option one, known as the TS option, will cost less to develop but offers lower margins and a lower NPV. Option two, known as the FFS option, will cost more to develop, but will deliver significantly higher returns. Under the TS option, post-tax free cashflow will amount to just over US$2bn. Under the FFS option, post-tax free cashflow will amount to just under US$3bn.   How it is doing In January, the baseline environmental assessment (BLEA) was filed and approved by the necessary Russian Federation agencies as part of the TEO, which is a Russian feasibility study ultimately leading to the determination of reserves in accordance with Russian requirements.  In November the company raised £1.2mln before expenses through the subscription of just under 70.6mln shares at a price of 1.7p per share.   What the boss says: Robin Young, chief executive "[The BLEA] confirms mining of our large scale Kun-Manie nickel copper sulphide deposit will not require any extraordinary programmes or procedures beyond those already planned by the company to undertake the implementation of our operation." “Typical monitoring and mitigation procedures can be implemented to ensure protection of the environment during construction and operations."   Video