Nickel miner Panoramic Resources has suspended mining at its Deacon orebody, within the Lanfranchi operations, in Western Australia, following earlier seismic activity.

Mining from the Deacon orebody was expected to decline in 2016 as the orebody was depleted; however, Panoramic took the decision bring forward the suspension of operations after the seismic event.

While no damage of consequence was detected during an underground inspection and geotechnical assessment, the limited ore remaining in the orebody and the revailing nickel price prompted Panoramic to suspend production from Deacon.

The company told shareholders on Monday that this decision had now necessitated changes to the original Lanfranchi operation plan for 2016.

While the plan remained to access and drill the Lower Schmitz resource, further weakness in the nickel price could necessitate a further review of activities.

In the meantime, production from the Lanfranchi orebody would continue, along with development activities to access the Lower Schmitz. Subject to a resource and reserve being defined at Lower Schmitz, as well as a favourable nickel price and board decision to start mining, the ramp-up of production at Lower Schmitz could occur in the March quarter.

The changes in the 2016 operating plan had resulted in the rationalization of the Lanfranchi workforce, with around half of the workforce either retained at Lanfranchi or transferred to the Savannah mine.

However, the balance of the workforce had been made redundant.

• [Editor:Juan]