Lanfranchi has produced 200,000t of contained nickel over 45 years

Western Mining Corporation (WMC) commenced operations at the Lanfranchi Nickel Mine in 1976 with the Edwin underlay shaft and subsequently via the main decline in 1986. WMC continued operation until 2002 when it made a strategic decision to divest the Kambalda nickel mines. Lanfranchi was purchased by Panoramic Resources (initially as a JV) which then sold to Black Mountain metals in 2018.

The production history of Lanfranchi is summarized below. Each era of ownership (WMC and Panoramic) yielded approximately 100,000 tonnes of contained nickel.

The annual ore reserve position was not recorded from early in the mine life, however since 1996, the mine has held between 5,000 to 70,000 nickel tonnes in ore reserve. Notably both times prior to being sold the mine had been run down to a low reserve position. This is not uncommon and is not an indication that the resources are exhausted, but more likely that the mine operator reduced spending on exploration.