Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) said that an ongoing pre-feasibility study at its Gonneville platinum group elements-nickel-copper-cobalt project in Western Australia is expected to be completed in the middle of the year, according to a Thursday Australian bourse filing.

It invested about AU$2.4 million on pre-development activities on the project during the December 2024 quarter. It worked on process flowsheet development, metallurgical test work, and project optimizations during the period.

It selected a preferred open-pit, staged development case with reduced initial scale, selective mining, and a simplified process flowsheet. The preferred development case is expected to be finalized in the March quarter and further refined during the June quarter.

It expects expenditure of about AU$6 million before the completion of the study.

It added that it had implemented expenditure reductions and deferrals to ensure that it was fully funded for the studies and permitting phase until a final investment decision for the Gonneville project was made around 2027.

Chalice Mining's shares slid 2% in recent trade.