Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) said that metallurgical test work at its Gonneville platinum group elements-copper-nickel-cobalt project in Western Australia demonstrated that the firm would not require a hydrometallurgical process for nickel concentrate, which would reduce technical risk, process complexity, as well as capital and operating costs, according to a Monday filing with the Australian bourse.

The test work results demonstrate that two saleable, smelter-grade flotation concentrates can be produced across the entire resource, with a copper-platinum group elements-gold concentrate grading 22% to 26% of copper, 45 to 60 grams per tonne (g/t) of palladium, platinum, and gold.

A nickel-cobalt-platinum group elements concentrate came in around 7.5% to 8.7% grade of nickel, 0.8% grade of cobalt, and 18 to 20g/t of palladium, platinum, and gold.

Conventional carbon-in-leach leaching recovered additional palladium and gold from the flotation tails.

The firm is continuing test work and optimizations for a pre-feasibility study, which is targeted for mid-2025.

The firm's shares climbed almost 25% in early trading on Monday.