The Avebury deposits, six kilometres west of Zeehan, were discovered in 1997 by core drilling a prominent anomaly identified in an aeromagnetic survey. Further drilling by 2002 identified a resource of four million tonnes at 1.5% nickel with feasibilty studies showing that the deposit was capable of supporting a medium-sized underground operation. Further exploration work, including construction of a decline, increased resources to 12 million tonnes of 1.11% nickel.
Full scale underground mining commenced in December 2006, with work on construction of the processing plant continuing throughout 2007/2008. The first nickel concentrates were produced in July 2008.
The Avebury project was developed by Allegiance Mining NL. This company was taken over by Zinifex Australia Limited in early 2008 and became part of OZ Minerals Limited in mid 2008. The mine was placed on care and maintenance in late 2008 following large falls in the nickel price.
