Underground mining has started at the Savannah nickel project, ahead of schedule, after ASX-listed Panoramic Resources struck a four-year, A$280-million underground mining contract with contractor Barminco. Panoramic had initially planned to start underground mining at Savannah in August, however, the company on Friday said that with the new equipment arriving on site earlier than plan, and the recruitment of both technical staff and underground operators having progressed seamlessly, underground operations have now started ahead of schedule.