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| Share Name | Share Symbol | Market | Type | Share ISIN | Share Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metminco | LSE:MNC | London | Ordinary Share | AU000000MNC7 | ORD NPV |
| Price Change | % Change | Share Price | Bid Price | Offer Price | High Price | Low Price | Open Price | Shares Traded | Last Trade | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | 0.00% | 0.325 | 0.00 | 01:00:00 |
| Industry Sector | Turnover | Profit | EPS - Basic | PE Ratio | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 |
From May 2019 to May 2024
TIDMMNC
RNS Number : 2601J
Metminco Limited
08 September 2016
ASX ANNOUNCEMENT 8 September 2016
UNDERGROUND MINE DEVELOPMENT OPTION AT MIRAFLORES DEMONSTRATES ROBUST ECONOMICS
Metminco Limited (Metminco or the Company) (ASX: MNC; AIM: MNC) announces results for the scoping level work completed by SRK Consulting (USA) Inc. (SRK) on an underground only mining study at the Miraflores Project in Colombia, in which the Company has a 100% interest. Based on the updated capital and operating costs for this option, and the associated financial returns, the Project is considered to be financially robust and hence represents a viable development option.
The Miraflores Project has a Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of 9.19 million tonnes at 2.81g/t gold and 2.76g/t silver (containing 832,000oz Au and 817,000oz Ag) at cut-off grade of 1.2g/t Au, as announced on 21 July 2016, which has formed the basis of the mining study.
SRK have refined the prior underground mine design and associated mining schedule, in addition to updating operating and capital costs to Q3 2016 US dollars. The mining schedule produces 4.03 million tonnes at a mined grade of 3.51g/t Au and 2.84g/t Ag (including a low grade stockpile material feed) over a mine life of 9 years, producing approximately 50,000oz of recovered gold per annum at steady state.
All SRK work completed and referenced here does not provide the detail required to meet NI 43-101 or JORC 2012 compliant Ore Reserves.
Life of Mine capital
Initial Capital US$81 million (incl. US$14 million in contingencies) Sustaining Capital US$17 million Total US$98 million
Operating costs
Life of Mine C1 cash costs US$555/oz Life of Mine AISC costs US$648/oz
Financials
EBITDA US$31.7 million per annum over 9 years
NPV (after tax) US$73.4 million @ 8% discount rate (US$96 million @ 5% discount rate)
IRR 26% Payback 2.8 years Gold price US$1,300/oz
Due to the favourable outcome of the study, the underground only mining option will now be the focus of the planned feasibility study.
Mr William Howe, Managing Director, commented: "The technical assessment and financial modelling of the underground mining option at Miraflores has clearly demonstrated that this option is technically and financially robust and has significant advantages over previous studies conducted at the Project. The potential to reduce capital costs significantly, as indicated by this study, together with the social and environmental advantages relating to the smaller footprint for the Project, make this development option an achievable target for the Company."
Hot Features
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Metminco Limited ABN Level 6, 122 Walker Street,
43 119 759 349 North Sydney, NSW, 2060
ASX Code: MNC.AX; AIM Tel: +61 (0) 2 9460 1856;
Code: MNC.L Fax: +61 (0) 2 9460 1857
www.metminco.com.au
1 Introduction
SRK was retained by Metminco to complete an update to a previous scoping level study of the Miraflores Project (Miraflores or the Project) located in Colombia. The purpose of the study is to summarize and publicly document previous work, and to refresh past work to present an underground mining only scenario utilizing filtered tailings as backfill material, with a dry stack tailings facility. The study was completed by SRK with contributions from Metal Mining Consultants (MMC), GR Engineering Services Limited (GRES), and Dynami Geoconsulting (DG).
The Project has had two Preliminary Economic Assessments (PEA's) completed and publicly filed April 27, 2012 (SRK, 2012), and August 2, 2013 (SRK, 2013a) by Seafield Resources Ltd (Seafield). A feasibility effort was undertaken but not completed in 2013. The feasibility work was suspended in September 2013 as further optimization was required, specifically with relation to tailings handling. A study was then requested by RMB, to provide an alternative higher grade scenario with an alternative tailings location to that used in the August 2013 PEA, as well to include the feasibility level work previously completed, but not made public or fully documented. The RMB study was an internal document and was not published in the public domain. The goal of the RMB work was to improve open pit and underground mill feed gold grade while reducing the impact of tailings on Project operating and capital costs by relocating the tailings to the Tesorito site. The RMB work was completed and a technical report was issued to RMB on February 24, 2015 (RMB 2015 Report).
The main changes from the August 2013 PEA (SRK, 2013a) to the RMB scenario were as follows:
-- Modified tailings location, design, and cost estimate;
-- Modified underground mine design, production schedule, productivities and cost estimate;
-- Modified open pit production schedule and cost estimate; -- Metallurgical recoveries updated to most current testwork information; -- Costs updated to Q4 2014 dollars; and
-- Updated prices of gold, silver, labor, diesel, power and consumables for all costing areas.
Work directed by Metminco resulted in additional optimization from the RMB 2015 Report work. The Metminco scenario presented in this Announcement includes the following changes/optimizations:
-- Updated metals pricing; -- Reduced plant throughput to 1,300 tonnes per day (t/d) as compared to 1,750 t/d;
-- Updated mine plan to an underground-only scenario which includes the material, previously planned to be mined as open pit, into the underground mine plan;
-- Updated the mine backfill scenario volumes and costing based on the use of rock backfill/filtered tailings (non-structural) and filtered tailings with cement (structural) that are placed underground in open stopes;
-- Included using a filtered dry-stack tailings system for tailings management. The design and capital/operating costs for the tailings systems were provided by DG (tailings management facility) (TMF) and GRES (tailings filters);
-- Updated the mine equipment fleet numbers and labor associated with underground mine equipment fleet to be consistent with the updated mine plan;
-- Adjusted General and Administrative costs consistent with the Project throughput; -- Added a mining equipment sustaining capital line item to the model;
-- Modified portions of the operating costs (labor, fuel, reagent cost, and electricity) and capital costs for underground mobile equipment, tailings management facility, and tailings filters;
-- Added land purchase costs previously not included; -- Adjusted the royalty rate for consistency with current Colombian regulations; -- Adjusted the depreciation schedule consistent with current practice in Columbia;
-- Adjusted the NSR estimate to include a gold and silver payability factor consistent with current market contracts; and
-- Added contingency to the capital estimates (RMB requested no contingency in their study).
Whereas the two PEA's and incomplete feasibility study conducted previously by SRK all evaluated Miraflores as a combined open pit and underground mining operation, the focus of the Metminco work was on an underground mining operation following after several other mining projects in Colombia which have resorted to underground mining to facilitate greater community acceptance and permitting.
1.1 Engineering Design and Confidence
SRK considers the work at Scoping Level Preliminary Economic Analysis (PEA) level with an accuracy of +/- 30%. The following table is provided to indicate to the reader, the items which were completed to a feasibility study level in 2013. Portions of this work are still applicable to the current Metminco scenario and the work forms a basis for further optimization.
Table 1--1 outlines the level of study work currently included in this document for each discipline. Additional work required to move the Project to higher level accuracy is noted.
Table 1--1: Level of Study by Discipline
Discipline Item Level Comments
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Geology All FS MMC scope of work. Appears all work
completed to FS with exception of final
rock type characterization.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Underground Mine Design PEA Re-optimization of stope design based on
Mining tailings backfill testing/costing work.
Additional detail/optimization of
development such as ramps, ventilation,
etc.
Developing stope detail to ensure
mineability.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Infrastructure PEA Ventilation models should be completed
simulating the underground production
schedule to ensure
adequate airflows to all parts of the mine.
Electrical loads need to be further
evaluated and an adequate system should be
designed.
Additional dewatering confirmation work.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Production Schedule PEA More complete productivity estimates which
are used in the schedule. More detailed
stope and
backfill sequencing.
-------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Underground Operating Cost PFS Further refinement of first principle
costing and tie back to production
schedule.
Updated cost quotes to 2016.
-------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Underground Capital Cost PFS Could refine auxiliary equipment and
utility costs.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Geomechanical Characterization FS Unless additional resources are identified
outside the current volume then the
conducted characterization
programs to date should be at a Feasibility
Study level.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Underground Stability FS Unless the cut-off grade significantly
changes mineable vein widths or infill
drilling identifies
additional high grade areas that could be
mined early in the sequence then the
stability analyses
conducted to date should be at a
Feasibility Study level. The crown pillar
should be redefined
with the latest Metminco mine plan.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Backfill PEA Quantity of cement in the cemented backfill
requires testing. Further develop
characterization
of backfill using filtered tailings.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Environmental Permitting (incl. Environmental Impact PFS PFS requires a comprehensive overview and
Study - EIS) listing of required permits, as well as the
initiation
of the impact analysis for the EIS, but not
necessarily submission of the EIS to the
regulatory
authorities.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Baseline Data PFS PFS requires the collection and review of
available environmental data from existing
databases
for environmental studies, assessments or
audits; regulatory inspections, waste
handling practices;
management plans.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Geochemistry FS Unless there are significant changes in the
beneficiation process, or the cut-off grade
has
changed, then the geochemical evaluations
conducted to date should be at a
Feasibility Study
level. Characterization of the filtered
tailings and specifically the leach
filtered tailings
proposed to be used in backfill will need
to be developed.
-------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Hydrogeology PFS Hydrogeology baseline is very close to
Feasibility Study level, but would need
some additional
analysis given the new location of the
tailings impoundment and potential impacts
associated
with co-disposal of reactive tailings in
the underground workings as backfill.
-------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Management Plans PFS PFS requires preparation of generalized
environmental plans and monitoring
programs; preliminary
sediment and erosion control plan;
conceptual reclamation plan; evaluation of
acid rock drainage;
geotechnical stability review of waste
dumps and tailings dam; preliminary impact
mitigation
plan; preliminary spill and emergency
response plan.
-------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Socioeconomics PFS PFS generally requires the initiation of
social baseline data collection,
preliminary stakeholder
engagement activities; some community
outreach and training, and general
definition of health
/safety programs.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Process Design Design PEA Lyntek scope of work. Substantial drawings
exist. Would need additional design work
for the
smaller capacity plant now being
considered.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Capital Cost PEA Lyntek scope of work. Capital equipment was
updated with quotes however installation
and other
costs were not updated. A complete capital
cost estimate was not compiled by Lyntek.
SRK confirms
the process capital cost with contingencies
included at PEA level.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Operating Cost PEA Lyntek scope of work. An operating cost was
not provided by Lyntek. The PEA cost was
used
with adjustments by SRK to account for
labor, power, and inflation.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Tailings Facility Design PEA The majority of previous work will need to
be updated as the type and location for the
tailings
impoundment presented herein is at a PEA
level. Field characterization and more
detailed design
is required to advance all areas of
tailings design.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Capital/Operating Cost PEA All costs area at PEA level. Previous work
is not applicable.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Metallurgy All FS A Feasibility Study level metallurgical
report was completed. A review of the
impact of the
higher grade underground mine only mill
feed and reconfirmation of the rock type
and consistency
with the previous metallurgical test
program will need to take place.
------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------
Source: SRK
(Where PEA = Preliminary Economic Assessment; PFS = Pre-Feasibility Study and FS = Feasibility Study)
SRK notes that this document does not provide for Ore Reserves due to the preliminary nature of the work.
1.2 Property Description and Location
The Miraflores property consists of a 124 hectare mineral exploitation contract granted by the Colombian Ministry of Mines to the Asociación de Mineros de Miraflores ("Miraflores Miners Association", AMM). Geographically, the mineral contract is located within the Municipality of Quinchía, Department of Risaralda, Republic of Colombia, some 190 km WNW of the Colombian capital of Bogota and 55 km to the north of Pereira, the capital of the Department of Risaralda.
2 Geology and Mineral Resource
The following is an excerpt from the ASX Metminco press release dated July 21, 2016 "Miraflores Mine Development - JORC 2012 Mineral Resource Statement":
2.1 Mineral Resource
As of 02 April, 2013, MMC estimated a Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of 72.6 Mt at a gold and silver grade of 0.78 g/t and 1.52 g/t respectively using a cut-off grade of 0.27 g/t gold in accordance with NI 43-101. The mineral resource was based on 25,884 m of drilling in 73 diamond drill holes and 236 meters of underground channel samples. The mineral resource estimate provided for both an open pit and an underground mining operation.
More recently, MMC was retained by Metminco to produce a mineral resource that is estimated in accordance with the guidelines of the JORC Code (2012 Edition), but which only provided for the exploitation of the Miraflores deposit via an underground mining operation, and hence a higher cut-off grade of 1.2 g/t gold. The revised mineral resource estimate is summarized in Table 2--1 and Table 2--2.
Table 2--1: Mineral Resource Estimate - Miraflores Gold Project (MMC July 2016)
Classification Tonnes Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Oz Au Oz Ag
(000's) (000's) (000's)
--------------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Measured 2,948 2.98 2.50 282 237
Indicated 6,245 2.74 2.89 549 580
Measured &Indicated 9,193 2.81 2.76 832 817
Inferred 180 1.44 5.49 8 32
--------------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Based on a gold cut-off grade of 1.2 g/t.
Rounding-off of numbers may result in minor computational errors, which are not deemed to be significant.
Table 2--2: Sensitivity of Mineral Resource to Varying Gold Cut-off Grades
Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource
(Breccia and Veins)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Cut-off K Tonnes Au (g/t) Au (Koz) Ag (g/t) Ag (Koz)
(Au
g/t)
-------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
0.60 23,455 1.61 1,211 2.13 1,606
0.70 18,983 1.83 1,114 2.27 1,383
0.80 15,868 2.04 1,041 2.39 1,222
0.90 13,571 2.24 978 2.52 1,098
1.00 11,761 2.44 923 2.62 991
1.10 10,361 2.63 875 2.71 903
1.20 9,193 2.81 832 2.76 817
1.30 8,342 2.97 797 2.83 759
1.40 7,614 3.14 767 2.89 708
1.50 6,966 3.29 737 2.96 663
-------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Inferred Mineral Resource (Breccia
only)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Cut-off K Tonnes Au (g/t Au (Koz) Ag (g/t) Ag (Koz)
(Au
g/t)
-------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
0.60 1,461 0.77 36 3.45 162
0.70 342 1.14 13 3.79 42
0.80 260 1.27 11 4.25 36
0.90 212 1.37 9 4.97 34
1.00 182 1.43 8 5.45 32
1.10 181 1.44 8 5.47 32
1.20 180 1.44 8 5.49 32
1.30 178 1.44 8 5.53 32
1.40 77 1.54 4 2.59 6
1.50 35 1.67 2 0.93 1
-------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Source: MMC, 2016
3 Metallurgy and Process Design 3.1 Metallurgy
SRK designed and supervised a feasibility-level metallurgical development program for the Miraflores Project located in the Quinchía District, Colombia. Metallurgical studies were conducted on master composites, variability composites and confirmatory composites representing different rock types in both the open pit and underground mine designs (SRK, 2013b). The Feasibility Study metallurgical was completed and a report was prepared for Seafield; however, it was not made public. The information presented here summarizes the Feasibility Study metallurgical work performed.
The Feasibility Study metallurgical program was conducted by Inspectorate Exploration and Mining Services (Inspectorate), a subsidiary of Bureau Veritas, and was designed to evaluate a process flowsheet that included:
-- Three-stage crushing; -- Ball mill grinding; -- Gravity concentration of the coarse gold; -- Gold flotation from the gravity tailing; -- Cyanide leaching of the gold flotation concentrate; -- Cyanide detoxification of the cyanidation residue; and -- Tailing thickening.
The average overall gold recovery is estimated at 91% and is based on the weighted contribution of each of the mineralized rock types in both the underground and open pit designs. The gold recovery estimate includes a 2% gold recovery reduction to allow for gold losses due to plant inefficiencies. The average overall silver recovery is estimated at 54% and is based on the weighted contribution of each of the mineralized rock types in both the underground and open pit designs. The silver recovery estimate includes a 2% silver recovery reduction to allow for silver losses due to plant inefficiencies.
The current Metminco scenario presented in this press release uses underground mining only resulting in a higher average grade (3-4g/t Au) to the process facility than the previous PEA's. It can reasonably be expected that processing of material from the higher grade underground scenario would result in similar, if not somewhat better, overall metallurgical performance, however, recovery estimates, based on rock types and underground mining grades, should be checked during the next phase of study.
3.2 Process
The design of the process facility for the updated PEA (2013a) and the Feasibility Study effort were undertaken by Lyntek. The Feasibility Study work was not completed. Process design presented in this section represent process designs completed as part of the updated PEA (SRK 2013a). Although operating costs have been updated from the PEA, the process plant capital cost estimate for a 1,750 t/d process plant is unchanged from the updated 2013 PEA. SRK notes that the mining scenario presented here is based on a 1,300 t/d facility. The Lyntek work and previous PEA's were based on process facilities with throughputs of 1,750 t/d. Process facility and mine production should be optimized in future studies.
Metallurgical studies have demonstrated that the Miraflores material can be effectively processed by a flowsheet that includes gravity concentration followed by cyanidation of the gravity tailing or by a flowsheet that includes gravity concentration followed by flotation and cyanidation of the flotation concentrate. SRK has selected the latter flowsheet concept as this has the advantages of slightly better overall gold recovery and a much smaller footprint for the cyanidation circuit, which offers significant advantages with respect to capital cost and disposal of cyanide leach residues. A conceptual flowsheet for the Miraflores process plant is shown in Figure 3-1.
Figure 3-1: Process Flow Diagram
To view this diagram, please refer to the full copy of this document located on the Company website ....www.metminco.com.au
Source: SRK
Run of Mine (RoM) material would be hauled to the crushing plant and either dumped directly into the crushing plant feed hopper, or stockpiled and fed to the crusher with a front-end loader. The crushing circuit would consist of a primary jaw crusher followed by secondary and tertiary cone crushers, with the tertiary crushers operated in closed circuit with a vibrating screen to produce a P(80) -9 mm final crushed product, which would be conveyed to the fine mill feed bin ahead of the grinding circuit.
Crushed mill feed would be fed from the fine mill feed bin feed the grinding circuit, which would consist of a ball mill operated in closed circuit with hydrocyclones. The cyclone overflow would advance to the flotation circuit at a grind size of P(80) -106 microns. Coarse free gold would be recovered from a portion of the cyclone underflow in a gravity concentration circuit that would include two centrifugal gravity concentrators. The resulting rougher gravity concentrate would then be upgraded on a series of shaking tables to produce a gravity concentrate of sufficient grade that it could be mixed with the necessary fluxes and smelted to produce a final doré product or subjected to intensive cyanide leaching. Shaking table tailings would be combined with the cyclone overflow and be advanced to the flotation circuit.
The combined cyclone overflow and gravity cleaner tailings would be conditioned with the collectors PAX (potassium amyl xanthate) and Aerofloat 208 (dialkyl dithiophosphate) at the natural pH of 8-9, and then advanced to the rougher/scavenger flotation circuit. The resulting rougher flotation concentrate would be then upgraded with one stage of cleaner flotation. The upgraded gold-bearing cleaner flotation concentrate would then be thickened to about 45% solids prior to being advanced to the carbon-in-leach (CIL) cyanidation circuit.
The CIL circuit would consist of agitated leach tanks operated in series to provide approximately 48 hours of leach retention time. The thickened cleaner concentrate would be pumped to the first CIL leach tank and flow by gravity to each succeeding leach tank in the train. Each tank will be provided with a carbon screen to retain carbon within each CIL leach tank. Activated carbon, which serves to adsorb dissolved gold from the leach slurry, would be added to the last tank in the CIL circuit. Carbon would be pumped counter-currently up the leach train to each preceding tank and would gradually increase in gold tenor by the time it reaches the first CIL tank. Loaded carbon, which is anticipated to grade at about 4,000 g of gold per tonne of carbon (a typical gold loading value), will be pumped from the first CIL leach tank, screened and washed and then pumped to the gold recovery circuit.
In the gold recovery circuit, the carbon would first be acid washed to remove scale and other materials that could potentially foul the carbon. The acid washed carbon would then be loaded into a carbon strip vessel in which a hot caustic/cyanide solution is circulated to desorb (elute) the gold that had been adsorbed on the carbon. The eluted gold would be circulated through a series of electrolytic cells where the gold-cyanide complexes are reduced to metallic gold, which precipitates onto stainless steel cathodes. The precipitated gold would be washed from the cathodes, filtered and then mixed with the necessary fluxing agents and then melted in a furnace to produce a final doré product.
Tailings discharging from the final CIL tank would be screened to recover residual carbon fines and then thickened prior to being pumped to the tailings detoxification circuit. The detoxification circuit would consist of two agitated tanks in which sodium metabisulfite, lime, air and copper sulfate are added to destroy the residual cyanide prior to being discharged to the tailing storage facility.
The capital cost of the process facility is estimated to be US$48 million inclusive of a 25% contingency (US$ 38 million before contingency). The process operating costs are estimated to be US$15.41/t milled.
4 Tailings Storage Facility
Tailings material from the concentrator mill will be filtered to generate two distinct tailings streams consisting of flotation and leached residue tailings. The larger fraction of flotation tailings will be stored in dry stack Tailings Management Facility (TMF) and used for mine backfill. All of the smaller fraction of leach residue tailings is assumed to be completely used as mine backfill and will immediately be placed underground.
The location and type of tailings (now dry stack tailings) has been modified from previous reports to accommodate a smaller required storage capacity, reduce environmental impact, and minimize costs. Field characterization, testwork, and more detailed design are required to advance the design from the current scoping level. The TMF will be located near to the processing facility in the Tesorito basin. The Tesorito catchment (Figure 4--1 red outline) is a 319,650 m(2) basin located south-west of the plant area and south of the portal site. It is bounded to the north and east by an existing unpaved road which sets the maximum elevation as this existing road will serve as hauling road and base for construction of runoff management during mine operations. The design provides two options in the basin shown in Figure 4--1. Option 1 considers an approximately 40 m high compacted tailings deposit just south of the plant area. The capacity of Option 1 is sufficient for the full expected tailings production. Option 2 considers another sub-basin within the Tesorito catchment which could be used as a future expansion and/or topsoil deposit, waste rock pile or sub-grade stockpile area.
Figure 4--1: Primary TMF Options - Tesorito Basin
To view this diagram, please refer to the full copy of this document located on the Company website ....www.metminco.com.au
Source: DN, 2016
The TMF design is summarized in Table 4--1.
Table 4--1: Tailings Management Facilities Design Criteria and Capacity
Option Option Option
Phase Item Units 1 2 1+2
-------------------- ------------------- -------- ------- ------- -------
Starter Embankment Crest width m 10 10 10
-------------------- ------------------- -------- ------- ------- -------
Crest elevation masl 1,210 1,210 1,210
------------------- ----------------------------- ------- ------- -------
Minimum toe
elevation masl 1,190 1,186 NA
------------------- ----------------------------- ------- ------- -------
Upstream slope ratio 2.5:1 2.5:1 2.5:1
------------------- ----------------------------- ------- ------- -------
Downstream
slope ratio 2.5:1 2.5:1 2.5:1
------------------- ----------------------------- ------- ------- -------
Embankment
volume k(m(3) 22 36 58
------------------- ----------------------------- ------- ------- -------
Ultimate TMF Face Slope ratio 3.0:1 3.0:1 3.0:1
-------------------- ------------------- -------- ------- ------- -------
Maximum elevation masl 1,270 1,270 1,270
------------------- ----------------------------- ------- ------- -------
Elevation between
berms m 10 10 10
------------------- ----------------------------- ------- ------- -------
Berm width m 10 10 10
------------------- ----------------------------- ------- ------- -------
M(m(3)
Volume ) 1.4 1.8 3.2
------------------- ----------------------------- ------- ------- -------
Source: SRK (modified DN), 2016
Operating costs were developed based on the use of a contracted rental fleet of trucks operating on day shift only and hauling from the concentrator approximately 1km to the TMF. The tailings material is spread by dozer and compacted with small compactors. The compacted density of the filtered tailings for the design is 1.6 t/m(3) .
The TMF designs include area just downstream of the embankment for management of contact and non-contact water management structures which include a seepage collection pond for catchment of all contacted water from the TMF and a sediment control pond to assure all non-contacted water complies with minimum parameters for discharge to the environment. The design includes allowances for road construction and upgrades associated with the TMF.
The tailings quantities are summarized in Table 4--2.
Table 4--2: Tailings Quantities
Description Quantity Units
------------------------- --------- --------
Total Mill Feed Tailings 4.0 Mt
------------------------- --------- --------
2.5 M (m(3)
)
------------------------- --------- --------
Tailings Required for 0.7 M (m(3)
Non-Structural Backfill )
Tailings Required for 0.4 M (m(3)
Structural Backfill )
------------------------- --------- --------
Total Tailings Volume 1.1 M (m(3)
to Backfill )
------------------------- --------- --------
Tailings to TMF 1.4 M (m(3)
)
Tailings to TMF 2.3 Mt
------------------------- --------- --------
Source: SRK, 2016
The waste rock available for embankment construction is limited to a small portion of the development rock and the majority of the material for the embankment is expected to come from an alternative borrow site or excess material, if available from the processing site construction. This study prices borrow from an off-site location.
For the scoping level study, the Option 1 TMF was selected and included in the economic analysis. A small deficit in capacity exists between the Option 1 volume and tailings to TMF quantities, but this can be managed over the last two years of production by backfilling the unused underground development driftwork. This balancing of volumes will be further developed in more detail in future work.
The capital cost for the filter presses is estimated to be US$7.5 million including a 10% contingency. The tailings storage facility capital cost is estimated to be US$2.1 million including a 15% contingency. Operating costs for the filtering and placement of tailings are estimated at US$1.84 per tonne milled.
5 Mining
Mining is accomplished through underground longhole stope mining with structural (cemented) and non-structural (uncemented) backfill utilizing development rock and filtered tailings. Initial development of the mine will occur in approximately 9 months with some production during this period and full production in Year 1.
An elevated cut-off grade of 2.2 g/t Au was determined to be optimal, with the addition of 2.0 g/t Au stope areas which are immediately adjacent to the 2.2 g/t Au areas and require limited additional development. Actual calculated cut-off grade, based on estimated costs, is 1.52 g/t Au. The stope optimization shapes were used as a basis for the mine design. These optimized stope shapes were viewed on screen and those that were low grade, geographically isolated, or otherwise sub-economic when considering development costs, were eliminated from the design. Typically, a crown pillar of 25 m or greater is used; however, there is one instance where an up-stope is mined to within 5 m of the surface.
Dilution, recovery, and an allowance for development not included in the design were applied to the mine design and are summarized in Table 5--1. Development not included in the design includes passing bays, muck bays, power bays, and additional cut-outs utilities and pumping.
Table 5--1: Mine Dilution, Recovery, and Development Allowance
Location Additional Unplanned Mining
Development Dilution Recovery
Allowance
----------- ------------- ---------- ----------
4 m x 5 m
Drifts 10% 0% 100%
3 m x 5 m
Drifts 5% 0% 100%
Stopes* 0% 3% 95%
----------- ------------- ---------- ----------
*Stopes already include a 0.25 m dilution on each side of the stope wall (0.5 m total/stope) included in the stope optimization shape (10% planned dilution). This planned dilution is included in the 3-D shape and received grade information based on the block model.
Source: SRK, 2016
A production rate of approximately 1,300 t/d was targeted from the underground with an objective of producing approximately 50,000 oz of Au per year. The mine will meet the 1,300 t/d plant feed with a 365 days per year, 24-hour schedule with two shifts of 12 hours each. Productivities have been adjusted for maintenance, operations, and efficiency delays. The yearly production schedule was generated using iGantt scheduling software and is summarized in Table 5--2. The mine plan includes some low-grade marginal material that is stockpiled and then fed into the plant at the end of the life of mine. The mine plan includes only Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources. Mineralized tonnage >1.2 g/t Au consists of 61% Measured Resources and 39% Indicated Resources. All inferred material has been treated as waste with zero grade where mined in the development process or adjacent to a stope.
Access to the mine is through two portals with 4 m x 5 m drifts used for the main ramps and primary haulage drifts. The veins and mineralized zones between veins will be accessed via a two ramp system and all material will be truck hauled to surface. The overhand mining sequence will advance in each stope block by mining from lower to upper levels. An initial development drift, the undercut mucking drive, will be constructed below the stoping area proceeding longitudinally along the stope in mineralized material. Temporary brow support may be required where the LHD enters the stope depending on rock quality and stope width. A second development drift, the overcut drill drive, is a drift along the top of the stope proceeding longitudinally along the stope in mineralized material where longhole drilling will take place to drill out the stope. These drifts will be 5 m high x 3 m wide.
The stope will be drilled and blasted and the shot mineralized material will stack at the bottom of the stope. The stope is mucked out through access at the stope bottom, in the undercut mucking drive. Once a stope is mucked, backfilling commences filling the stope up to the floor level of the overcut drive that was on the top of the stope.
The sequence is then repeated with a new drift, the new overcut drive, driven in the un-mined vein mineralized material above the initial stope. The overcut drive for the lower stope becomes the undercut for the new upper stope and the sequence repeats with drilling, blasting, and mucking of each of the higher level stopes being conducted on the fill of the stope below. The sequence continues to the top of the underground mining zone at a geotechnically designed level that allows an appropriate off-set to the open pit mine for safety and stability. Figure 5--1 shows the mine configuration colored by grade and by time period.
Figure 5--1: Underground Mine Configuration (August 2016)
To view this diagram, please refer to the full copy of this document located on the Company website ....www.metminco.com.au
Source: SRK, 2016
Ventilation raises have been included between the levels and two boreholes to the surface allow a full ventilation circuit.
The mine requires backfill to meet the required geotechnical stability of the stopes to maximize recovery and minimize losses, as well as to use as much filtered tailings as possible to minimize the TMF size and cost, and to use all development rock for backfill. Additionally, efforts were considered to minimize the use of cement.
The backfill method incorporates two different types of fill. The first is non-structural and gives no substantial support but provides a working surface for equipment. The second is structural fill assumed to have strengths in the 200 to 400 kPa UCS range. Over the life of mine, approximately 64% of the backfill is non-structural with the remainder being structural.
Non-structural fill is typically used in stopes that have a substantial pillar remaining in place after mining. The non-structural material proposed will be filtered tailings with a 2 m cap of waste rock. The non-structural material provides a base for mining the stope above. The non-structural material also allows for use of the filtered backfill material and reduces the need for additional TMF capacity on the surface.
Structural fill is used in stopes that have a narrow pillar remaining next to the stope after mining to increase extraction or minimize dilution. SRK assumed 70% of the structural fill to be 4% cement (by weight) and the remainder at 8% (by weight). As no test work is available on the characterization of the tailings at this time, these assumptions were made to allow for costing. Future work will need to test both the tailings and backfill to confirm these assumptions, and to develop an optimum case for the Project balancing extraction and cement costs.
Table 5--2: 2016 Mine Plan
Yr Yr Yr Yr Yr Yr Yr Yr Yr
Item 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Totals
-------------------------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------
Mineralization
t/d (t/d) 462 1,298 1,302 1,302 1,302 1,298 1,302 1,301 1,020
----------------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------
Total Tonnes
(mineralization
+ waste+
stockpiles) (t) 283,992 575,314 651,584 540,140 487,446 493,468 493,657 479,222 378,939 4,383,762
----------------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------
Waste Tonnes (Au
<
0.6 g/t) (t) 129,655 55,873 133,867 21,924 4,758 5,183 4,047 616 355,923
----------------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------
Mineralized
Tonnes
(Au > 1.2 g/t) (t) 126,113 475,091 475,302 475,160 475,104 475,179 475,241 475,014 372,223 3,824,428
Mineralization
Au (g/t) 3.03 3.31 3.63 3.33 3.62 4.27 3.72 3.98 3.54 3.66
Mineralization
Ag (g/t) 2.85 3.30 3.43 2.22 2.44 2.79 3.26 3.27 2.53 2.91
----------------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------
0.60 to 0.80
(Stockpile) (t) 6,288 31,960 18,558 15,753 4,407 5,594 8,715 1,607 4,766 97,648
0.60 to 0.80 Au (g/t) 0.65 0.69 0.72 0.73 0.74 0.65 0.66 0.72 0.78 0.70
0.60 to 0.80 Ag (g/t) 1.79 1.46 1.35 1.22 1.28 1.30 1.17 1.41 1.45 1.38
----------------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------
0.80 to 1.0
(Stockpile) (t) 14,275 4,639 17,990 12,974 1,238 6,347 1,288 508 59,260
0.80 to 1.0 Au (g/t) 0.88 0.90 0.90 0.90 0.80 0.90 0.84 0.83 0.89
0.80 to 1.0 Ag (g/t) 1.45 1.76 2.24 1.25 1.94 1.31 1.55 1.34 1.67
----------------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------
1.0 to 1.2
(Stockpile) (t) 7,661 7,750 5,869 14,329 1,940 1,164 4,365 2,601 825 46,504
1.0 to 1.2 Au (g/t) 1.06 1.14 1.11 1.10 1.16 1.16 1.09 1.05 1.10 1.10
1.0 to 1.2 Ag (g/t) 2.03 1.78 1.51 1.89 1.36 1.11 2.00 2.14 1.53 1.82
----------------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------
(m(3)
Backfill Volume ) 7,222 139,352 140,541 139,220 127,421 168,923 169,977 197,464 150,325 1,240,444
Non-structural
Backfill (m(3)
Volume ) 7,222 133,602 137,128 139,220 87,713 68,873 49,474 69,873 104,045 797,150
Structural
Cement (m(3)
Backfill Volume ) 5,750 3,413 - 39,708 100,050 120,503 127,591 46,280 443,294
Main Ramp
Development
Length (4 m x 5
m) (m) 2,816 1,378 2,884 904 210 277 240 29 99 8,838
Surface Raise
meters (m) 171 171
Internal Raise
meters (m) 97 35 162 294
Stope (t) 17,829 302,333 358,381 286,140 276,902 344,088 370,700 414,492 335,352 2,706,218
Level
Development
(3 m x 5 m) (t) 118,259 198,876 137,358 208,631 200,056 135,501 110,940 63,300 38,621 1,211,542
----------------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------
Material tonnages and grades reflected in Table 5-2 do not represent Ore Reserves.
Source: SRK
The backfill will be backhauled from the processing plant location by the mine trucks and then deposited in the stopes. The cement will be added by a screw conveyor at the processing plant, or by mixing at the mine using simple methodologies.
Mine equipment will include top hammer longhole drills, two boom jumbos, 3 m(3) LHD's, 20 t haul trucks, and auxiliary equipment including scissor lifts, explosive loaders, maintenance and lube trucks, grader, and personnel carriers.
Underground services including ventilation, mine dewatering, ground control, and power systems were considered in the design and are included in the costing.
Mining capital was estimated at US$6.5 million during preproduction with US$20.7 million required over the Life of Mine. Mining capital has no contingency included. Mine mobile equipment is not included in the capital cost as it estimated as a lease and included in the operating costs. Mine operating costs were estimated to be US$34.6/t milled.
6 Geotechnical
Geotechnical investigations were conducted by SRK to provide feasibility-level geotechnical design parameters for the open pit and underground designs (SRK, 2013c). The objective of the investigation was to provide suitable design parameters for mining the Miraflores deposit, through simultaneous operations of open pit and underground mining.
The 2013 investigation program consisted of geotechnical core logging of eight oriented HQ3 diamond drillholes. A total of 2,145 m of core was logged. Detailed face mapping of the existing exploration tunnel was also conducted as part of the 2013 field program. This new data has been used in conjunction with data previously gathered in 2012 support of the scoping-level design (SRK, 2012). The geotechnical information was used to develop underground design parameters including stope sizes, pillar sizes, dip pillar sizes, and a crown pillar size (work will be further developed in future designs as open pit was eliminated in this study), ground support, backfill, infrastructure off-set, dilution and recovery. It is anticipated that final stope dimensions will be established just prior to mining and will be based on geotechnical characterization from local delineation drilling.
Table 5-3: Underground Mine Design Parameters
Design Parameters Strong Rock Weak Rock
-------------------------------------------- ------------ ----------
Stope Dimensions Stope Height (m) 20 20
------------------
Stope Length (m) 90 30
Max Stope Width (m) 15 15
Minimum Stope Width
(m) 1.5 1.5
------------------------------------------- ------------ ----------
Crown Height (s1)
Crown Pillars (m) 83 83
------------------
Crown Width (vertical
dimension) (m) 25 25
------------------------------------------- ------------ ----------
Sill Height (<SIGMA>1)
Sill Pillars (m) 15 15
------------------
Sill Width (vert.)
(m) 5 5
HW Height (<SIGMA>1)
(m) 25 25 HW Width (between stopes) (m) 5 5 Rib Height (<SIGMA>1) (m) 15 15 Rib Width (strike) (m) 3 3 ------------------------------------------- ------------ ----------
Source: SRK
7 Project Infrastructure
The Miraflores deposit is located in a populated part of Colombia and is approximately four-hours driving on paved roads from the Antioquian capital of Medellin. The economy of the Municipality of Quinchía is rural. Agricultural activities dominated by coffee and mixed-crop farming are the principal sources of land use and income. Small-scale, artisanal gold mining is important in various areas such as Miraflores, El Chuscal and Quinchía.
The town of Rio Sucio has basic hotel, restaurant, and shopping facilities and is located approximately 30 km from the Project.
Power is readily available with a major transmission line for power in the region that runs 5 to 10 km from the Miraflores site running parallel to the Cauca River. The site capital budget includes US$1 million for a site substation at the process plant site and an allowance of US$450,000 for site distribution including distribution to the mine site. Underground distribution capital is including in the mine capital budget.
Preliminary water sources identified by SRK include the Quinchía and Cauca Rivers and tributaries that flow on the Miraflores property as well as water from underground dewatering. Metminco has access to approximately 7 liters per second of water rights available in the area. The water source for the process plant will be a combination of supply from the underground dewatering and site collection draining to the flotation tailings pond. Water will be available primarily from recycled tailings pond water.
SRK has identified and evaluated suitable sites for a future plant location. The area identified as the primary target is the flatter ridge area south of the mineralized area. Site works for a three borehole drill program, totaling 147 m of drilling and ten test pit geotechnical program, is complete. Additional detailed work will be conducted in the next phases of work. The road system will include upgrades to the access road from Quinchía to the Project property and construction of new access and haul roads to the TSF facilities, underground portals, and process plant.
Other on-site infrastructure items include sewage treatment facilities, waste storage areas, explosives storage, security, administration and maintenance facilities, warehouse facility, and an assay laboratory. Costing for these items have been included within the capital estimate.
8 Market Studies and Contracts 8.1 Markets
Gold markets are mature and with reputable smelters and refiners located throughout the world. The BMO Street Commodity Consensus Outlook provides a median outlook for gold in 2018 of US$1,317/oz gold and a long term outlook of US$1,300/oz gold.
Silver is a minor contributor to the overall economics of the Project. The BMO Street Commodity Consensus Outlook provides a median outlook of US$18.52/oz silver. The long term outlook is US$19/oz.
For the purposes of this report, US$1,300/oz Au has been assumed for gold and US$18.00/oz Ag for silver.
8.2 Contracts
Miraflores is not currently in production and has no operational sales contracts in place at the time of this report.
9 Environmental Studies, Permitting and Social or Community Impact
The area around the Miraflores Project (and the region as a whole) had been heavily disturbed through the anthropogenic conversion of native forest to principally coffee plantation. This land use change has sensitized the local population, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to additional disturbance activities, especially those associated with natural resource extraction and beneficiation (i.e., mining). Appropriate and effective stakeholder engagement and community relations is essential for the success of the Project, and Metminco has re-established communications with the local municipalities and indigenous Embera Chami and Karamba communities.
Baseline data collection and preliminary impact analyses were initiated in 2010, expanded in 2012, but suspended in 2013 when Seafield entered in to receivership. Metminco has recently reinitialized these programs in order to meet the requirements of the (EIS based on the latest mine plan. Surface water baseline monitoring and mitigation will be critical for the Project given the municipal discharges of untreated waste waters in the region and the presence of illegal artisanal miners who are releasing regulated pollutants (including mercury and cyanide) into local surface waters. In addition, while the deposit has low sulfidation (<0.6% S), the absence of neutralizing capacity in the rock could lead to an elevated risk of acid rock drainage.
The new mine plan will require modifications to the EIS, and will include the appropriate environmental and social management plans based on the identified impacts. These will include the necessary environmental measures for the proper closure and abandonment of the operation. To ensure that these activities are carried out, an Environmental Insurance Policy shall remain in effect for three years from the date of termination of the contract. SRK prepared a conceptual closure plan for the Miraflores Project in 2013 as part of the original EIS effort. This plan (and the projected closure cost estimate) will need to be updated based on the modification to the mine plan presented herein.
10 Capital and Operating Costs
Costing of the Project has been completed to various levels of detail. Table 10--1 outlines the various degrees of detail for both capital and operating costs by discipline. The scoping level study should be considered to be an accuracy of +/- 30% including contingencies.
Table 10--1: Capital and Operating Cost Level of Study by Discipline
Discipline Item Level Comments
---------------- --------------------------- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
Mine Underground Operating Cost PFS To confirm PFS level:
Further refinement of first principle costing and tie back to
production schedule.
An up to date labor salary study is still required for a PFS
level.
Updated cost quotes to 2016
---------------- --------------------------- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
Underground Capital Cost PFS Could refine auxiliary equipment and utility costs.
---------------- --------------------------- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
Process Design Capital Cost PEA Lyntek scope of work. Capital equipment was updated with
quotes however installation and other
costs were not updated. A complete capital cost estimate was
not compiled by Lyntek.
---------------- --------------------------- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Cost PEA Previous FS work by Lyntek and not confirmed by SRK. Operating
costs from previous PEA cost
was used with adjustments by SRK to account for labor, power,
and inflation.
---------------- --------------------------- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
Tailings Capital/Operating Cost PEA Flotation tailings costs needs to be re-estimated based on
Facility quantities of a PFS level design.
Leachate costs need to be re-estimated based on quantities in
the current Feasibility Study
level design.
---------------- --------------------------- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
Infrastructure Capital Cost PEA Update designs and estimates to be consistent with current
Project parameters with refined
power supply, access, and support facility data to increase
accuracy.
---------------- --------------------------- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
Owner's Cost Capital Cost PEA Update construction schedule, confirm adjustments to Project
size and changes to plant and
tailings facility, optimize and refine closure costs.
---------------- --------------------------- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
General & Operating Cost PEA To develop to next level of study: Create detailed cost
Administrative estimate with acceptable detail for
the next level of study
---------------- --------------------------- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
Source: SRK
10.1 Capital Cost Estimates
The capital cost estimate for the Miraflores PEA LoM totals US$98 million, including contingency, and is summarized in Table 10--2. The capital is broken down by initial capital, required to start and develop the mine, and sustaining capital used to continue operations.
Table 10--2: LoM Capital Costs (US$ millions)
Description Initial Sustaining LoM --------------------- -------- ----------- ------ Underground Mining 6.5 14.2 20.7 Processing 38.0 0 38.0 Tailings 8.6 0 8.6 Infrastructure 5.0 0 5.0 Owner's Cost 9.0 6.0 15.0 Investment on Water Monitoring 0.1 0 0.1 Equipment Salvage 0 (3.4) (3.4) --------------------- -------- ----------- ------ Sub-total 67.2 16.8 84.0 --------------------- -------- ----------- ------ Contingency 14.0 0 14.0 --------------------- -------- ----------- ------ Total Capital 81.2 16.8 98.0 --------------------- -------- ----------- ------
The capital cost estimate developed for this study includes the costs associated with the engineering, procurement, preliminary estimates of taxes, duties, and freight, construction, commissioning and pre-operation required for all Project facilities. The cost estimate was based on preliminary estimates developed for the Project by SRK for mining, processing, owner's cost, investment of water monitoring, equipment salvage, and sustaining costs. GRES contributed the tailings filter cost. DN developed the dry stack tailings costs. The capital cost estimated includes direct and indirect costs. Estimates are based on preliminary designs and costs from other similar projects combined with first principles estimates.
Contingency is in the capital cost estimate for processing (25%), tailings (15%), infrastructure (25%), and owner's costs (25%). The overall contingency initial front capital is 17%.
10.2 Operating Cost Estimates
Operating costs are based on underground mining, process, tailings and G&A estimates. All costs are in Q3 2016 US dollars. The mining operating costs do not include capitalized development costs. LoM operating costs by cost center are shown in Table 10--3. Over the life of the Project, operating costs are estimated at US$57.17/t milled.
Table 10--3: LoM Operating Costs
Description US$/t milled LoM (US$ millions) ------------- ------------- ------------------- Mining $34.67 139.7 Processing $15.41 62.1 Tailings $1.84 7.4 G&A $5.25 21.1 ------------- ------------- ------------------- Total $57.17 230.3 ------------- ------------- -------------------
The financial results are derived from annual inputs provided by SRK, Metminco, GRES, and DN. SRK developed the economic model. Cash flows are reported on a yearly basis. The basis is considered to be 2016 Q3 US dollars.
11 Economic Analysis 11.1 Principal Assumptions
A financial model was prepared on an unleveraged, post-tax basis. The model includes a pre-tax summary for completeness. The basis and results are presented in this section. Key criteria used in this analysis are summarized in Table 11--1.
Table 11--1: Project Main Assumptions
Description Value Units ---------------------- ------ ------- Project Schedule Pre-Production Period 18 months Mine Life 9 years Plant Feed Rate 1,300 t/d ---------------------- ------ ------- Gold/Silver Circuit Average Gold Recovery 91 % Average Silver Recovery 54 % Gold Price 1,300 US$/oz Silver Price 18 US$/oz ---------------------- ------ -------
An 18-month pre-production period allows for the post permitting activities through to commercial production, including all construction activities and surface rights settlement, pre-production mine development, process plant and facilities construction and infrastructure development.
Mill feed is planned at 1,300 t/d with varying grades that provide average LoM plant feed grades of 3.51 g/t Au and 2.84 g/t silver (including low grade stockpile feed material).
A flat 33% income tax has been used. This is the result of combining the Colombian corporate income tax at 25% and the CREE tax at a rate of 8%.
Working capital changes are based on accounts receivable paid 30 days after a sale is reported, accounts payable are due 30 days following delivery of service, 16% VAT (IVA) tax over capital is recovered after a period of 30 days and operations net inventories of 30 days.
The financial inputs to the economic model are provided in Table 11--2.
Table 11--2: Financial Inputs
Description Value Unit --------------------- ---------------------- ----------------- Project Equity 100% Percent Working Capital Receivables/Payables, Requirement IVA 30 days Depreciation 5 year accelerated Discount Rate 8% Effective Corporate Colombian Income Tax Rate 33% Tax Governmental 4.0% effective Percent over Royalty rate gross sales --------------------- ---------------------- -----------------
The following exchange rates and consumables were used:
-- US$1.00 = COP$3,000; -- Diesel: US$0.70/L; and -- Power: US$0.11/kWh. 11.2 Economic Results
After-tax NPV is US$73 million, using an 8% discount rate (NPV 8%) with an IRR of 26%. These and other economic results are summarized in Table 11--3.
Table 11--3: After-Tax Technical Economic Model Results
Description Units Value Unit Cost
(US$/t-RoM)
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
Mineralization Processed kt 4,028
Gold Recovered koz 414
Silver Recovered koz 199
Gold Market Price US$/oz $1,300
Silver Market Price US$/oz $18
Gross Revenue US$M 539.2
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
Refinery
Gold Refinery US$M (0.2) ($0.05)
Doré Transportation
& Insurance US$M (1.5) ($0.38)
Silver Refinery US$M (0.1) ($0.02)
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
Subtotal US$M (1.8) ($0.45)
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
NSR US$M 537.4 $133.43
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
Gold Royalty US$M (21.4) ($5.30)
Silver Royalty US$M (0.1) ($0.03)
Net Revenue US$M 515.9 $128.09
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
Operating Costs
Mining US$M 139.7 $34.67
Processing US$M 62.1 $15.41
Tailings US$M 7.4 $1.84
G&A US$M 21.1 $5.25
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
Subtotal US$M 230.3 $57.17
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
LoM Cash Cost US$/oz-Au 607 -
First 8 Years Cash 599
Cost US$/oz-Au -
Operating Margin
(EBITDA) US$M 286 $70.93
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
Capital Costs
Underground Mining US$M 20.7
Processing US$M 47.5
Tailings Facility US$M 9.6
Infrastructure US$M 6.3
Owner Costs US$M 17.2
Investment on Water
Monitoring US$M 0.1
Salvage US$M (3.4)
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
Subtotal US$M 98.0
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
Income Tax US$M (41.2)
After-Tax Free Cash
Flow US$M 146.4
After-Tax NPV@8% US$M 73.4
After-Tax IRR % 26%
-------------------------- ----------- ------- -------------
The Project cash costs are summarized in Table 11--4.
Table 11--4: Cash Cost Breakdown
Description US$/oz
------------------------ -------
Underground Mining 339
Processing 151
Tailings 18
G&A 51
Selling/Refining 4
By-Product (Silver)
Credits (9)
-------
Direct Cash Costs $555
------------------------ -------
Governmental Royalties 52
Indirect Cash Costs $52
------------------------ -------
Direct + Indirect
Costs $607
------------------------ -------
Sustaining Capex 41
All-In Sustaining
Costs $648
------------------------ -------
Initial Capex 197
All-In Costs $845
------------------------ -------
Cash costs do note include: Private royalties, depreciation and amortization, ARO provisions, inventory allowances, corporate overheads, debt, employee adjustments, finished goods/by-product adjustments, exploration and study costs, permitting costs, or community related costs.
11.3 Sensitivity Analysis
The Project sensitivity analysis on an after-tax basis is summarized in Table 11--5 and in
Figure 11--1. As presented, the Project is most sensitive to market price followed by operating costs and capital costs, respectively.
Table 11--5: Project Sensitivity (After-tax)
NPV@8% (US$ Millions) -20% -15% -10% -5% Base 5% 10% 15% 20% ----------------------- ----- ----- ----- ---- ----- --- ---- ---- ---- Revenue 25 37 50 62 73 85 97 108 120 Operating Costs 94 89 84 79 73 68 63 57 52 Capital Costs 87 84 80 77 73 70 66 63 59 ----------------------- ----- ----- ----- ---- ----- --- ---- ---- ----
Figure 11--1: Project Sensitivity Analysis (After-tax)
To view this diagram, please refer to the full copy of this document located on the Company website ....www.metminco.com.au
On an after-tax basis and using variable gold prices, Table 11--6 shows the sensitivity of the Project with regards to payback period, NPV discount rate and IRR.
Table 11--6: Base-Case Gold Price Sensitivity Analysis (After-Tax)
Gold Price NPV (5%) NPV (8%) IRR Payback
(US$) US$ Millions US$ Millions (years)
----------- -------------- -------------- ---- ---------
Base 96 73 26% 2.8
$1,300 96 73 26% 2.8
$1,400 117 91 29% 2.5
$1,500 137 109 33% 2.3
$1,600 158 127 36% 2.1
----------- -------------- -------------- ---- ---------
Funding
Based on the results of the underground only mining study at the Miraflores Project in Colombia, the Company plans to raise the funds required to complete a Bankable Feasibility Study. On completion of the Feasibility Study, and the decision to develop the Miraflores Project, a combination of debt and equity instruments will be used to progress the Project into production.
William Howe
Managing Director
For further information,
please contact:
METMINCO LIMITED
Stephen Tainton / Phil Killen Office: +61 (0) 2
9460 1856
NOMINATED ADVISOR AND BROKER
RFC Ambrian
Australia
Will Souter / Nathan Forsyth Office: +61 (0) 2
9250 0000
United Kingdom
Charlie Cryer Office: +44 (0) 20
3440 6800
JOINT BROKER
SP Angel Corporate Finance
LLP UK)
Ewan Leggat Office: +44 (0) 20
3470 0470
UK FINANCIAL PR
Camarco
Gordon Poole / Tom Huddart Office: + 44 (0) 20
3757 4997
------------------------------ --------------------
Competent Persons Statement
Mr Jeff Osborn, BEng Mining, MMSAQP, on behalf of SRK, refers to the issue and publication by Metminco of the mining study undertaken by SRK in this announcement dated 8 September, 2016 (Announcement). We consent to be named in the Announcement and to the inclusion of all statements by SRK included in said Announcement that Metminco says are based on a statement by us, in the form and context in which these statements are included.
Forward Looking Statement
All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this announcement including, without limitation, statements regarding future plans and objectives of Metminco are forward-looking statements. When used in this announcement, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "future", "intend", "may", "opportunity", "plan", "potential", "project", "seek", "will" and other similar words that involve risks and uncertainties.
These statements are based on an assessment of present economic and operating conditions, and on a number of assumptions regarding future events and actions that, as at the date of this announcement, are expected to take place. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, its directors and management of Metminco that could cause Metminco's actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or anticipated in these statements.
The Company cannot and does not give any assurance that the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement will actually occur and investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Metminco does not undertake to update or revise forward-looking statements, or to publish prospective financial information in the future, regardless of whether new information, future events or any other factors affect the information contained in this announcement, except where required by applicable law and stock exchange listing requirements.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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