Mar 30 2016
Excelsior Mining Corp. is pleased to announce that it has filed a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report dated effective January 28, 2016 on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Report is with respect to Excelsior's Updated Prefeasibility Study on the Gunnison Copper Project in southern Arizona; the results of which were originally announced in a February 9, 2016 news release.
The Updated PFS was completed as a result of the recent acquisition of the Johnson Camp Mine ("JCM") and staged production approach which have dramatically lowered initial capital costs to $45.9 million.
Commenting on the filing of the Updated PFS, Stephen Twyerould, President & CEO said, "The Updated Prefeasibility report represents another major milestone for Excelsior as we continue to advance the Gunnison Copper Project. By combining the assets of our recent JCM acquisition with the exceptional economics and our ISR copper project, we have demonstrated once again the value created by management and our excellent technical team. This same high level of technical acumen will now be applied to the completion of the Feasibility Study, which will be finalized before year-end."
Updated Prefeasibility Study Results
Highlights of the North Star Gunnison Copper Project Updated PFS (United States dollars)
- Net Present Value ("NPV") of $1.2 billion pre-tax and $829 million post-tax
- at 7.5% discount rate using a life of mine ("LOM") copper price of $2.75/lb;
- Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 57.9% pre-tax and 45.8% post-tax;
- Initial construction capital costs of $45.9 million
- includes 20% contingency, 16% EPCM, freight, mobile equipment, owner's costs and capital spares;
- Payback period for initial capital of 1.8 years pre-tax and 2.6 years post-tax;
- Average life-of-mine operating costs of $0.70/lb;
- All-In Cost (all capital plus operating costs) of $1.24/lb;
- Over 850 million pounds of copper added to the probable mineral reserve, an increase of 24%; total probable reserve now 4.4 billion pounds (775 million short tons grading 0.29%);
- Mine life of 27 years (24 years of commercial production);
- Staged production profile: initial production rate of 25 million pounds of copper cathode per annum using the existing JCM facilities, followed by an intermediate expansion stage to 75 million pounds per annum and final expansion stage to full production of 125 million pounds per annum (includes the construction of an acid plant at full production). The staged production profile makes possible the funding of future expansions out of cash flow;
- Staged production approach lowers initial capital costs, reduces financing risk and speeds the timeline to first production.
Source: http://www.excelsiormining.com/