Newcore Gold Ltd. (TSXV: NCAU | OTCQX: NCAUF) has announced positive results from the independent, updated preliminary economic assessment completed for the company’s 100%-owned Enchi Gold Project in Ghana.
The PEA was led by Lycopodium Minerals Canada Limited of Toronto, Canada and provides a base case assessment of developing Enchi as a low capital intense, open pit, heap leach operation, processing 8.1Mtpa utilizing contract mining. The PEA incorporated updated costing as well as development work completed on the project since 2021 including a larger MRE completed in 2023, a significant amount of bench-scale and bulk sample metallurgical testwork and an updated environmental and social baseline study.
Strong project economics with low capital intensity
- At a gold price of US$1,850/oz: US$586M pre-tax net present value discounted at 5% (“NPV5%“) and a 77% pre-tax internal rate of return, US$371M after-tax NPV5% and a 58% after-tax IRR
- At a gold price of US$2,350/oz: US$987M pre-tax NPV5% and a 127% pre-tax IRR, US$632M after-tax NPV5% and a 92% after-tax IRR
- Initial capital costs estimated at US$106M (including a 20% contingency), with a short after-tax payback of 1.6 years
Robust production profile with a low-cost structure driven by a technically straightforward, open pit, heap leach operation and low strip ratio
- Average annual gold production of 121,839oz; peak gold production in year 6 of 155,188oz; 1.1Moz gold recovered over a 9-year life of mine
- LOM strip ratio of 2.67 to 1, mined grade of 0.60g/t Au and gold recovery of 81.8%
- LOM operating costs (1) estimated at US$801/oz of gold, cash costs (2) estimated at US$934/oz of gold, LOM all-in sustaining costs (AISC) (3) estimated at US$1,018/oz of gold
Economics incorporate significant development work completed since 2021
- The PEA incorporated the MRE completed in 2023 which reflected the addition of approximately 34,000m of Reverse Circulation and diamond drilling completed in 2021 and 2022
- Significant metallurgical testwork completed to date, highlighting the Project’s amenability to heap leach processing. Advanced metallurgical testwork consists of more than 390 tests including bottle rolls, column tests, and two bulk-scale pilot heap tests
Significant longer-term growth potential from the district-scale exploration opportunity at Enchi
- Enchi’s property covers 248 km2 along a prolific gold belt that hosts multi-million-ounce gold mines. Newcore has identified more than 20 pre-resource targets across the property and with less than 10% of the property explored. The district scale exploration opportunity at Enchi remains largely underexplored and untested
- All deposits and targets remain open along strike and at depth, with potential for resource growth in both shallow oxides and within the sulphide mineralization
Luke Alexander, president and CEO of Newcore stated, “The PEA confirms the opportunity at Enchi to develop an open pit, heap leach operation with robust economics. This is a notable milestone and an important step in advancing the development of our Enchi Gold Project in Ghana towards a construction decision. The PEA is a culmination of several years of de-risking work that included an updated Mineral Resource Estimate completed in 2023 and significant metallurgical testwork on the project.”
To read more about this, please visit www.newcoregold.com
To read more news like this, please visit www.theassay.com/news
