Ausenco Completes Positive Desk Top Conceptual Study
Candente Copper Corp. (TSX:DNT) reports that a positive Desk Top Conceptual Study on the Cañariaco Norte Project in Peru has been completed by contractor Ausenco Engineering Inc.
Joanne Freeze, Candente’s President and CEO, said Ausenco’s work has identified several opportunities with the potential to lower initial capital expenditures (CapEx) and operating expenses (OpEx) while also enhancing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices.
Study Highlights:
- Mitigation of the need for a roaster, both for a smaller and a larger project, which could significantly reduce both CapEx and OpEx costs and improve ESG practices;
- The potential viability of the project at various concentrator throughputs including 40,000; 50,000; and 60,000 tonnes per day (tpd);
- Evaluation of a staged expansion with a smaller throughput for a lower initial CapEx, then expanding after payback using mine cash flow indicates this could be an attractive development strategy;
- The application of the best available technology (“BAT”) for tailings that considers both wet and dry stack tailings storage methodologies which could improve ESG practices and appears viable. This should be assessed in more detail.
“The potential mitigation of a roaster is a game changer, offering an opportunity to significantly reduce both CapEx and OpEx and enabling an operation less complicated both for permitting and day-to-day operations,” Ms Freeze said.
“This opportunity was identified as a result of new geometallurgical modelling of the deposit and updated smelting costs.
“Now we can focus on parameters to be included in an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) to evaluate the most attractive potential development strategy.”
Signficant historical engineering work has been completed for the Cañariaco Norte Project, which has provided much of the basis for the conceptual desktop study; however, the new development concepts will require additional technical and economic assessment and development in an updated PEA.
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