Candente Copper Corp. (TSX:DNT) has filed the National Instrument (NI”) 43-101 Technical Report in support of the Preliminary Economic Assessment (2022 PEA) completed by Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc. on its Cañariaco copper project in Northern Peru.
The summary of the 2022 PEA results were announced on February 8th, 2022.
The 2022 PEA by Ausenco builds on earlier advanced engineering studies conducted from 2010 through 2014. Key highlights follow:
- Initial CapEx of $1.04 B with throughput of 40,000 tonnes per day (tpd) mine and plant;
- After-tax NPV of US$1,010 M for base case of US$3.50/lb Cu, US$1,650/oz Au, US$21.50/oz Ag, and 8% discount rate;
- After-tax NPV increases to US$1,833 M, with an IRR of 21.9% and payback of 4.5 years when using a copper price of US$4.50/lb.
- Payback of pre-production capital in 7.1 years using base case price of US$3.50/lb Cu and 4.5 years using US$4.50/lb Cu;
- Average annual metal production of 173 Mlb (78,543 tonnes) Cu, 31,395 oz Au, and 703,588 oz Ag during the life-of mine (LOM);
- Average annual metal production of 120 Mlb (54,539 tonnes) Cu, 24,375 oz Au, and 548,667 oz Ag for the first six years;
- Average annual metal production of 193 Mlb (87,475 tonnes) Cu, 34,243 oz Au per year, and 766,753 oz Ag per year for the second mine phase, which will run for 21.4 years;
- Average LOM metal recoveries of 88.1% for Cu, 64.7% for gold and 57.2% for silver;
- Concentrate grades forecast to average approximately 26% Cu, 3.63 g/t Au and 84.16 g/t Ag for first six years;
- LOM Concentrate grades are projected to average approximately 26% Cu, 3.27 g/t Au and 75.40 g/t Ag;
- Mine and plant expansion to 80,000 tpd in year 7 with additional capex of $305 M from cash flow;
- Cash operating cost of US$1.28/lb of copper including all on-site and off-site costs, treatment and refining charges (“TC/RC”), net of by-product credits;
- Advanced ESG development strategies result in improved Infrastructure Design including a single waste management facility (WMF) with co-mingling and co-placement of waste rock and filtered mill tailings creating a smaller overall footprint further distanced from populated areas;
- Waste to mineralized material strip ratio of 0.66:1;
- Highly leveraged to copper prices;
- LOM metal production of 4,848 Mlb (2,199,215 tonnes) Cu, 879,051 oz Au, and 19,700,467 oz Ag;
- Conventional crush/grind and flotation technology;
- Decreased OpEx with marketable concentrate with no need for arsenic treatment;
- Pre-production capital cost of US$1.04 B is based on leased mining equipment and includes a contingency allocation of 18.5%;
- All-in capital cost of US$1.57 B based on leased mining equipment and including life-of-mine sustaining capital, expansion capital and closure cost;
- 28-year mine life, with potential for extension if additional resources identified below proposed pit can be included in a mine plan;
- Located at a moderate elevation with pit centroid and process plant at approximately 3,000 metres above sea level;
- Connection to the national power grid is planned to be by direct line approximately 55 km from the project site to the Carhuaquero substation site;
- Significant potential for discovery of additional mineralization at nearby Cañariaco Sur and Quebrada Verde targets.
The Cañariaco Norte Mineral Resource estimate has been updated and using a 0.15% Cu applied cut-off, which represents an approximate breakeven cut-off, contains 9.29 Blb Cu, 2.14 Moz Au and 59.43 Moz Ag in the Measured and Indicated categories as well as 2.66 Blb Cu, 0.55 Moz Au and 18 Moz Ag in the Inferred category.
Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources were used in the 2022 PEA mine plan. Within the ultimate pit, at the $6.52/t NSR cut-off the classification breakdown of the mill feed material is 54% Measured Mineral Resources, 38% Indicated Mineral Resources and 8% Inferred Mineral Resources.
The 2022 PEA is preliminary in nature. It includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorised as mineral reserves and there is no certainty that the 2022 PEA will be realised. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
An Inferred Mineral Resource estimate was also recently completed for a portion of Cañariaco Sur which contains 2.2 Blb Cu, 1.2 Moz Au and 15 Moz Ag, however the 2022 PEA mine plan only includes resources from Cañariaco Norte.
For further information please visit: https://candentecopper.com/
