NPV Of US$178 Million For Nevada Project
Premier Gold Mines Limited (TSX: PG) has released updated results of its Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the Cove Project at its 100%-owned McCoy-Cove Property located near Battle Mountain, Nevada.
Highlights of the updated PEA results and life-of-mine plan (LOM) include:
- After-tax NPV of US$178 million, and an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 36% based on a gold price of US$1,400/oz – increasing to NPV5 of US$306 million and IRR of 53% at a gold price of US$1,680/oz
- Average operating costs of US$215/ton, cash cost of US$859/oz Au and all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of US$948/oz Au
- Indicated mineral resources of 1,110 ktons at 0.316 oz/t Au and 0.850 oz/t Ag for 351,000 ozs of gold and 943,000 ozs of silver (1,007 ktonnes at 10.8 g/t Au, 29.1 g/t Ag)
- Inferred mineral resources of 4,262 ktons at 0.317 oz/t Au and 0.602 oz/t Ag for 1,353 koz of gold and 2,565 koz of silver (3,866 ktonnes at 10.9 g/t Au, 20.6 g/t Ag
- Metallurgical recoveries of 82.5% for gold and 67.1% for silver
- Gold production of 743,000 ounces during 8-year life of mine (LOM)
- Average annual full year gold production of 102,000 ounces
- LOM capital cost of US$107.2 million after pre-development costs of US$23.9 million
- Mine construction capital of US$81.9 million
After-tax payback period of 4.5 years
“The PEA underscores the importance of McCoy-Cove as one of the cornerstone assets in our soon-to-be spun-out in 80 Gold Corp, whose focus will remain the exploration and development of quality gold projects in Nevada, USA”, President and CEO, Ewan Downie, said.
“Our go-forward plans for the project includes an exploration ramp to allow an aggressive underground drill program to upgrade and expand mineral resources in advance of a future Feasibility Study and also provide a platform to increase recoverable gold resources and delineate the deposit still open down-plunge.”
The Project will process 2.97 million tons at an average grade of 0.303 oz/t Au producing 743,000 ounces of gold over an eight-year period. The cost profile includes an average cash cost (net of by-product credits) of US$859 per ounce of gold sold and an AISC of US$948 (net of by-product credits) per ounce of gold sold. Annual full year gold production will average 102,000 ounces per year over the eight-year mine life.
The McCoy-Cove Property is located immediately south of Nevada Gold Mines’ Phoenix Mine, 32 miles south of the Town of Battle Mountain, in Lander County, Nevada. The Property hosts the historic Cove mine, operated by Echo Bay Mines Ltd. (Echo Bay) between 1987 and 2001, that produced 2.6 million ounces of gold and 100 million ounces of silver and the historic McCoy mine that produced more than 600,000 ounces of gold.
