Business
Abacus Signs Option Agreements With Teck to Purchase 6,000 Acres of Land at Ajax
Abacus Signs Option Agreements With Teck to Purchase 6,000 Acres of Land at Ajax
About this update from Abacus Mining & Exploration Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nAbacus Signs Option Agreements With Teck to Purchase 6,000 Acres of Land at Ajax\n\n\n Jul. 13, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) -- VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- Abacus Mining & Exploration Corporation (the \"Company\") (TSX VENTURE: AME) is pleased to announce that it has signed Option to Purchase Agreements (\"Option Agreements\") with subsidiaries of Teck Resources Limited - Afton Operating Corporation and Surgarloaf Ranches Limited (collectively \"Teck\") to acquire approximately 6,000 acres of land around our Afton Ajax deposit.\n\nUnder the terms of the Option Agreements the Company will pay an aggregate of $100,000 to Teck for the options and will then have 2 years to elect to exercise the options, or have the right to extend the exercise period of the options by an additional 1 year by making further option payments to Teck of an additional $100,000. The exercise price of the options is $2,500 per acre, exercisable at any time during the two year period, less amounts paid to Teck for the options. \n\"We are extremely pleased to have secured options on the surface rights in and around our Ajax Deposit,\" states Doug Fulcher, President, CEO of Abacus. \"By completing this Option Agreements we have now secured an option on the surface rights in addition to our existing mineral rights to our Ajax copper/gold project. This is a key transaction as we move beyond our recently announced Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) and toward a prefeasibility and feasibility study.\" \nThe Company is a junior exploration and development company with a 43-101 compliant positive preliminary economic assessment report (announced June 22, 2009) for its Ajax property. The report contemplates a 60,000 tonne per day operation producing an average 106 million pounds of copper and 99,400 ounces of gold in concentrate annually. Sensitivity analyses approximating current metal prices (US$2.25 per pound copper and US$900 per ounce gold) in the assessment indicate a NPV of $622.3 million discounted 8% over a 23 year mine life, with an IRR of 20.9%, cash costs of $0.99 per pound copper, and payback of 4.3 years. The Ajax extension remains open along strike and at depth. \nOn Behalf of the Board \nABACUS MINING & EXPLORATION CORPORATION \nDoug Fulcher, President and Chief Executive Officer \nForward-Looking Information \nThis release includes certain statements...