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Mequillon Preliminary Economic Assessment: Positive Economics and Potential for 9 Year Mine Life Extension Demonstrated
MONTREAL, Feb. 4 /CNW Telbec/ - Canadian Royalties Inc. (TSX: CZZ) announces the completion of a ...
About this update from Cleghorn Minerals Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nMONTREAL, Feb. 4 /CNW Telbec/ - Canadian Royalties Inc. (TSX: CZZ)\nannounces the completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for its\nMequillon deposit. The author of this study, P&E Mining Consultants Inc.,\nconcluded that this deposit can be developed as a viable mining project with\nthe following highlights:\n\n\n- The deposit has the potential to extend the life of the Nunavik Nickel\n project by an additional 9 years beyond the original plan to mine the\n Mesamax, Expo and Ivakkak deposits, as proposed in the Bankable\n Feasibility Study (BFS).\n- The deposit has a 33% IRR and a $53 million NPV in its base case\n ($8.00 Nickel & $2.00 Copper) and a 107% IRR and a $260 million NPV in\n the optimistic case scenario with elevated commodity prices\n ($10.00 Nickel and $2.50 Copper).\n\nMr. Richard Faucher, President and CEO comments on these results: "The\nPreliminary Economic Assessment on the viability of developing Mequillon is\nhighly positive and supports our near-term goals of doubling the project mine\nlife and improving project economics. Coupled with high-grade resources\nbuilding at Allammaq, we are confident that the company's objective of\nbecoming the premier mid-tier Nickel producer will be met".\nThis PEA was based on the Mequillon deposit being developed using\nconventional open pit and underground mining methods at the completion of\nmining operations as proposed in the BFS for the Nunavik Nickel Project\n(Technical Report filed on SEDAR). As such, the proposed Mequillon mining\noperation would utilize the Expo concentrator and infrastructure as described\nin the BFS.\nThe study assumed a production rate of 1 million tonnes per year, which\nwould be trucked for processing at the Expo concentrator and was based on the\nlatest resource model that was disclosed on September 11th, 2007. Forecasts by\nbanks and analysts now support a long-term Nickel price in the range of\n$8.00/lb, a figure that was used in the present Mequillon PEA.\nFor the purpose of this assessment, the near-surface portion of the\ndeposit would be mined by open pit. It is estimated that this pit would\nproduce 1.95 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.63% Ni and 0.90% Cu, and\nhave an overall stripping ratio of 7.7 to 1. A ramp would be driven to access,\ndevelop and mine six (6) underground stope blocks...