Business
Marimaca Copper Secures Water Option for Life of Mine Seawater Supply
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marimaca Copper Corp. (“Marimaca Copper” or the “Company”) (TSX: MARI) is pleased to announce tha
About this update from Marimaca Copper Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":" VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marimaca Copper Corp. (“Marimaca Copper” or the “Company”) (TSX: MARI) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a water option agreement to secure the future water supply required for the Marimaca Copper Project (the “Project”) in Chile. Under the agreement, seawater would be supplied following its use in cooling systems at an electricity plant in Mejillones, located 25km from the Project and operated by one of Chile’s largest energy suppliers. The option has a term of 5 years, with the ability to extend for 2 years, and will allow the Company to advance final Project permitting and technical studies, including water pipeline studies that are already underway. The exercise of the option will trigger the execution of a water supply agreement priced on a take-or-pay basis for the Project's life of mine, the principal terms of which have been negotiated and agreed in the option documentation. The agreed pricing arrangement is at a lower cost than originally projected in the 2020 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) (available on www.sedar.com). As disclosed in the PEA, and consistent with Marimaca’s 5 phases of metallurgical test work, the Project is designed to use seawater-based process solutions in place of fresh water. Highlights Milestone de-risking event for the Marimaca Copper Project, secures option for seawater supply to meet the Project’s expected long-term water supply requirements Water option provides for an expected increase in water supply volume requirements relative to the 2020 PEA to account for the scale increases targeted in the planned 2023 Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) Agreement provides for the minimum expected requirements for an upscaled 50ktpa capacity copper cathode project, with the ability to flex up and down to certain thresholds according to site water requirements Operationally efficient means of water supply with significant environmental benefits, removing the risk for potentially adverse impacts of sourcing water from other limited supplies, such as groundwater Freshwater usage is consistently identified as a key risk to operations in the Atacama region Recycled water that would otherwise be discharged back into the ocean Option agreement also secures the power supply for required pumping infrastructure and provides a...