Oroco Resource Announces 22.2% After-tax IRR and $1.48 Billion NPV for its Santo Tomas Project

About this update from Oroco Resources Corp.

[{"type":"text","content":" Vancouver, Canada, Aug. 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oroco Resource Corporation (“Oroco” or the “Company”) (TSXV: OCO; OTCQB: ORRCF, BF: OR6) is pleased to announce a revised Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) and updated Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) for the North Zone and South Zone of its Santo Tomas Porphyry Copper Project (“Santo Tomas” or the “Project”) in Sinaloa State, Mexico. The PEA is based on a staged open pit mine and processing plant achieving 60,000 tonnes per day (“t/d”) production in year 1 and expanding to 120,000 t/d in year 8 over a 22.6-year Life of Mine (“LOM”). Production is preceded by two years of construction and one concurrent year of pre-stripping. The PEA has been prepared by Ausenco Engineering USA South Inc. (“Ausenco”). The updated MRE and geologic model were prepared by SRK Consulting (U.S.), Inc. of Denver, Colorado and SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., Vancouver, BC (jointly “SRK”). SRK (Canada) was responsible for geotechnical modeling. The mine planning and mine costs components of the PEA were prepared by SRK (U.S.). Highlights of the revised PEA include: NPV (8%) of US$2.64 billion pre-tax and US$1.48 billion post-tax. IRR of 30.3% pre-tax and 22.2% post-tax. Total LOM payable copper production of 4,774 M lb. Pre-tax payback of 2.9 years; post-tax payback of 3.8 years from first concentrate production. Initial capital costs estimated at US$1,103.5 million; sustaining and expansion capital costs estimated at US$1,734.1 million. Annual LOM C1 Cash Cost of US$1.54/lb Cu on by-product basis. Average CuEq grade of 0.51% over the first 7 years of production. Capital efficiency ratio (NPV / Initial Capital Cost) of 1.34. Total mineralized material mined of 825.5 Mt. Commenting on the updated PEA, CEO Richard Lock: “When we completed the initial PEA in December 2023 it was clear there was additional value to be unlocked at Santo Tomas. Upon careful analysis, a staged approach to the mine expansion and a focus on exploiting the higher-grade near surface material in the early years of mining has unlocked a considerable increase in value. We have established a plan that invokes a very efficient use of capital and establishes a rapid post-tax payback of 3.8 years. The plan starts with the use of smaller equipment to provide rapid entry to the mineralized material and maintains a higher-...

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