TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – A new feasibility study on multinational miner Eldorado Gold’s western Romania-based Certej project has found that the now shovel-ready project is a boon to its low-cost asset base.

The company’s subsidiary, Deva Gold, through which Eldorado owned an 80.5% stake in Certej, and an internal team supported by Canadian and Romanian consultants, found in the study that the project had an after-tax net present value, at a 5% discount, of $229-million.

“Significant detailed engineering design and cost estimating provides for a high degree of confidence in the capital estimate and projected operating performance of the Certej project," Eldorado CEO Paul Wright said on Tuesday.

The Certej project would require $449-million to build and provide an internal rate of return of 13%.

Located in the southern part of the Apuseni Mountains, in central Romania, about 12 km north-east of the regional town of Deva, in Hunedoara County, Certej would produce a gold/silver doré, consisting of about 15% gold and 85% silver.

The 8 000 t/d operation was expected to produce, on average, 140 000 oz/y gold and 830 000 oz/y silver, which would result in revenues of almost $190-million a year. The estimated cash operating costs were $568/oz and all-in sustaining costs 745/oz.

The openpit operation would have a strip ratio of 2.96:1, mining 44-million tonnes of ore over the life of the mine.

The processing plant would include pressure oxidation for mineral processing, giving expected recoveries of 87.4% for gold and 80% for silver.

The operation would require sustaining capital of about $203-million, including closure commitments. Transport and refining cost were estimated at $9.50/oz gold.

The study assumed a gold price of $1 250/oz and a silver price of $16.50/oz.

The Certej project had a tax obligation of 16% and attracted a royalty rate of 6%.

Eldorado Gold had estimated the Certej mine to hold more than four-million ounces of gold and 25.6-million ounces of silver. The proven and probable reserves, on which the mine plan had been based, stood at 2.4-million ounces of gold and 15.5-million ounces of silver.

During the mining phase, processing higher-grade ore would be a priority for direct mill feed, with lower-grade ore stockpiled for treatment later in the mine life. Through direct feed from mining and by stockpile reclaiming, the operation would maintain a constant mill feed of three-million tonnes a year for nearly 15 years.

The openpit would supply the first 13 years of mill feed, with lower-grade stockpiled ore feeding the mill during the last two years in the current mine plan.

The Certej project was about 90 km from Gabriel Resources’ controversial Rosia Montana project, which had been dealing with strong opposition from nongovernmental environmentalist organisations. The Certej project itself caused controversy owing to the way it got the environmental approval in 2012.

A Mining Watch Romania report had last year fingered subsidiary Deva Gold for having allegedly illegally started the construction work for the development of the Certej mine, without the necessary permits.

At an opening price of C$5.82 apiece, Eldorado’s TSX-listed stock was down C$0.06 from Wednesday’s close.