Study estimates A$23.9m capital cost for Tasmania tin mine
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A prefeasibility study (PFS) for multi-metal developer Elementos’ Cleveland tin mine, in Tasmania, has estimated that a capital investment of A$23.9-million would be required to fund the first stage of the project.
The PFS investigated the staged development of the project, with Stage 1 including a tailings retreatment plant, while Stage 2 included an underground operation.
Stage 1 would require a capital investment of A$23.9-million, and would produce about 1 000 t/y of tin and 300 t/y of copper in concentrates from a 650 000 t/y mill. The Stage 1 development would have a net present value (NPV) of A$30.9-million and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 56%.
The tailings treatment project would have a mine life of six years.
The Stage 2 underground operation would require a further A$43.8-million investment, and would deliver about 1 900 t/y of tin and 700 t/y of copper in concentrates, with the mine delivering around 360 000 t/y of ore.
The Stage 2 operation would have an estimated mine life of ten years, and could deliver a NPV of A$40.4-million and an IRR of 30%.
Elementos MD Calvin Treacy said that there was the potential to expand the base case mine capacity to 500 000 t/y by defining a larger project resource inventory, which could significantly improve the underground project economics by lowering the unit operating costs for only an incremental increase in capital expenditure.
He added that the phased development strategy at Cleveland, in combination with project finance at each stage, would significantly reduce the future equity capital requirements of the project.
A bankable feasibility study for the tailings retreatment would be completed this year, and construction was expected to start in 2015, with first production expected in 2016.
The underground mine would be phased into production during 2018, in parallel with the ongoing tailings retreatment project.
Free cash flows from the tailings retreatment operation would be used to fund underground resource conversion, with the aim of expanding the production rate of the Stage 2 underground operation.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation