The Copper Mountain mine, near Princeton, British Columbia.
The New Ingerbelle property, located about one kilometre from the Copper Mountain mine, in southern British Columbia, is a strong candidate to be incorporated into the current mine’s plan aimed at increasing yearly production.
The New Ingerbelle deposit is expected to produce 768-million pounds of copper and 550 300 oz of gold over its 12-year mine life, based on measured and indicated resources.
Average life-of-mine (LoM) copper production amounts to 85-million pounds a year and 61 000 oz/y of gold.
The production plan assumes the use of the Copper Mountain mine’s existing mine equipment fleet and 40 000 t/d mill.
Releasing the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of the deposit on Thursday, Copper Mountain Mining president and CEO Gil Clausen said that the New Ingerbelle project provided the company with significant flexibility.
The PEA returned a net present value, at an 8% discount, of $394-million and an after-tax internal rate of return of 65%.
The total initial capital cost required to start operations at New Ingerbelle is estimated to be about $130-million and the LoM sustaining capital is estimated to be $63-million.
Average C1 cash costs, net of by-product credits, are about $1.52/lb of copper.
“This PEA demonstrates just how much potential this project holds,” Clausen commented.
The company’s next steps would be to evaluate various operational alternatives to test against the base case, which assumed supplanting Copper Mountain mine production.
“We will study incorporating New Ingerbelle into the Copper Mountain mine plan, using the existing mill and study expanding the mill at Copper Mountain to increase the combined annual production,” Clausen said.
The Copper Mountain mine is located about 20 km south of Princeton and is 25%-owned by Mitsubishi Materials Corporation.