TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The shares of TSX-V-listed El Nino Ventures on Wednesday jumped nearly 17% after the company published results from a positive preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Murray Brook zinc/copper/lead/silver project, in the Bathurst Mining Camp, in New Brunswick.
The PEA had found that the C$261-million project could have an after-tax net present value, when using a 5% discount rate, of $96.4-million and an internal rate of return of 11.4%, with a payback period of 5.4 years. The project would have a mill throughput of two-million tonnes a year.
"The results of the PEA demonstrate the potential technical and economic viability of establishing a new mine and mill complex on the Murray Brook property,” the company said.
CEO Harry Barr added there was still a lot of potential to improve the projected economics of the project through refinements in metals recoveries and through continued exploration, especially on the adjacent Camel Back claims.
El Nino and Votorantim Metais Canada, which is the project operator, each own 35% of the Murray Brook project. Votorantim Metals is part of the Votorantim Group that was founded in Brazil in 1918.
Base-metals miner Trevali Mining was also in the process of restarting the Caribou mill and mine complex in the same Bathurst Mining Camp region.