PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A scoping study into the Miraflores gold and silver project, in Colombia, has found that an initial capital spend of $81-million would be required to develop a four-million-tonne-a-year underground-only operation.
Based on the expected mined grade of 3.51 g/t gold and 2.84 g/t silver, the project would produce around 50 000 oz/y of gold, over a mine life of nine years.
The project would have a net present value of $734-million, an internal rate of return of 26% and an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of $31.7-million.
“The technical assessment and financial modelling of the underground mining options at Miraflores has clearly demonstrated that this option is technically and financially robust and has significant advantages over previous studies conducted at the project,” said MD William Howe.
“The potential to reduce capital costs significantly, as indicated by this study, together with the social and environmental advantages relating to the smaller footprint for the project, make this development option an achievable target for the company.”
Owing to the favourable outcome of the scoping study, the underground-only option would now be the focus of a feasibility study.