Yendon DFS on the cards after positive results

14th June 2018 By: Esmarie Iannucci - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A prefeasibility study (PFS) into the Yendon alumina project, in Victoria, has estimated that the project would require a capital investment of A$271-million to support a yearly production of 8 000 t of high purity alumina.

ASX-listed Hill End Gold on Thursday reported that the project was expected to have a net present value of A$692-million and an internal rate of return of 34%, with average annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation estimated at A$133-million based on a forecast sales price of A$25 200/t.

“The PFS shows Yendon is well placed to meet the growing demand for high purity alumina, including that from the lithium battery industry,” said Hill End MD Martin McFarlane.

“The outlook for the high purity alumina market is very strong, with the rapid growth witnessed over the past decade expected to continue due to the solid outlook for LEDs and other markets for synthetic sapphire derived from high purity alumina, as well as the booming market for lithium batteries.”

Hill End will conduct further testwork on the high product alumina produced from Yendon to establish a 99.999% specification.

In light of the PFS results, the company will now start planning for definitive feasibility study on Yendon.

“Hill End would now use the information derived from the PFS to help secure offtake agreements for Yendon over the coming year. To facilitate this, planning is under way to construct a locked-cycle pilot plant to enable commercial samples of Yendon alumina to be trialed by potential customers,” said McFarlane.