ASX- and TSX-listed FireFly Metals has cemented a strong financial position with a new A$180-million Australian institutional placement and Canadian bought deal financing which it intends to use for advancing the Green Bay copper/gold project, in Canada.

The company will issue about 101-million fully paid ordinary shares at a price of A$1.78, or C$1.76, apiece.

The equity raising, which entails a A$150-million ASX institutional placement and a Canadian 'bought deal' private placement of A$30-million, or C$29.6-million, will support early project works, procurement of long-lead items and a feasibility study on a 1.8-million-tonne-a-year processing scenario for Green Bay.

FireFly is also undertaking a prefeasibility study on a larger 4.6-million-tonne-a-year processing scenario and further resource growth.

A final investment decision on Green Bay is expected by mid-2027.

"The raising ensures that we can continue unlocking the value of Green Bay in an expedited manner. This strategy involves pursuing several avenues of growth and development in parallel, ranging from ongoing exploration through to feasibility studies and ordering long-lead items.

“We can implement this rapid value creation strategy knowing we have a very strong balance sheet which enables us to capitalise fully on the exceptional asset we have at Green Bay and the huge macro-opportunity emerging in the copper market," says FireFly MD Steve Parsons.

Moreover, FireFly intends to invite eligible shareholders to participate in a non-underwritten share purchase plan to raise an additional A$10-million at the same offer price as the institutional placement.

PEA FINDINGS

FireFly's preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on Green Bay establishes the project's potential as one of the best undeveloped copper projects in the world based on its high-grade resource, production profile, growth outlook and superior financial returns, Parsons explains.

In the PEA's base case production scenario of 1.8-million tonnes a year, or 4 800 t/d, the restart of production at Green Bay Ming mine for a capital cost of A$513-million has an after-tax net present value (NPV) of A$2.2-billion and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 42% over an initial 32-year mine life. The payback period is estimated to be 1.9 years.

In this scenario the project can produce 50 000 t of copper-equivalent over a 14-year period at steady state, generating after-tax yearly free cashflow of about A$290-million.

In the 4.6-million-tonne-a-year, or 12 500 t/d, scenario, the after-tax NPV grows to A$3-billion and the IRR reaches 40% over an initial 22-year mine life. This scenario anticipates production of 90 000 t/y of copper-equivalent metal over an 11-year period at steady state, which can generate A$550-million of after-tax free cashflow every year.

For expansion capital of A$476-million - which can mostly be funded from the 1.8-million-tonne-a-year base case cashflow - the expanded production scenario has a payback period of 3.7 years.

The Green Bay project is underpinned by a revised independent mineral resource estimate of 60.2-million tonnes grading 2.4% copper-equivalent in the measured and indicated resource categories, and a further 23.5-million tonnes grading 2.5% copper-equivalent in the inferred category.

Parsons confirms that continued expansion of the upper Ming mine level high-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide and core zone has the potential to significantly extend high-grade production beyond peak years and further enhance project economics earlier in the mine life.

FireFly currently has six drill rigs focused on underground high-grade expansions for further resource growth. On a district scale, the company is also drilling on several high-priority historical copper and gold targets that sit within five kilometres of Ming mine. FireFly expects to publish a maiden resource at the first district target in the next quarter. Surface exploration also continues regionally with three rigs on numerous surface targets.