PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A feasibility study into the Mabilo copper/gold project, in the Philippines, has proven that the project will be profitable, even at the current lower commodity prices.

ASX- and TSX-listed RTG Mining on Friday revealed that the feasibility study contemplated the development of a two-stage project, with the intention to minimise capital requirements.

The first stage would see the mining of oxide ore to produce three main products.

Gold cap ore would be crushed on site and trucked to a nearby existing carbon-in-leach processing plant, which would be upgraded to a 300 000 t/y throughput, and would likely be operated by Mabilo personnel.

Meanwhile, oxide skarn and high-grade supergene chalcocite would be crushed on site, with a plan to truck the ore to the existing Larup port for direct shipping.

Stage 2 of the operation would involve the processing of primary ore through a purpose-built plant on site. The process plant would be built in parallel with the oxide mining phase and the Stage 2 permitting process.

RTG said on Friday that both mining stages were financially robust, with the direct shipping ore (DSO) enabling start-up and early cash flow generation within four to five months of finalising the DSO permits.

Based on a Stage 1 base case of 1.35-million tonnes, the DSO operation would require a capital investment of $17.4-million, and would deliver an internal rate of return of 33.45% and a net present value of $223-million.

The DSO operation was expected to produce some 25 000 t of copper and 39 000 oz of gold.

The Stage 2 processing plant would require a further capital investment of $161.3-million, and would produce 18 300 t of copper, 67 000 oz of gold and 347 000 t of iron.

RTG told shareholders that the high-quality resource at Mabilo presented the company with an “excellent” near-term development opportunity that was financially robust, attractive to potential debt providers and with additional drilling, the resource was expected to grow further, which would enhance the already-strong financials.