Name of the Project
Sorby Hills base metals project.

Location
Western Australia.

Project Owner/s
Pacifico Minerals (75%) and Yuguang Australia (25%).

Project Description
The results of a prefeasibility study (PFS) have confirmed that the project is a high-quality, high-margin base metals project.

The project has an initial eight-year openpit mine life based solely on indicated resources, with feed to the mill estimated at 8.64-million tonnes of indicated mineral resources over the mine’s life. The project has total mineral resources of about 29.98-million tonnes grading 3.7% lead and 43 g/t silver.

The PFS envisages a one-million-tonne-a-year, shallow openpit operation producing high-grade concentrate containing 249 000 t of lead and 9.35-million ounces of silver. The PFS combines ore drawn from three openpits, with a processing plant using conventional milling and flotation, with a dense-medium separation beneficiation plant between the coarse crush (dry end) and the grind and flotation circuit (wet end).

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate of, A$243-million and an internal rate of return of 62%, with a payback of 16 months from commercial production.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital expenditure is estimated at A$95.4-million, including A$10.5-million contingency.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Pacifico is now focused on the planned infill and expansion drilling programme and again upgrading the mineral resource estimate. It is also targeting an optimised PFS, with higher throughput in the fourth quarter of this year, as well as advancing the definitive feasibility study work programmes that have begun.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Lycopodium (PFS study manager, engineering design and metallurgy review); CSA Global (mineral resource estimate and geology review); Entech Mining Consultants (mining study and financial modelling); Pennington Scott (hydrogeology review); and Animal Plant Mineral (reviewed current Environmental Protection Authority approval and confirmed pathway to apply for necessary permits and approvals to start mining).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Pacifico Minerals +61 8 6268 0449 or email info@pacificominerals.com.au.