PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A definitive feasibility study (DFS) into ASX-listed Alara Resources’ Khnaiguiyah zinc/copper project, in Saudi Arabia, has shown that the project could be financially robust.
The project would likely deliver some two-million tons a year of zinc, over a 13-year life-of-mine, with production expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2015, when zinc prices were forecast to have improved significantly.
Alara said on Wednesday that over the life of the project, Khnaiguiyah would produce some 1.4-million tons of zinc concentrate and some 210 000 t of copper concentrate.
“The Khnaiguiya project DFS has confirmed a technically and financially robust mining operation with a mine life of 13 years at two-million tons a year throughput. With all orebodies open along strike in a mineral-rich tectonic belt, the Khnaiguiyah project offers further significant value growth potential for Alara shareholders, and may well prove to be the beginning of a new era of prosperity and opportunities for the people and the region,” said Alara MD Shanker Madan.
The DFS was based on the current known Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant reserve of 26.1-million tons, at 3.3% zinc and 0.24% copper, with development costs estimated at $257-million.
The project was estimated to have a net present value of some A$170-million, and an internal rate of return of 23%, with life-of-mine revenue estimated at more than A$2-billion.