Aim-quoted Chaarat has updated the feasibility study for its majority-owned Tulkubash oxide gold project, in Kyrgyzstan, following a 39% increase in reserves to 22.2-million tonnes for 358 000 oz of gold.
The updated study estimates that Tulkubash would produce an average of 94 000 oz/y of gold at an average cash operating cost of $678/oz and an all-in sustaining cost of $819/oz.
Announcing the outcomes of the updated study, Chaarat said on Tuesday that capital expenditure optimisation had resulted in a reduction in the capital requirements from $132-million to $110-million.
The project also has an improved after-tax net present value of $70-million, at a 5% discount rate, and an internal rate of return of 20%. The free cash flow is projected at $44-million a year.
"An almost 40% year-on-year increase in Tulkubash's gold reserves demonstrates the remarkable future growth potential of the Tulkubash project. To achieve this whilst also reducing the level of capital expenditure required to bring the mine into production again illustrates the quality of this asset,” said CEO Artem Volynets.
The Tulkubash resource and reserve, as currently defined, is open along strike to the northeast. The 2019 drilling programme, which has begun, will be focused on extending mineralisation along strike and on infill drilling within the current resource footprint with the objective of further enhancing project economics.
The 2018 exploration programme added more than 650 000 oz of gold to the measured and indicated resource.
Chaarat said that construction at Tulkubash was ongoing and that first gold remained on schedule for 2021.