A three-year first phase would process 1,500 tonnes a day from the Lowhee, Shaft and Mosquito deposits for average annual production of 72,500 ounces. The plant would increase capacity to 4,900 tonnes a day in the fourth year to produce 193,798 oz. per year, the study shows.
However, total cash costs for the first phase are $1,149 per oz., according to the study and it uses a base case gold market price of $1,700 per ounce. That amounts to earnings of $113.2 million, only about a third of the projected phase two capital cost.
“They’ll need to raise another C$300 million before the larger, second stage is built,” industry blogger Mark Turner wrote on his IKN site late Tuesday. “There’s no point in getting involved before 2027,” he advised investors.
The project’s all-in sustaining costs are $1,634 per oz. to produce 205,419 oz. over phase one’s three years after including the C$137.3 million capital cost, C$134.2…
