NorthWest Copper Corp (TSX-V:NWST) has unveiled an initial preliminary economic assessment (PEA) looking at combining its Kwanika and Stardust deposits in British Columbia into a potential mine, which showed a "robust" project with manageable initial costs and "multiple opportunities" for growth.
The study envisages both open pit and underground mining and sees peak copper equivalent production of 152.1 million pounds of copper per year and a life-of-mine average copper-equivalent output of 90.6 million pounds per year over 11.9 years.
The initial capital required was pegged at C$567.9 million (US$438.5 million) with construction taking two years. There would be a potential 22,000 tonnes per day (tpd) process plant, producing high-quality copper concentrate with significant gold and silver by-product credits.
"We have been describing a project with manageable initial capital and significant copper production to the market since creating the company in 2021," CEO Peter Bell told investors.
READ: NorthWest Copper reports first batch of Stardust drilling results from 2022 program
"This PEA supports that vision. We are also now working towards advancing the project including exploring whether the nearby 100% owned Lorraine project, located approximately 40 km away, can be developed with the infrastructure contemplated in the Kwanika-Stardust PEA," he added.
"Conducting the necessary studies to ascertain whether Lorraine can be incorporated into the Kwanika-Stardust project will be the main objective of the company in 2023, as we believe that this will add further value to the strong project we have outlined with this PEA."
The study also showed attractive economics for the potential mine, with a net present value (NPV) of C$440.1 million (US$339.8 million) and internal rate of return (IRR) of 17.1% pre-tax and NPV of C$215 million (US$166.0 million) and IRR of 12.7% after tax.
Total LOM production was put at 694 million pounds of copper, 803,000 ounces of gold and 3,204,000 ounces of silver, for 1.078 billion pounds of copper-equivalent.
Base case prices used were US$3.63 per pound copper, US$1,650 per ounce gold, and US$21.50 per ounce of silver.
The resources used in the study hail from four sources - the Kwanika central open pit, the Kwanika central underground block cave, the Kwanika South open pit and the Stardust underground.
Bell noted in the statement that the focus in Canada was "turning to critical minerals, including copper".
"Our project is extremely well located, has both meaningful scale and manageable capex, benefits from existing infrastructure, has access to renewable power and is in a Tier 1 jurisdiction making it rare and highly valuable," he said.
He added that the firm looked forward to working collaboratively with First Nations to advance the project as part of BC and Canada’s push for critical Canadian copper production.
Among the firm's next steps following the completion of the PEA, said NorthWest Copper, was developing plans for environmental testing and scoping work in advance of a potential environmental assessment (EA) submission and conducting studies at both Kwanika-Stardust and Lorraine to ascertain whether the projects could be combined.
The company noted that it also hoped to potentially add further material to the mine plan at Kwanika-Stardust through additional exploration and drilling.
The firm also highlighted that molybdenum (moly) was present at Kwanika South at elevated concentrations and more work was needed to determine if the addition of a molybdenum circuit could add value.
NorthWest Copper is a new copper-gold explorer and developer with an exciting pipeline of projects in British Columbia. The company said it is "well positioned" to participate fully in a strengthening global copper market.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com