First Phosphate Corp. (CSE:PHOS, OTCQB:FRSPF) this week announced a significant milestone for its Bégin-Lamarche property in Quebec: the release of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) that the company believes outlines a promising case for open-pit mining focused on producing phosphate concentrate.
“We’re looking at a net present value exceeding $2 billion, which is very good in this market,” First Phosphate CEO John Passalacqua told Proactive.
“I’m also very pleased with the payback period, which is under 3 years at 2.9 years, and the capital expenditure is very reasonable at under C$700 million.”
Along with the primary production of phosphate concentrate, the project is also expected to produce magnetite concentrate through by-product recovery.
The project is expected to deliver an annual average of 900,000 tons of beneficiated phosphate concentrate with 40% P2O5 content and 380,000 tons of magnetite with 92% Fe2O3 content over a projected 23-year mine life, per the PEA.
Passalacqua emphasized the benefits of the project’s location within the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, a low-risk jurisdiction.
“The site is not in the mountains, and it’s close to hydroelectric power, public infrastructure, paved provincial roads, ports, and our secondary processing facility at First Saguenay. All of this contributes to the positive numbers we’re seeing,” he said.
“We also benefit from excellent social acceptability, strong partnerships with local indigenous groups, and a talented team.”
The next step for the company is to advance the project into a Feasibility Study.
“We’ve already done a lot of pre-feasibility work alongside the PEA. Those earlier studies were done internally, so we’re now in a position where we could decide very soon when to start a feasibility study,” Passalacqua said.
The PEA was welcomed by investors, with First Phosphate's Toronto-listed shares up 13.2% over the past five days.