Anglesey Mining plc (LON:AYM) is looking to beef up the projected mine life of its Parys Mountain project in Wales.
A scoping study last year by consultant Micon indicated Parys Mountain could be mined at the rate of 1,000 tonnes per day.
That would produce an average annual output of 14,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate at a grade of 57%, along with 7,200 tonnes of lead concentrate and 4,000 tonnes of copper concentrate.
But Anglesey says there are 4.1mln tonnes of inferred resources not included by Micon, which if even half were mined would double the estimated mine life to 15-18 years and enhance the economics.
Anglesey is working on a revised mine model with the objective of incorporating some of the inferred resources, including part of the higher-grade Engine Zone, into the earlier years of the mine plan, which would increase the project life of the mine to at least 10 years.
In parallel, Anglesey is looking at a lower cut-off grade to increase the mineable tonnage.
Micon also recommended metallurgy studies to improve recoveries and minimise metal losses of gold and silver during processing.
Base metals rally
Anglesey has been encouraged by a strong recovery in the prices of all of the metals it would mine at Parys Mountain.
“There is a strong expectation of a continued positive outlook for base metals, particularly for zinc and copper,” it said.
“Based on the positive results of the Scoping Study, we have commenced discussions with potential financiers for the development of the Parys Mountain.”
“Our objective is to phase the development and financing of Parys Mountain in logical, sequential and parallel steps by undertaking the various optimisations studies and programmes, completing a pre-feasibility or feasibility study and progressing Parys Mountain towards production as quickly as the necessary financing and technical timelines allow.
“We believe that given the world’s continuing demand for metals and the shortage of attractive advanced projects, the strong technical base and political stability associated with all of Anglesey’s projects, particularly Parys Mountain, finance for project development will become available.”
The iron ore projects at Grangesberg and Labrador remain mothballed due to low prices.
Losses for the year to March were £278,000 (£308,000).