Ascendant Resources Inc has filed a technical report highlighted by the preliminary economic assessment on its Lagoa Salgada project in Portugal.
The report outlines a low-cost, high-margin underground mining operation based on exploiting ore from both the North Zone and the South Zones at the Venda Nova area, as well as current resources.
Toronto-based Ascendant believes the project’s resources and scale can be expanded with future exploration.
READ: Ascendant Resources posts preliminary economic assessment for Portugal project, which shows low-cost, high-margin underground operation
The study will also form the basis of a feasibility study, which is earmarked to start in the fourth quarter this year and be completed by the end of 2022.
Highlights from the preliminary economic assessment include an after-tax net present value (NPV) of the project of US$246 million, with an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 55%.
Initial (pre-production) capital costs, including contingency, were put at US$132.3 million, while all-in sustaining costs (AISC) were pegged at US$52.83 per tonne. The post-tax payback period was 1.5 years.
The average earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were put at around US$117 million, with a post-tax-free cash flow of around US$82 million per year for the first five years.
The firm is anticipating an initial operating mine life of 14 years with average throughput of 2 million tonnes per year from the North and South Zones of Venda Nova Area.
Lagoa Salgada contains over 10.33 million tonnes of measured and indicated (M&I) resources at 9.06% zinc-equivalent and 2.50 million tonnes of inferred at 5.93 % zinc-equivalent in the North zone.
In the South Zone at Venda Nova, there are 4.42 million tonnes of indicated resources at 1.50% copper-equivalent and 10.83 million tonnes of inferred resources at 1.35% copper-equivalent.
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