Armadale Capital has completed a feasibility study on the Phase 1 development of its 80%-owned Mpokoto project in the DRC’s Katanga Province. Phase 1 will focus on the oxide and transition ore down to a depth of about 40 m below surface.
The feasibility study plans for a series of open pits to mine 10.4 Mt over a life of 4.4 years with an average strip ratio of 2.4 to feed 0.72 Mt/y of ore at a head grade of 1.40 g/t to a gravity/CIL plant with an estimated recovery of 84% (in oxides) to produce an average of 24.9 koz/y of gold.
The total initial capital cost is estimated at US$25.2 million and with total cash costs of US$866/oz (including taxes and royalties) the project produces an IRR of 44% (using a gold price of US$1,250/oz).
Oxide resources, as at October 2014, are 4.0 Mt at a grade of 1.23 g/t (for 159 koz of gold contained) and transitional ore resources are estimated at 3.1 Mt at a grade of 1.24 g/t (125 koz of gold contained). (Note that the company has used a cut-off of 0.5 g/t for resource definition but 0.7 g/t for mine planning).
The company has completed some initial evaluation work on a Phase 2 project that will mine the underlying sulphide resources.
Armadale will now look to secure financing for the Phase 1 project.
Positive feasibility study for Armadale’s Mpokoto: ACP