Mariana Resources (MARL:AIM) (MARL:TSX-V)
Mariana announces a positive preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Hot Maden underground mining project, 30% owned with Tukish partner Lidya who owns 70%.
- Post-tax NPV US$1.37 billion.
- Post-tax IRR for the base case mining 153% excluding acquisition costs.
- Total metal production of 2.6 million ounces of gold and 142,000 of copper over a life of mine of 9 years.
- Initial & sustaining capex of US$261 million.
- Average recovery of 88% for Au and 90% for Cu.
- Mining, processing and G+A operating costs expected to be US$56.36/t.
Development for Hot Maden assumes an underground mining operation from a decline, utilising mechanised transverse and longitudinal long hole stoping with engineered fill mining methods.
Chief Executive Officer, Glen Parsons commented: “The high grade nature of this resource and relatively low capital (CAPEX) and operating (OPEX) costs should result in the delivery of considerable cashflow and a short payback period (around 2.1 years, including underground mine development) on initial investment.”
A 2017 drill plan for 20,000 meters is budgeted with exploration drilling to continue to focus on the discovery of new gold-copper resources at Hot Maden, especially to the south of the Main Zone within the old Russian Mining Area.