Overview
Stage | Pre-Feasibility |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
- Nickel
- Copper
- Cobalt
- Platinum
- Palladium
- Gold
- PGM
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
- Column flotation
- Crush & Screen plant
- Flotation
- Magnetic separation
- Dewatering
- Filter press
|
Mine Life | 19.1 years (as of Jan 1, 2023) |
Nickel Shäw Project (Wellgreen) hosts one of the world’s largest undeveloped nickel-copper sulphide and platinum-group metals deposits. |
Source:
p. 82
Nickel Creek has owned a consolidated 100% interest in the Nickel Shäw Property since June 2011.
Contractors
Contractor | Contract | Description | Ref. Date | Expiry | Source |
unawarded or unknown
|
Power supply
|
A 93MW n+1 LNG-fueled power station has been included in the Project scope, and this is designed, supplied, operated, and maintained by a contractor as a turnkey power purchase agreement (“PPA”).
|
Sep 20, 2023
|
|
|
Deposit Type
- Magmatic
- MMS
- Intrusion related
Source:
p.98-102,108
Summary:
Deposit Types
The Wellgreen Deposit is hosted in the Quill Creek Complex, one of a number of mafic-ultramafic sills that are enriched in nickel-copper-PGM mineralization that outcrop within the Kluane Ultramafic Belt of the Wrangellia Terrane in southwestern Yukon.
The Project is located within the Insular Superterrane, which is dominantly composed of two older terranes, the Wrangellia Terrane and Alexander Terrane, that were amalgamated at approximately 320 million years (Ma). These terranes are comprised of island arc and ocean floor volcanic rocks overlain by thick assemblages of oceanic sedimentary rocks that range in age from 220 to 400 Ma. The Project is part of the Kluane Ultramafic Belt, situated in the southwest portion of the Wrangellia Terrane that spans from Vancouver Island, north through British Columbia (BC), into Alaska.
The Wellgreen Deposit occurs within, and along, the lower margin of an Upper Triassic (Kluane) ultramafic-mafic body, within the Quill Creek Complex. This assemblage of mafic-ultramafic rocks is 20 km long and closely intrudes along the contact between the Station Creek and Hasen Creek formations. The main mass of the Quill Creek Complex, the Wellgreen Deposit, and Quill intrusions, is 4.7 km long and up to 1 km wide.
Mineralization
Mineralization on the Project occurs dominantly within the Quill Creek Complex except for a small portion at the contact within the metasedimentary host rocks. This serpentinized, ultramafic-gabbroic body intrudes the Pennsylvanian-Permian sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Station Creek and Hasen Creek formations. The main zone of mineralization has a strike length of 1.7 km and thickness ranges from 20 m on the western end to almost 300 m at the eastern end. Drilling intercepts have indicated the mineralization ranges in depth from several metres at the west of the deposit to over 500 m at the eastern side. Discontinuous massive and semi-massive sulphide zones are significantly thinner (centimeters to a few metres), are located near the footwall contact and transition into disseminated sulfide zones above. Historic exploration and development programs defined two main zones of gabbro-hosted massive and disseminated sulphide mineralization known as the East Zone and West Zone. These zones have since been determined to be contiguous and have been further broken up and now are known as the Far East, East, West, and Far West Zones with the connecting Central Zone. The North Arm Zone is interpreted to be a splay off of the Far East Zone. All intrusive phases containing primary olivine have been moderately to intensely serpentinized.
Far East Zone
The Far East Zone represents the easternmost part of the Wellgreen Deposit intrusion. The zone lies between 578250E and Aird Creek, at approximately 578750E. In both the current East and Far East Zones, historic exploration efforts focused on defining massive sulfide horizons and lenses near the contact between the Project Intrusion and Hasen Creek metasedimentary rocks and as such this contact is very well defined. This sedimentary contact was historically interpreted to be the steeply dipping southern footwall to mineralization based on the data available at the time, but more recent work in the East Zone showed the sedimentary contact was a wedge of metasedimentary rocks in a much larger ultramafic body. This change in understanding the nature of the sedimentary contact was demonstrated in the Far East Zone by drill holes 154, 160, and 165.
The typical steeply dipping lithological sequence of peridotite, clinopyroxenite, and gabbro with massive sulphide is very well defined in the Far East Zone. The core of the Far East Zone shows a sulphide-rich, clinopyroxenite, and gabbro/skarn horizon with a second clinopyroxenite and gabbro enriched zone at the lower contact with the metasediments.
In the easternmost portion of the Far East Zone, all lithologies exhibit a similar sub-horizontal dip to the symmetrical sequence further west: peridotite transitioning to clinopyroxenite, and gabbro with skarn units and massive sulphide immediately prior to the basal contact with Station Creek volcaniclastics and Hasen Creek metasedimentary rocks. This lower sequence is interpreted to be contiguous with the basal sequence observed 350 m farther to the west. In addition, the foot-wedge pinches out to the east such that in the upper portion of the intrusion, the various contact-proximal lithologies are absent.
East Zone
The East Zone lies between 577900E and 578250E and was historically explored for massive sulphide at the footwall contact. As mentioned above, this zone was the first in which the change in the footwall contacts’ orientation was observed in drill core. The peridotite-clinopyroxenite-gabbro sequence is observed to wrap around the base of the wedge in the East Zone.
Central Zone
The Central Zone lies between 577500E and 577900E. The eastern portion of the zone is similar to the East Zone whereby well-mineralized peridotite gradationally transitions to clinopyroxenite and gabbro, and units are observed near the contact with dominantly Hasen Creek metasedimentary rocks. The western portion of the Central Zone exhibits a sub-horizontal, symmetrical, mineralized unit similar to that intersected at depth in the Far East Zone. Additional drilling will be required to test whether the higher-grade, sub-horizontal, mineralization intersected in the Central Zone connects with that in the East and Far East zones. This represents a high priority exploration target, and currently is the least drilled zone on the Project.
West Zone
The West Zone lies between 577120E and 577500E. Similar to the western portion of the Central Zone, well-mineralized peridotite overlies a comparatively thick package of clinopyroxenite and gabbro with significant semi-massive and massive sulphide zones.
Far West Zone
The Far West Zone lies between 576720E and 577120E, and the northern part of the zone is interpreted to be a branching sill from the main Project intrusion. This sill is generally zoned outwards, well mineralized in the centre, grading from peridotite to clinopyroxenite and gabbro towards the contact with the metasedimentary country rocks. Grades in the Far West Zone are significantly elevated starting at surface with high sulphide content.
North Arm Zone
The North Arm Zone is located in the east-central portion of a narrow 1,200 m long sill, positioned approximately 150 m below the main Project intrusion. It was discovered by Hudson-Yukon Mining in the 1950s and explored in 1987 with three drill holes by All-North. All of these drill holes intersected mineralization. The geology of this zone is similar to both the East and West Zones. Mineralization consists of massive sulphide lenses, disseminated sulphide in gabbro and clinopyroxenite, and fracture fillings in footwall Hasen Creek metasedimentary rocks. The North Arm Zone was tested in 1988 and 2005 by limited drilling and was determined to have a sub-vertical dip. The information collected todate suggests the North Arm Zone is relatively narrow in comparison with the main Project body at surface, but it does represent a prospective area of nickel-copper mineralization that warrants further work and may be contiguous with the main Project intrusion at depth towards the eastern end of the deposit.
Source:
p.232-279
Summary:
The Mineral Resources for the Project include the Wellgreen and Arch deposits, however the Arch deposit was only recently explored and will not be included in the Mineral Reserves. AGP’s opinion is that with current metal pricing levels and knowledge of the mineralization and previous mining activities, open pit mining offers the most reasonable approach for development of the deposit. This is based on the size of the resource, tenor of the grade, grade distribution and proximity to topography for the deposits.
The current mine life includes two years of pre-stripping followed by nineteen years of mining. The open pit mining starts in Year -2 and continues uninterrupted until early in Year 19.
Pit Design
The pit design consists of 3 main phases of successive pushbacks. Phase 1 provides the initial low strip ratio mill feed in the schedule. A waste quarry has been designated as phase 1B and is immediately southwest of the phase 1 pit. The quarry material will be mined early in the schedule so that the crusher and stockpile pad can be constructed as soon as possible. These initial phases will be followed by phases 2 and 3 which both extend to the western and higher main portions of the pit. The pit optimization shells used to guide the ultimate pits were also used to outline areas of higher value for targeted early mining and phase development. All pits were developed using 10 metre bench heights.
Phase 1B
Phase 1B is the first mined in the pit. It has been designed as a nearby source of waste for the construction of the crusher and stockpile pad. This phase is mined from 1505 masl down to 1285 masl. Narrow waste benches near the top of the phase will be mined with dozers and pushed down to lower benches. Pioneering access will be shared with phase 1 for some of the upper benches.
Phase 1
Phase 1 is the first significant source of ore mined in the pit. It will be mined concurrently with phase 1B and will release ore as stockpile capacity increases with pad construction. This phase is mined from 1515 masl down to 1245 masl. Pioneering access will be shared with phase 1B for some of the upper benches.
Phase 2
Phase 2 extends the mine to higher elevations and also to the western portion of the deposit. Once the pioneering road is complete to the upper elevations, the phase retreats back down the mountain and leaves haul road access in its wall for phase 3. This phase is mined from 1925 masl down to 1225 masl.
Phase 3
Phase 3 is the final phase to be mined in the deposit. The haul road access from phase 2 is mined to final wall and the final access to upper elevations is via haulage ramps on the northeast waste rock facilities. This phase is mined from 1925 masl down to 1125 masl. As the ultimate pit has a very high north wall, a wider berm of approximately 26 m width was used at 1475 m elevation. This berm can then be maintained to allow for safer working conditions at lower elevations.
Rock Storage Facilities
The design of the rock waste dumps used a swell factor of 1.30 and were designed with a 37° face slope. The north waste rock facilities (WDN) will be constructed with wrap-around accesses near the bench exits. The south waste rock facility (WDS) will be built from the bottom up with overall slopes of 21.8° (2.5H:1V) and 30 m lift heights.
Mine Schedule
The mining rate or 51 Mtpa was selected based on strategic planning scenarios which demonstrated that the targeted mill capacity 45 ktpd (16.2 Mtpa) of would be achieved. Year 1 of process production was reduced to account for plant ramp-up. Two years of pre-production were utilized to develop pioneering roads to mining areas, construct the crusher and stockpile pads, and ensure adequate stockpile material to allow consistent crusher feed in year 1.
When mining starts, various infrastructure items will be under development. Key significant activities near the pit will include construction of the crusher and stockpile pad. A suitable rock drain will need to be established in the drainage below the stockpile pad. A pioneer road up the mountain will need to be developed early in the schedule to begin mining in phase 2. Phases 1B and 1 will also require a pioneer road so that nearby waste may be sent to the stockpile pad.
During preproduction, phase 1B will act as a quarry for stockpile pad construction material while phase 1 will be an early ore source once stockpile space is available. Once pioneering is completed to the top of the mountain, phases 2 and 3 will commence mining downward with waste being sent to the north wrap-around style waste rock facilities.
By the end of year 1, it is anticipated that the process facilities have completed the ramp-up production and the mining layout has progressed. At this time, the phase 1B will have been completed and reached 1295 m elevation. Phase 1 will be the primary source of ore and will be mined down to 1365 m elevation. Phase 2 will be mined down to 1685 m elevation and access to the phase 3 will be left by a combination of ramps in the pit wall or north waste rock facilities. The upper benches of phase 3 will be mined down to 1915 m elevation.
Years 2 to 5 will have mining in phases 1, 2 and 3 with resulting mining layout for year 5. Phase 1 will be mined down to 1245 m elevation with completion in year 4. Waste from phase 1 will used for widening the stockpile pad or starting the lower levels of the south waste rock facility. Phase 2 will be mined down to 1435 m elevation with waste being sent primarily to the north waste rock facilities, but the lower benches would have the option of using longer hauls to send some waste to the south waste rock facilities. Phase 3 will continue mining down to 1675 m elevation with all waste being sent to the north waste rock facilities.
Years 6 to 10 will have mining in phases 2 and 3 with the resulting mining layout for year 10. Mining in phase 2 will progress down to 1255 m elevation with most waste being sent to the south waste facilities. Mining in phase 3 will progress down to 1465 m elevation with waste being sent to the north waste rock facilities until year 9, and then starting to use the south waste rock facilities as the waste destination. While mining phase 3 in year 10, a geotechnical berm will be established at 1475 m elevation across the full length of the pit wall. This geotechnical berm is planned to be used to facilitate a water diversion around the west side of the pit.
Years 11 to 15 will have mining in phases 2 and 3 with the resulting mining layout for year 15. As the phases are now at lower elevations, all waste will be directed to the south waste rock facilities. The south waste rock facility is expected to reach 1440 m elevation by year 15. Phase 2 will be mined complete to 1225 m elevation in year 11. Phase 3 is expected to reach 1325 m elevation by year 15 with the haul road access transitioning to the east side of the pit.
Years 16 to 19 will have mining only in phase 3 with the final mining layout. The south waste rock facilities will receive all waste during these final years and will reach a final lift elevation of 1470 m. Phase 3 will be mined down to a final elevation of 1125 m by year 19.
Mine Equipment Selection
The mining equipment selected to meet the required production schedule is conventional mining equipment, with additional support equipment for snow removal and surface ditching maintenance.
Drilling will be completed with down the hole hammer (DTH) drills with a 165 mm bit. This provides the capability to drill 10 metre bench heights in a single pass.
The primary loading units will be 37 m³ hydraulic shovels. Additional loading will be completed by 21 m³ loaders. It is expected that one of the loaders will be at the primary crusher for the majority of its operating time. The haulage trucks will be conventional 240 tonne rigid body trucks.
Source:
- subscription is required.
Processing
- Column flotation
- Crush & Screen plant
- Flotation
- Magnetic separation
- Dewatering
- Filter press
Flow Sheet:
p.284,285
Source:
p.282-295
Summary:
A nickel-copper-PGM mineral process plant suitable for the Project located near Burwash, SW Yukon Territory. A nominal throughput of 45,000 metric tonnes per day has been selected for the purposes of this study.
The selected flowsheet is in most respects a very conventional mineral processing circuit, consisting of primary gyratory crushing, overland conveying, Run of Mine (“ROM”) stockpiling, SAG and ball mill grinding, froth flotation, low intensity magnetic separation, concentrate dewatering, and tailings thickening. The flotation process includes a cleaning circuit designed to separate copper and nickel minerals (Copper-Nickel Separation).
Studies of the project included a trade-off of different concentrator configurations for optimized costs and benefits. Two different flowsheet configurations were considered:
• an acidic bulk flotation process, complete with magnetite separation and regrinding, to produce a bulk sulphide (Cu+Ni) flotation concentrate
• an alkaline bulk flotation process, complete with magnetite separation and regrinding plus a copper-nickel separation circuit (multiple stages of selective flotation to make separate Cu-rich and Ni-rich concentrates as opposed to a single mixed product)
Process Description
Cyclone overflow slurry gravitates from the cyclone packs through a sampling station and into a pair of surge/conditioning tanks ahead of the rougher flotation circuit. The rougher flotation plant consists of six 500 m3 tank cells in series, with each cell having independent air flow and individual pulp level control.
Rougher flotation concentrate is reground in a 2,300 kW inert media vertically stirred mill to a P80 of 25 µm and then cleaned in a three-stage cleaner circuit with a cleaner scavenger circuit on 3rd cleaner tails. Bulk concentrate from the 3rd cleaner is pumped to a dual-purpose concentrate thickener from where the underflow slurry is either:
• pumped directly to concentrate pressure filtration equipment for dewatering and sale as a bulk (Cu + Ni) concentrate
• pumped to the head of the copper-nickel flotation circuit for separation of copper and nickel minerals to give separate copper and nickel concentrates
Rougher flotation tailing slurry is pumped to a magnetite removal circuit, consisting of two stages of 1.2 m diameter x 4 m long wet low intensity magnetic separation (LIMS). The LIMS equipment is configured to remove a magnetite concentrate from the rougher tailing slurry and direct this stream to a pair of 5,000 kW inert media regrind mills for regrinding, prior to rougher flotation for further recovery of valuable minerals. Magnetite rougher flotation concentrate is pumped to the first sulphide cleaner scavenger cell whilst magnetite rougher tailing slurry is sampled and pumped to the tailing thickener for dewatering and disposal at the TMF.
The copper nickel separation process included in the flowsheet is a selective flotation process that generally occurs at high pH. Lime and other reagents are added to the bulk concentrate prior to Cu/Ni separation flotation. The pulp must be aerated for approximately 10 minutes in the presence of activated carbon at this point to facilitate adsorption of any excess sulphide collector. In copper nickel separation, the copper minerals are collected very selectively, and the nickel minerals are depressed. Column flotation cells are used for cleaning the Cu/Ni separation rougher concentrate, and column flotation concentrate is pumped to the copper concentrate dewatering circuit. Cu/Ni separation scavenger tailing pulp is pumped to the nickel concentrate dewatering circuit.
Bulk Flotation
Cyclone overflow pulp is conditioned in a pair of conditioning tanks – each sized to give six minutes conditioning time ahead of rougher flotation. The bulk rougher/scavenger bank consists of six 500 m3 cells operating in series. Flotation air is supplied using flotation blowers via a low-pressure manifold, and air flow to each cell is controlled by modulating valves and flow meters. Pulp level within cells is maintained by modulating dart valves and ultrasonic pulp level instruments.
Bulk Cleaner Flotation
After regrinding, rougher concentrate slurry is pumped to the first cleaner circuit, which consists of 4 x 130 m3 cleaner tank cells and 4 x 200 m3 cleaner scavenger tank cells. First cleaner concentrate is collected and pumped to the head of cleaner 2, while first cleaner tails gravitate together with magnetite rougher concentrate into the cleaner scavenger cells. Cleaner scavenger concentrate is pumped back to the head of the first cleaner and cleaner scavenger tailing slurry is pumped to the tailing thickener for dewatering and disposal.
Magnetite Scavenger Circuit
The bulk rougher flotation tailing slurry is sampled as it discharges the final bulk rougher flotation cell into the rougher tailing tank. From here it is pumped to a distribution box above the magnetic separation plant. This plant consists of two stages of low intensity wet magnetic separation in series, with tailing slurry from the second stage being pumped to the rougher tailing thickener. Three rougher and twelve scavenger drum separators have been allowed in the design, with scavenger machines utilizing slightly higher gauss configurations than the rougher machines.
Concentrate Regrinding Circuit
The concentrate regrinding area consists of two independent regrind streams, namely the bulk rougher concentrate regrind circuit and the magnetite concentrate regrind circuit.
Magnetite Concentrate Regrind
Magnetic separator circuit concentrate gravitates to the magnetite regrind circuit, which grinds the concentrate to approximately 80% -17µm. The regrind circuit consists of a circuit feed tank, a cluster of scalping cyclones, two 5MW vertically stirred mills in parallel, and an agitated product tank.
The 2 inert regrind mills are served by a single ceramic media addition system.
Rougher Concentrate Regrind
Bulk rougher concentrate gravitates to the bulk rougher regrind circuit, which grinds the concentrate to approximately 80% passing 25µm. The regrind circuit consists of a circuit feed tank, a cluster of scalping cyclones, a single 3.5MW vertically stirred mill, and an agitated product tank and is very similar in configuration to the Magnetite Concentrate Regrind circuit. The inert media mill is served by a single ceramic media addition system.
After regrinding, concentrate slurry is pumped to the bulk cleaner flotation circuit for further upgrading.
Copper Nickel Separation Flotation – Area 450
This uses a change to the pulp electrochemistry to depress nickel and iron sulphide minerals, while allowing copper sulphide minerals to float. In this way, the Cu/Ni separation concentrate becomes enriched in copper, and the Cu/Ni separation tailing stream is depleted in copper and becomes richer in nickel.
Copper Concentrate Dewatering – Area 500
When in use, the Cu/Ni separation circuit pumps final copper concentrate slurry to the copper concentrate thickener sampling launder and sampler before entering the thickener tank for settling and dewatering. These 10 m-diameter thickeners are equipped with a rake lift, bed level detection, and bed mass monitoring. Thickener overflow gravitates to a common spray water tank for recycling as flotation sprays, while the thickener underflow is withdrawn from the cone by a centrifugal underflow pump and pumped to mechanically agitated storage tanks ahead of the multi-use pressure filter.
Bulk/ Nickel Concentrate Dewatering
The bulk concentrate thickener serves as the nickel concentrate thickener during periods where highCu ROM is fed to the plant. Nickel concentrate slurry is pumped from the Cu/Ni separation circuit to the nickel concentrate thickener-sampling launder and sampler before entering the thickener tank for settling and dewatering.
Recoveries & Grades:
Commodity | Parameter | Avg. LOM |
Nickel
|
Recovery Rate, %
| 46.9 |
Nickel
|
Head Grade, %
| 0.26 |
Copper
|
Recovery Rate, %
| 54.4 |
Copper
|
Head Grade, %
| 0.15 |
Cobalt
|
Recovery Rate, %
| 57 |
Cobalt
|
Head Grade, %
| 0.01 |
Platinum
|
Recovery Rate, %
| 47.9 |
Platinum
|
Head Grade, g/t
| 0.25 |
Palladium
|
Recovery Rate, %
| 53.9 |
Palladium
|
Head Grade, g/t
| 0.25 |
Gold
|
Recovery Rate, %
| 74.4 |
Gold
|
Head Grade, g/t
| 0.04 |
Source:
- subscription is required.
Projected Production:
A conventional 45k tpd mill will produce a bulk Ni-Cu-PGM concentrate or separate Ni and Cu concentrates. The "Metal in concentrate" production data represents Metal in bulk Ni-Cu-PGM concentrate.
Commodity | Product | Units | Avg. Annual | LOM |
Nickel
|
Payable metal
|
kt
| 14 | 279 |
Nickel
|
Concentrate
|
kt
| 95 | 1,805 |
Nickel
|
Metal in copper conc.
|
kt
| | 5.9 |
Nickel
|
Metal in nickel concentrate
|
kt
| | 149 |
Nickel
|
Metal in concentrate
|
kt
| | 208 |
Copper
|
Payable metal
|
M lbs
| 14 | 282 |
Copper
|
Concentrate
|
kt
| 20 | 373 |
Copper
|
Metal in concentrate
|
M lbs
| | 15 |
Copper
|
Metal in nickel concentrate
|
M lbs
| | 129 |
Copper
|
Metal in copper conc.
|
M lbs
| | 210 |
Cobalt
|
Metal in copper conc.
|
kt
| | 0.18 |
Cobalt
|
Metal in nickel concentrate
|
kt
| | 9.5 |
Cobalt
|
Payable metal
|
kt
| 0.5 | 9.8 |
Cobalt
|
Metal in concentrate
|
kt
| | 15 |
Platinum
|
Payable metal
|
koz
| | 600 |
Platinum
|
Metal in copper conc.
|
koz
| | 9.9 |
Platinum
|
Metal in nickel concentrate
|
koz
| | 510 |
Platinum
|
Metal in concentrate
|
koz
| | 539 |
Palladium
|
Payable metal
|
koz
| | 700 |
Palladium
|
Metal in copper conc.
|
koz
| | 30 |
Palladium
|
Metal in nickel concentrate
|
koz
| | 482 |
Palladium
|
Metal in concentrate
|
koz
| | 739 |
Gold
|
Metal in copper conc.
|
oz
| | 49,563 |
Gold
|
Metal in nickel concentrate
|
oz
| | 106,787 |
Gold
|
Metal in concentrate
|
oz
| | 128,971 |
Gold
|
Payable metal
|
oz
| | 174,401 |
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | |
Daily processing capacity
| 45,000 t * |
Annual mining rate
| 51 Mt * |
Annual processing capacity
| 16.2 Mt * |
Stripping / waste ratio
| 1.93 * |
Waste tonnes, LOM
| 594,652,652 t * |
Ore tonnes mined, LOM
| 307,709,691 t * |
Total tonnes mined, LOM
| 902,362,343 t * |
Tonnes processed, LOM
| 307.7 Mt * |
* According to 2023 study.
Reserves at July 19, 2023:
An NSR cut-off C$17.30/t was used for bulk concentrates while C$17.61/t was used for split concentrates to define reserves.
Cut-off grade to report Mineral Resources is 0.2 %Ni.
Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of Mineral Reserves.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven & Probable
|
307.7 Mt
|
Nickel
|
0.26 %
|
1,741 M lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
307.7 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.13 %
|
892 M lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
307.7 Mt
|
Cobalt
|
0.014 %
|
96 M lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
307.7 Mt
|
Platinum
|
0.22 g/t
|
2,211 koz
|
Proven & Probable
|
307.7 Mt
|
Palladium
|
0.23 g/t
|
2,321 koz
|
Proven & Probable
|
307.7 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.04 g/t
|
383 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
436,695 kt
|
Nickel
|
0.26 %
|
2,471 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
436,695 kt
|
Copper
|
0.13 %
|
1,281 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
436,695 kt
|
Cobalt
|
0.014 %
|
137 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
436,695 kt
|
Platinum
|
0.22 g/t
|
3,141 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
436,695 kt
|
Palladium
|
0.23 g/t
|
3,290 koz
|
Inferred
|
114,016 kt
|
Nickel
|
0.27 %
|
668 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
114,016 kt
|
Copper
|
0.13 %
|
339 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
114,016 kt
|
Cobalt
|
0.015 %
|
37 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
114,016 kt
|
Platinum
|
0.2 g/t
|
733 koz
|
Inferred
|
114,016 kt
|
Palladium
|
0.25 g/t
|
916 koz
|
Inferred
|
114,016 kt
|
Gold
|
0.04 g/t
|
128 koz
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| Commodity | Units | Average |
Cash costs
|
Nickel
|
USD
|
11.5 / lb *
|
Cash costs
|
Nickel
|
USD
|
4.89 / lb *†
|
Assumed price
|
Palladium
|
USD
|
2,100 / oz *
|
Assumed price
|
Platinum
|
USD
|
1,000 / oz *
|
Assumed price
|
Cobalt
|
USD
|
23 / lb *
|
Assumed price
|
Nickel
|
USD
|
11 / lb *
|
Assumed price
|
Copper
|
USD
|
4 / lb *
|
Assumed price
|
Gold
|
USD
|
1,800 / lb *
|
* According to 2023 study / presentation.
† Net of By-Product.
Operating Costs:
| Units | 2023 |
OP mining costs ($/t mined)
|
CAD
| 2.64 * |
OP mining costs ($/t milled)
|
CAD
| 7.3 * |
Processing costs ($/t milled)
|
CAD
| 17.3 * |
G&A ($/t milled)
|
CAD
| 2.43 * |
Total operating costs ($/t milled)
|
CAD
| 30.2 * |
* According to 2023 study.
2023 Study Costs and Valuation Metrics :
Metrics | Units | LOM Total |
Initial CapEx
|
$M CAD
|
1,687
|
Sustaining CapEx
|
$M CAD
|
638.2
|
Total CapEx
|
$M CAD
|
2,325
|
OP OpEx
|
$M CAD
|
2,245
|
Processing OpEx
|
$M CAD
|
5,330
|
G&A costs
|
$M CAD
|
746.8
|
Total OpEx
|
$M CAD
|
9,300
|
Total Taxes
|
$M CAD
|
998.9
|
Net revenue (LOM)
|
$M CAD
|
14,279
|
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM)
|
$M CAD
|
2,654
|
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM)
|
$M CAD
|
1,655
|
Pre-tax NPV @ 5%
|
$M CAD
|
547
|
Pre-tax NPV @ 10%
|
$M CAD
|
-286
|
Pre-tax NPV @ 7.5%
|
$M CAD
|
37
|
After-tax NPV @ 5%
|
$M CAD
|
143
|
Pre-tax IRR, %
|
|
7.7
|
After-tax IRR, %
|
|
5.8
|
Pre-tax payback period, years
|
|
12
|
After-tax payback period, years
|
|
12.7
|
Required Heavy Mobile Equipment as of September 20, 2023:
Source:
p.377
HME Type | Size | Quantity |
Dozer (crawler)
|
565 kW
|
9
|
Drill
|
140 mm
|
3
|
Drill
|
165 mm
|
7
|
Excavator
|
3.2 m3
|
2
|
Grader
|
163 kW
|
3
|
Loader
|
21 m3
|
3
|
Loader
|
13 m3
|
2
|
Loader
|
13 m3
|
1
|
Shovel (hydraulic)
|
37 m3
|
2
|
Truck (haul)
|
240 t
|
21
|
Truck (haul)
|
91 t
|
5
|
Mine Management:
Job Title | Name | Phone | Profile | Ref. Date |
Consultant - Mining, Infrastructure & Costs
|
Gordon Zurowski
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2023
|
Consultant - Recovery Methods & Costs
|
Andy Holloway
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2023
|
President and CEO
|
Stuart Harshaw
|
1-416-304-9318
|
|
Jan 30, 2024
|
Staff:
Total Workforce | Year |
447
|
2023
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations: