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Canada

Tower and Rail Project

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Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StagePreliminary Economic Assessment
Commodities
  • Copper
  • Zinc
  • Gold
  • Silver
Mining Method
  • Alimak
Backfill type ... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Project sequentially develops the Tower deposit and Rail deposit, initially beginning with the Tower deposit.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Rockcliff Metals Corp. 100 % Direct
Rockcliff Metals Corporation is 100% owner of Tower and Rail properties.

On September 14, 2023, Hudbay Minerals Inc. (Hudbay) acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Rockcliff that it did not already own pursuant to a court-approved plan of arrangement, effective as of today’s date. As a result of closing the Transaction, Rockcliff is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hudbay.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • VMS
  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork

Summary:

Deposit Types
At the Project, VMS sulphide mineralization that hosts both the Tower Deposit,and the Rail Deposit are consistent with the characteristics of VMS deposits.

The original depositional and stratigraphic relationships are obscured at the Tower Property by the lack of outcrop and the overprinting effects of high metamorphic grade and deformation. The Tower Deposit is interpreted to be a remobilized, high-grade VMS deposit. The Tower Deposit is the only known VMS deposit in the TNB. The Tower mineralization is similar to the VMS Cu-Zn-Ag-Au deposits in the Paleoproterozoic Kisseynew Domain and the Flin Flon-Snow Lake Belt (Bailes and Galley, 1999; Syme and Bailes,1993), to the west, thento the Ni sulphide deposits in the TNB. The closest known VMS deposit to the Tower Property is the Talbot Deposi twithin the Talbot Property, 35 km west of the Tower Property (Simard et al., 2010). The style of VMS mineralization at the Talbot Property appears to be very similar to the style of VMS mineralization at the Tower Property.

The closest known and well-characterized VMS style mineralization to the Rail Deposit are at the Lalor Lake and Chisel Mines located near Snow Lake, 38 km northeast of the Rail Deposit (Galley et al., 2007). The depositional environment for the Rail Deposit is interpreted similarly to that of the VMS deposits in the Flin Flon and Snow Lake mining camps. The Rail Deposit also shows evidence of regional metamorphic and deformation overprints.

Sulphide Mineralization

Tower Property
The Tower deposit mineralisation is associated within a sulphide-rich schist to breccia hosted within biotitemuscovite schist to the north and hornblende gneiss to the south ( Coueslan, 2018). The Tower deposit is approximately 1,000m long, 700m deep, and 1.92m wide. It strikes approximately 13° and dips 75-85°E and cuts the regional foliation. The mineralisation consists of rounded to subangular, mm- to cmscale fragments of wall rock with a matrix of semi-massive to massive sulphides. The sulphides are mainly chalcopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, and sphalerite. The mineralisation is interpreted to be mobilized from its source and to form the matrix of a fault breccia in a late structure. Although Beaudry (2007) interprets the mineralisation to be post-deformational in origin, recent core from hole TP10-004 is obviously foliated and indicates that at least some of it is pre- or syn-deformational (Generic Geo, 2019). The biotite-muscovite schist is interpreted to represent an intense sericite altered zone in the footwall to the Tower deposit.

Rail Property
The Rail deposit consists of a single lens of massive and stringer sulphides. The sulphides are mainly pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite. From diamond core drilling, the deposit averages 1.6m in width, approximately 600m in depth, and has a strike length on surface of approximately 650m.

The Rail deposit VMS mineralisation is deformed, as indicated by the presence of Durchbewegung textures with milled sub-angular to rounded quartz and wall rock fragments within the massive sulphide lenses. Chalcopyrite occurs as stringers and fracture fillings and appears to have undergone varying degrees of remobilization. Approximately 140m west of the Rail deposit, an additional pyrrhotite-rich massive sulphide horizon was discovered (Private Report, HBED, 1998).

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityProductUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Copper Payable metal M lbs 206
Copper Concentrate kt 325
Copper Metal in concentrate M lbs 214
Zinc Payable metal M lbs 44
Zinc Concentrate kt 46
Zinc Metal in concentrate M lbs 52
Gold Payable metal koz 50
Gold Metal in concentrate koz 57
Silver Payable metal koz 766
Silver Metal in concentrate koz 877
Copper Equivalent Metal in concentrate kt 12

Operational metrics

Metrics
Daily ore mining rate  ....  Subscribe
Daily milling rate  ....  Subscribe
Annual ore mining rate  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Copper USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Zinc USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Copper USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Silver USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Gold USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study / presentation.
** Net of By-Product.

Operating Costs

Currency2022
UG mining costs ($/t milled) CAD 78.6 *  
Processing costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
G&A ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Pre-Production capital costs $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Working capital $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
UG OpEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Processing OpEx $M CAD 89.6
Transportation (haulage) costs $M CAD 10.3
G&A costs $M CAD 65.9
Total OpEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Total Taxes $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Royalty payments $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Gross revenue (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Net revenue (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 5% $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 5% $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
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Pre-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Feb 1, 2022
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....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Feb 20, 2023

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