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United States

Paris Hills Project

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Categories

Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusInactive / Suspended
Commodities
  • Phosphate rock
Mining Method
  • Room-and-pillar
  • Continuous
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotParis Hills is a high-grade phosphate mine project. Itafos Inc. decided to wind down Paris Hills following completion of the Conda Technical Report, which defined Husky 1/North Dry Ridge (“H1/NDR”) as the Company’s path forward for mine life extension at Conda and decided to wind down Mantaro as part of its cost savings initiatives. As at December 31, 2022, the Company has completed the wind down process of Paris Hills.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Itafos Inc. 100 % Indirect
Paris Hills is controlled solely by Itafos through its 100% subsidiary Paris Hills Agricom, Inc. (PHA).

Deposit type

  • Sedimentary

Summary:

Phosphate and vanadium-rich mineralized beds within the Paris Hills Phosphate Project (the Property) are hosted in the Meade Peak Member of the Permian Phosphoria Formation. The Phosphoria Formation is folded into the Paris Syncline, a north-plunging asymmetrical syncline with a gently dipping to horizontal eastern limb and a steeply dipping to overturned western limb. The mineralized beds dip north-northwest between 7 degrees (°) and 22° along the northplunging horizontal limb of the syncline. The horizontal limb contains the principal resource target with additional mineralization contained in the steeply dipping, upturned limb of the syncline.

The target phosphate mineralization is contained in two zones (beds) within the Meade Peak Member, the Upper Phosphate Zone (UPZ) and Lower Phosphate Zone (LPZ), which range in depth from outcrop to more than 1,000 meters (m) deep. Vanadium is contained in a zone located immediately below the UPZ. Mineralization in the upturned limb has a strike length of over 3 km on the Property.

Mineralization.
At PHA ( Paris Hills Agricom), three stratiform-bedded zones within the Meade Peak Member of the Phosphoria Formation are of potential economic interest. These are, from top to bottom:

- Upper Phosphate Zone (UPZ) occurs approximately 3 m below the contact with the Rex Chert Member. Based on historical evaluation of outcrops, trenches, underground workings and drill penetrations, this bed averages about 4.6 m thick and averages between 21 percent (%) and 25% phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5). The UPZ is regionally called the “D” bed and consists of interbedded pelletal and argillitic material with a relatively sharp lower contact grading upward to higher grade coarse pelletal and pisolitic phosphorite and mudstones (Hale 1967).

- Vanadium Zone (VZ) occurs as three beds, lies immediately below the UPZ, and is designated the “D1” bed. Based on historical reports, it averages between 3.4 and 3.8 m thick with an average vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) grade of 0.74% to 0.92%. The VZ includes three lithologic types with different vanadium grades.

- Lower Phosphate Zone (LPZ) occurs about 1.5 m above the Meade Peak Member’s contact with the underlying Wells Formation and approximately 50 m below the VZ. Regionally called the “A” bed, it is a high-grade pelletal phosphorite overlying a basal mudstone and phosphoric fish- scale marker bed (Hale 1967). This bed ranges from 1.1 to 2.9 m thick and averages an overall grade of about 25.0% P2O5. Resource grades were subject to a cutoff of greater than or equal to 24%, resulting in much higher average grade.

In addition to the three beds described above, there are significant intervals located between the VZ and the LPZ, ranging from 3 to 15 m thick, and averaging from 10% to 15% P2O5.

The mineralized beds described above occur in both the upturned limb and the horizontal limb of the Paris Syncline. Grades and thicknesses in both the upturned limb and the horizontal limb of the anticline are similar, although improvement in grade is noted in areas where the phosphorite has been weathered and/or alteration. This is largely due to driving off contaminants such as calcium carbonate in the weathering process, thereby concentrating the grade. That process may be by chemical or mechanical means and may occur due to areal and sub-areal exposure and faulting.

Mineralization in the upturned limb has a strike length of over 3.2 km and extends from the surface to a depth exceeding 1,000 m, depending on the location of outcrops along the northtrending strike. Depths of the horizontal limb range from surface along the north side of Bloomington Canyon to estimated depths of 915 to 1,035 m at Paris Canyon.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Phosphate rock Mt 117
All production numbers are expressed as ore.

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual production capacity 0.95 Mt of phosphate rock *
Annual mining rate
* According to 2019 study.

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Operating Costs

Currency2024
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD 69.5 *  USD
* According to 2013 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe
After-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 Jul 1, 2019
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 1, 2019
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 24, 2021

Aerial view:

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