Overview
| Stage | Pre-Feasibility |
| Mine Type | Open Pit |
| Commodities |
- Palladium
- Platinum
- Rhodium
- Gold
- Copper
- Nickel
- Cobalt
- Silver
|
| Mining Method |
|
| Mine Life | 14 years (as of Jan 1, 2019) |
Source:
p. 13
River Valley PGM Project is 100% owned by New Age Metals (NAM).
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
- Intrusion related
- Stratabound
Summary:
Two styles of mineralization have been observed at the Project: contact nickel-PGE mineralization and reef PGE mineralization. The presence of several highly-anomalous assays from rocks lying within higher portions of the River Valley Intrusion’s stratigraphy suggests that there are opportunities for PGE mineralization such as reef or stratabound-type targets, or narrow, high-grade breccia zones.
The three largest and most economically interesting mineralized bodies of the East Bull Lake Suite Intrusives are the East Bull Lake and Agnew Lake Intrusions (situated within the Sudbury Province), and the River Valley Intrusion (situated in the Grenville Front Tectonic Zone). The River Valley Intrusion, the largest of the East Bull Lake Intrusive Suite by area, covers an area of approximately 200 km2. An economically important feature commonly shared by the Agnew Lake, East Bull Lake, and River Valley Intrusions is the occurrence of a copper-nickel-PGE bearing breccia unit situated at the base of the intrusions, where the footwall contact is preserved.
The contact between the River Valley Intrusion and the Archean basement trends southeasterly for a distance of approximately 16 km. On the basis of surface mapping and diamond drilling, the idealized sectional stratigraphy of the mineralized environment comprises five major units, from the layered rocks of the River Valley Intrusion in the west to the igneous basal contact of the intrusion to the east.
Summary:
The River Valley Deposit is relatively shallow and lends itself to conventional open pit mining methods. Accordingly, the PEA mine plan entails developing 14 open pits aligned across approximately 16 km on the Property. An open pit mining and processing schedule has been developed for the Project. The mine production plan utilizes Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources. Inferred Mineral Resources are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves, and there is no certainty that the Inferred Mineral Resources will be upgraded to a higher Mineral Resource classification.
Open pit optimizations were run based on an NSR cut-off value of $11.45/t and a pit slope angle of 48°, with a mining cost for all materials of $2.00/t. A slope angle of 50° for PEA level pit optimization was recommended by Mine Design Engineering Inc. (“MDEng”), and it was subsequently flattened by 2° in the pit optimizations to allow for haulage ramps. Benches and haul roads were added during the creation of each pit design.
Mining dilution of 9.5% and 3% mining losses at diluting grades that averaged 0.22 g/t PdEq were incorporated to estimate the diluted potentially mineable portion of the Updated Mineral Resource Estimate (process plant feed). Total process plant feed was estimated at 78.1 Mt at a LOM average grade of 0.88 g/t PdEq. Total waste material within the open pits was estimated ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Projected Production:
| Commodity | Product | Units | Avg. Annual | LOM |
|
Copper
|
Concentrate
|
kt
| | 224 |
|
Palladium Equivalent
|
Payable metal
|
oz
| | ...... |
|
Palladium
|
Payable metal
|
oz
| ...... | |
Operational Metrics:
| Metrics | |
|
Stripping / waste ratio
| 3.6 * |
|
Daily mining capacity
| 110 kt * |
|
Annual mining capacity
| 40 Mt * |
|
Waste tonnes, LOM
| 276.4 Mt * |
|
Ore tonnes mined, LOM
| 78.1 Mt * |
|
Total tonnes mined, LOM
| 355.7 Mt * |
|
Tonnes processed
| 78.1 Mt * |
|
Daily processing capacity
| 21,920 t * |
|
Annual processing capacity
| 6 Mt * |
* According to 2019 study.
Reserves at September 14, 2021:
The NSR cut-off value of the pit constrained Mineral Resource is CDN$15/t and the out-of-pit Mineral Resource is CDN$50/t.
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
|
Measured & Indicated
|
89,640 kt
|
Palladium
|
0.54 g/t
|
1,568 koz
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
89,640 kt
|
Platinum
|
0.21 g/t
|
606.4 koz
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
89,640 kt
|
Rhodium
|
0.019 g/t
|
53.8 koz
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
89,640 kt
|
Gold
|
0.04 g/t
|
106.7 koz
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
89,640 kt
|
Copper
|
0.06 %
|
114.7 M lbs
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
89,640 kt
|
Nickel
|
0.01 %
|
27.9 M lbs
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
89,640 kt
|
Cobalt
|
0.002 %
|
4.9 M lbs
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
89,640 kt
|
Silver
|
0.26 g/t
|
759.8 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
94,268 kt
|
Palladium
|
0.35 g/t
|
1,074 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
94,268 kt
|
Platinum
|
0.16 g/t
|
480.6 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
94,268 kt
|
Rhodium
|
0.014 g/t
|
43.7 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
94,268 kt
|
Gold
|
0.03 g/t
|
94.2 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
94,268 kt
|
Copper
|
0.04 %
|
88.1 M lbs
|
|
Inferred
|
94,268 kt
|
Nickel
|
0.02 %
|
42 M lbs
|
|
Inferred
|
94,268 kt
|
Cobalt
|
0.002 %
|
3.3 M lbs
|
|
Inferred
|
94,268 kt
|
Silver
|
0.25 g/t
|
756 koz
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
| Document | Year |
|
Corporate Presentation
|
2022
|
|
...................................
|
2021
|
|
...................................
|
2019
|
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