COPPER DEVELOPMENT: Franco-Nevada, Inmet set up precious metals stream for Cobre Panama

PANAMA – Franco-Nevada Corp. and Inmet Mining, both of Toronto, have agreed to terms for a precious metals stream on the Cobre Panama copper project. The project is a joint venture of Inmet (80%) and Korea Panama Mining (20%).

The precious metals stream is linked to copper production over the 31-year mine life. Franco-Nevada will commit $1 billion to Inmet’s share of the development costs, meaning that Inmet now has $4.2 billion of its $4.8 billion capital obligation.

Cobre Panama will begin commercial production at a rate of 160,000 t/d, shipping its first concentrate in Q1 2016. The rate is expected to grow to 240,000 t/d by the tenth year of operation, although Inmet says there may be an opportunity to shorten that timeline. The current mine plan includes 2.3 billion tonnes of reserves that make up part of the 4.2-billion-t measured and indicated resources. The grade is 0.35% Cu, 0.07 g/t Au, 1.13 g/t Ag and 0.006% Mo, for 14.7 million tonnes of contained copper and 7.2 million oz of gold.

A very complete presentation of the basic engineering at Cobre Panama and many other details of the project was prepared in May 2012. Go to InmetMining.com to view it.