BRITISH COLUMBIA – The preliminary economic assessment for the Kwanika copper-gold project of Vancouver's Serengeti Resources found a pre-tax net present value (5% discount) of $263 million and a 13.4% internal rate of return. The porphyry project, located in the Quesnel Trough, would have a mine life of 13.5 years.
The Kwanika project requires an initial capital injection of $364 million plus sustaining capital of $144 million over its life. An open pit and an underground mine are envisioned to supply a 15,000 t/d concentrator. Life-of-mine output would total 545 million lb of copper, 489,000 oz of gold, 2.45 million oz of silver, and 5.25 million lb of molybdenum.
Serengeti said the PEA focused on a higher grade core of the deposit. Resources were given for two pitable zones and two underground zones. The Central pit zone has 19.90 million indicated tonnes at 0.330% Cu and 0.281 g/t Au, plus 900,000 inferred tonnes at 0.332% Cu and 0.207. The South open pit zone has an inferred resource of 25.07 million tonnes grading 0.324% Cu and 0.120 g/t Au. The first underground zone has an indicated resource of 19.92 million tonnes grading 0.456% Cu and 0.467 g/t Au and an inferred resources of 50,000 tonnes at 0.332% Cu and 0.418 g/t. The second underground zone has 7.82 million indicated tonnes at 0.472% Cu and 0.470 g/t Au. The only molybdenum encountered during drilling was in the South zone inferred resource and assayed 0.016% Mo.
Serengeti has identified several opportunities to optimize the Kwanika project, and will undoubtedly examine these. The company website is at SerengetiResources.com.
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