COPPER: Yellowhead files feasibility study for Harper Creek

BRITISH COLUMBIA – Yellowhead Mining of Vancouver has filed the Harper Creek feasibility study with SEDAR. The planned large scale, long life copper mine is located about 100 km northeast of Kamloops.

Yellowhead is proposing an open pit mine and conventional flotation concentrator with a throughput of 70,000 t/d. The mining fleet will include electric hydraulic face shovels and 227-tonne haul trucks. Over its 28-year life, the project will produce 3.64 billion lb of copper, 368,000 oz of gold, and 15.6 million oz of silver contained in concentrates. Commercial production could begin as early as Q3 2018.

The economics of the project are promising, having a net present value before tax of US$684 million and an after tax NPV of US$355 million. The internal rate of return is estimated at 16.8% before tax and 13.4% after tax. The payback period after tax will be 5.4 years on the pre-production costs of US$1 billion.

The Harper Creek deposit is a polymetallic volcanogenic sulphide deposit. Yellowhead puts the proven and probable reserves at 716.28 million tonnes averaging 0.26% Cu, 0.029 g/t Au, and 1.18 g/t Ag.

The feasibility study is available at SEDAR.com or visit YellowheadMining.com