NICKEL-COPPER-PGM STUDY: Wellgreen PEA outlines open pit, 32,000-t/d mill

YUKON – The results are in, says Prophecy Platinum of Vancouver, and according to the preliminary economic assessment, its Wellgreen nickel-copper-platinum group metals project 300 km northwest of Whitehorse has a net present value of $3 billion. The independent PEA, prepared by Tetra Tech, evaluated a base case of a 111,500-t/d open pit mine, a 32,000 t/d concentrator, and an initial capital cost of $863 million.

Prophecy expects the project to produce (in concentrate) 1.96 billion lb of nickel, 2.06 billion lb of copper and 7.12 million oz of platinum+palladium+gold over a 37-year mine life with an average strip ratio of 2.57. The study pointed toward an internal rate of return (pre-tax) of 38% and a payback period of 3.55 years.

The Wellgreen project has an indicated resources of 14 million tonnes at 0.69% Ni, 0.62% Cu and 2.25 g/t PGM+Au, plus an inferred resource 289 million tonnes at 0.38% Ni, 0.35% Cu, 1.18 g/t PGM+Au (July 2011). Prophecy has announced plans to conduct a 20,000-metre drill program this year.

The Wellgreen project is features on the company’s home page at ProphecyPlat.com.