Euro Sun Mining's Romanian copper mine proceeds to environmental review

Belgrade — Canada's Euro Sun Mining on May 10 received the go-ahead from Romania's Hunedoara County to start a strategic environmental assessment for its 100%-owned Rovina Valley low strip open-pit copper mining project in west-central Romania.

"This approval is an important milestone in the SEA process," Euro Sun CEO Scott Moore said. The Toronto-based mining company said it received the official notification from the Hunedoara County regional environmental protection agency.

The Rovina Valley project consists of two open pit copper deposits, Colnic and Rovina, and the underground Ciresata gold-copper deposit. Colnic and Rovina jointly have 94,330 mt of proven and 113,901 mt of probable copper reserves.

The proven and probable mineral reserves total 133.4 million mt with an average grade of 0.16% (copper) and 0.43g/mt (gold).

The definitive feasibility study for Rovina Valley is focused on the exploitation of the two open pit operations, while the Ciresata underground deposit is expected to be phased in following the completion of the Colnic and Rovina pits.

The project will use simple flotation processing without cyanide to produce a clean 22% copper concentrate containing high grade gold (100g/mt), with first production targeted for 2024.

The DFS specifies that Rovina Valley will average 8,618 mt of copper and 106,000 oz/year of gold in years one through 10. The average annual copper production during the 16.8-year life of the mine is estimated at 11,022 mt.

Net project value reaches $1 billion

The DFS utilized a conservative base case metal prices of $3.30/lb for copper and $1,550/oz for gold. "Spot copper prices have risen 40% to over $4.70/lb and gold is up 18% to over $1,830/oz," Moore said May 10. "The result of this rise in copper and gold prices increases the net present value of the project by approximately 125% from $447 million to $1.0 billion."

The company filed a National Instrument 43-101 compliant technical report supporting the DFS on April 14. "Euro Sun can now begin detailed project finance discussions with international banks and credit funds as well as off-take agreements with smelters to optimize the funding package for our initial phase of development at the Rovina Valley Project," Moore said April 14.

Euro Sun is a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed mining company is focused on the exploration and development of its Rovina Valley project, which hosts the second-largest gold deposit in Europe. Its three largest shareholders, as of March, were institutional investors Ruffer LLP, Franklin Gold Fund and ASA Gold Fund.