Trigon Metals Inc. on Feb. 6 announced an updated resource estimate for its past-producing Kombat copper-lead-silver property in Namibia, which incorporates data from drilling completed in 2017.
The property hosts indicated and inferred resources totaling 7.1 million tonnes grading 2.62% copper, 1.15% lead and 18.40 g/t of silver for 186,259 tonnes of copper, 81,490 tonnes of lead and 130,842 kilograms of silver.
The estimate covers open pit and underground resources at the Kombat, Otavi and Asis deposits and uses cutoffs of 0.60% copper equivalent for open pit Kombat material, 0.77% copper equivalent for open pit Otavi material and 1.4% copper equivalent for underground material.
The previous estimate, completed in April 2017, outlined inferred resources of 6.3 million tonnes grading 2.97% copper, 1.0% lead and 20.99 g/t of silver.
Trigon Metals will use the updated resource estimate as the basis for a feasibility study that began in January and is expected to be completed in May. In the meantime, the company plans to start refurbishing the mill and concentrator to enable starting open pit mining and ore processing.
Using the updated resource estimate, the company also updated the financial model used in a mid-2017 preliminary economic assessment of the Kombat property, using long-term commodity prices of US$17.61/oz of silver, US$6,551/tonne of copper and US$1,966/t of lead.
The proposed Kombat mine is estimated to have a net present value of US$86.7 million at a real discount rate of 10.92%, with a 3.4-year payback period and a 98.6% internal rate of return. The previous PEA outlined a net present value of US$72 million with a payback period of less than five years and a 45.5% internal rate of return.
Total production is estimated at 105,000 tonnes of copper, 13,000 tonnes of lead and 2.4 million ounces of silver over an 8-year mine life, representing 107,237 tonnes of copper equivalent, with all-in sustaining costs pegged at US$1.81/lb of copper equivalent.
Trigon Metals said open pit production is anticipated at approximately 4,000 tonnes of copper per year.
"We are extremely pleased with such a positive start to the new year, and remain on target to achieve production within the year," President and CEO Stephan Theron said in the statement.
