Troilus Gold said that its Troilus gold-copper project in northcentral Quebec, Canada, will require an initial capital cost (capex) of $1.074bn based on the findings of a feasibility study (FS).
The capex encompasses mining, process plant, and infrastructure costs along with indirect costs and a contingency of $89.3m.
The Canadian development-stage mining company said that the study involves an initial mineral reserve estimate to support a long-life, large-scale, 50,000 tonnes per day (tpd) open-pit mining operation.
According to the FS, the Troilus project will utilise a conventional open-pit mining operation. The copper-gold project will have a mine life of 22 years with the potential for future underground development.
The Troilus project will also showcase a life-of-mine average payable gold production of 244,600 ounces per year, alongside yearly outputs of 17.3 million pounds of copper and 446,700 ounces of silver.
Besides, the mine is designed to provide 18.3 million tonnes of mill feed per year.
The process plant is anticipated to undergo three months of commissioning in pre-production, followed by a nine-month production ramp-up phase within the initial year of operation.
Located 120km north of Chibougamau, the Troilus gold-copper project includes four main zones of mineralisation.
Troilus Gold CEO Justin Reid said: “The Study provides a strong foundation to continue building and growing the Company.
“Our geology team has proven their ability to identify new targets and rapidly add significant ounces, and we believe there is strong potential to further expand the scale of this project and extend the mine life beyond the 22 years presented in this Study with further exploration and drilling.”
The FS estimates an after-tax net present value (NPV) of $884m for the Canadian gold-copper project.
It also projects a post-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 14% with an after-tax payback period of 5.7 years.
The Troilus gold-copper project is estimated to generate a free cash flow of $2.2bn on an after-tax basis. It is based on a throughput of 50,000tpd over 22 years.
Troilus Gold aims to complete and submit the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) by the end of this year. It will also advance the federal and provincial permitting processes and obtain all final permits to start the construction.
