The initial cost estimate is for an open pit and a single process plant module incorporating a SAG mill and two ball mills, and excludes a fleet of mining trucks or a power plant.
The mill feed is expected to process around 600 million tons at the rate of 30 million tons per annum over a 20-year mine life. It will produce 125,000 tons of copper and 200,000oz of gold in concentrate each year.
PanAust said in a statement: "The due diligence project parameters reported by PanAust on 1 November 2013 ("due diligence evaluation"), have been superseded through further data analysis and the development of a definitive scope for the feasibility study and a base case development concept.
"Preliminary analysis indicates that the base case development concept would be robust at a copper price of $2.80/lb and gold price of $1,300/oz."
The company said it will follow a staged development approach which would require lower initial capital expenditure with a deferred capital expansion of the processing facilities in three to five years.
Located on the border of the Sandaun and East Sepik provinces, the Frieda River Copper-Gold project comprises four copper-gold deposits and several prospects, and is said to be one of the undeveloped copper deposits in the world.
