Rio2 Limited (“Rio2” or the “Company”) (TSXV: RIO; OTCQX: RIOFF; BVL: RIO) today announces the Feasibility Study (“FS”) for its 100% owned Fenix Gold Project (“Fenix Gold” or the “Project”) located in the Maricunga Mineral Belt of the Atacama Region, Chile. The FS, authored by international mining consultants Mining Plus, includes updated Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates (see Appendix), a run of mine heap leach (ROM) operational plan, and updated capital and operating cost estimates.
The deposit is interpreted as an intrusion related, low sulfidation, quartz-sulphide mineralization of deep epithermal type, lately remobilized by supergene processes facilitated by the permeable fine-grained matrix of the phreatomagmatic breccias. Gold mineralization is hosted mainly by the tuffs, breccias, and the dacitic subvolcanic intrusions from the Phreatomagmatic Unit and, in less extent, by andesites and dacitic domes of the same unit. The high-grade gold is commonly associated with low-temperature black banded quartz veins (BBV) which occur in sheeted veins, stockworks, in subangular fragments in phreatomagmatic breccias, and in hydrothermal injections of silica-magnetite. Extensive metallurgical test work supported by geo-metallurgical studies have shown that the oxide mineralization is amenable to cyanidation via ROM heap leaching.
Initial capex estimates exclude pre-construction activities completed to date which include construction of a 565-person camp, water loading infrastructure in Copiapó, the purchase of long-lead items such as electrical switchgear, electrical transformers, pumps, prefabricated components of the adsorption/desorption process plant, and preliminary earthworks. This pre-construction capex totaled approximately $29 million.
Robust project economics have been confirmed reflecting a low capital intensity, long life conventional open pit mining and ROM heap leach operation, with moderate operating costs and high rate of return as noted in the FS highlights.
Project after-tax net present value (“NPV5”) (5% discount rate) is $210.3 million with an after-tax internal rate of return (“IRR”) of 28.5% at a gold price of $1,750 per ounce, and $304.2 million and 37.2% at a gold price of $1,900 per ounce.
A strategic development plan has focused on the shortest possible timeline to production along with an optimally configured mine plan, yielding a lower initial capex and higher grades being mined in the initial production years at a low stripping ratio. Ore mining is scheduled at a rate of 20,000 tonnes per day (“tpd”) with water for the Project being trucked from Copiapó (158 km). To maximize cash-flow, high-grade ore will be placed on the leach pad during the initial 12 years of production and low-grade ore will be stockpiled for leaching in the subsequent 5 years of production giving a total mine life of 17 years. Average annual gold production during the first 12 years is estimated to be 91,000 oz and 54,000 oz in years 13 – 17, the final years the stockpiled ore is processed.
Estimated Mineral Resources for Fenix Gold (including Mineral Reserves) which remain open at depth and along strike, are 4.76 million oz of gold in the measured and indicated category and 0.96 million oz of gold in the inferred category constrained within a $1,800/oz gold price pit shell. This large, mineralized resource coupled with the potential for Mineral Resources growth through further drilling, provides an excellent opportunity to increase annual production and extend the mine life of the Fenix Gold Mine.
Rio2 is planning a two-stage development strategy for the Fenix Gold Mine, with this FS representing the first stage of production. Conceptually, the second stage will incorporate the expansion of ore mining from 20,000 tonnes per day to 80,000 – 100,000 tonnes per day with industrial water and/or desalinated water being transported to the site via a pipeline and project power being sourced from the nearby grid with estimated annual gold production rising to more than 250,000 oz. A study into the expansion of the mine will be launched during the construction of the first stage described in the FS to determine the most optimal water sourcing option, the related opex and capex, and the timing of the proposed mine expansion.
