Euro Sun Mining Inc. (TSX: ESM) (“Euro Sun” or the
“Company”) is pleased to announce it has filed a technical report
pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 supporting the Updated
Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) on the Colnic and Rovina open
pits - the initial phase of development of its Rovina Valley Gold
and Copper Project (the “Rovina Valley Project”) in Romania (the
“Technical Report”). Included in the updated DFS is an updated
mineral reserve and resource estimate for the open pit deposits,
namely Colnic and Rovina, incorporating current metal prices and
operating parameters. All amounts are in US dollars unless
otherwise indicated.
Key Highlights Include (summary table set out in Table
1):
- Pre-Tax NPV increased 41%
to $630 million, with an IRR of 22.7%, based on $1,675/oz gold and
$3.75/lb copper
- Estimated to produce
1.47Moz of gold and 403Mlbs of copper over the life of the project
at an AISC of $787/gold equivalent ounce
- Approximately 43 million
tonnes or 19% less waste material expected to be mined resulting in
a 1.45:1 strip ratio over LOM
- The updated study
incorporates the most current cost and capital expenditure data,
with initial CAPEX of $448 million
- The Rovina Valley Project
incorporates dry stack tailings and is a cyanide free
operation
Scott Moore, Chief Executive Officer Euro Sun
Mining Inc. comments, “Filing of the full DFS is a key milestone
for one of Europe’s largest undeveloped Copper-Gold projects. The
substantially improved economics are based upon conservative long
term commodity prices and include the full impact from cost
escalation since the original study. With operating after-tax
cashflows anticipated to be of more than US$1 billion and a highly
competitive AISC of US$787 gold equivalent ounce oz, this is
clearly a high-quality project. We continue to advance methodically
along the permitting path and look forward to providing further
positive updates throughout 2022.”
The optimized and updated DFS for the Rovina
Valley Project continues to focus on responsible mining procedures
including, dry stacking, continuous revegetation, and a cyanide
free processing facility. The enhanced project benefits from
positive geotechnical study results, reducing waste removal and
strip ratios, driving a 9% increase in gold production and a 41%
increase in pre-tax NPV. The DFS also incorporated updated cost
estimates and metal price assumptions.
Euro Sun is incorporating strong responsible
mining procedures into every aspect of the project and is utilizing
a phased development approach for the Rovina Valley Project. The
Rovina Valley Project consists of two open pit gold-copper
deposits, Colnic and Rovina, and the underground Ciresata
gold-copper deposit. The Ciresata underground deposit is expected
to be phased in following the completion of the Colnic and Rovina
pits, assuming future mining studies are completed, and positive
results are obtained.
Table 1: Updated Definitive Feasibility
Highlights
Study Version |
DFS Update (Jan 2022) |
Base Case Assumptions |
Life of Mine |
First 10 years |
Gold price (base case) |
$1675 /oz |
|
Copper price (base case) |
$3.75 /lb |
|
Gold recovery |
79.7% |
|
|
Copper recovery |
91.3% |
|
|
Mine life |
17.2 years |
|
Mining rate |
55,000 tonnes per day |
|
Plant life |
17.4 years |
|
Plant rate |
21 000 tonnes per day |
|
Mine Parameters |
|
|
Average annual gold production |
82,000 ounces |
107,000 ounces |
Average annual copper production |
23.2 million pounds |
14.0 million pounds |
Average annual gold equivalent production |
136,000 ounces |
139,000 ounces |
Average gold grade |
0.44 g/t |
0.55 g/t |
Average copper grade |
0.15% |
|
0.11% |
|
Total gold production |
1,472,000 troy ounces |
1,074,000 troy ounces |
Total copper production |
403 million pounds |
140 million pounds |
Total equivalent gold production |
2,375,000 troy ounces |
1,387,000 troy ounces |
Colnic LOM strip ratio (waste to ore) |
1.15 |
|
1.19 |
|
Rovina LOM Strip ratio (waste to ore) |
1.89 |
|
N/A |
Pre strip tonnes |
7.7 million tonnes |
7.7 million tonnes |
Capital Costs |
|
|
Pre-strip Capital |
$14.1 million |
|
Initial Capital |
$447.7 million |
|
Total initial Capital |
$464.2 million |
|
Sustaining Capital |
$68.3 million |
|
Total CAPEX |
$516 million |
|
Operating Costs |
|
|
All-in sustaining costs |
$787/oz Au eq |
$823/oz Au eq |
Mining costs |
$1.71 /tonne moved |
$1.76 /tonne moved |
Milling costs |
$8.8 /tonne milled |
$8.83 /tonne milled |
Waste and water management |
$0.36 /tonne milled |
$0.42 /tonne milled |
G&A costs |
$0.29 /tonne milled |
$0.29 /tonne milled |
Cash Flow |
|
|
Pre-Tax NPV (5% discount rate) |
$630 million |
|
Pre-Tax IRR |
22.7% |
|
|
Post-Tax NPV (5% discount rate) |
$512 million |
|
Post-Tax IRR |
20.5% |
|
|
The technical report related to the updated DFS
results has been filed on SEDAR, in accordance with National
Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”). The study has been prepared with
input from the following independent consultants:
Caracle Creek International Consulting MINRES – CCIC (South
Africa) |
Mineral resources |
DRA (South Africa) |
Mining, mineral reserves |
ERM (Romania) |
Environmental and social |
Knight Piésold (South Africa) |
Tailings facilities, and Hydrogeology |
Middindi Consulting (South Africa) |
Geotechnical |
Lawrence Consulting (Canada) |
Geochemistry |
SENET (South Africa) |
Processing plant and infrastructure |
SENET and Sidus Consulting |
Economic valuation / financial modelling |
Rovina Valley Gold-Copper Project Overview
The Rovina Valley Project is situated in the
Hunedoara County of Transylvania in western – central Romania. The
Rovina Valley Project consists of three deposits, Rovina to the
North, Colnic Central and the Ciresata deposit to the south. The
DFS only incorporates the Rovina and the Colnic deposits and does
not include the Ciresata deposit, which the Company expects will be
brought into the project for development later, assuming future
mining studies are completed, and positive results are obtained.
The Rovina exploration licence is held by Samax Romania S.R.L., a
Romanian registered company which is a wholly owned subsidiary of
ESM. Since November 2018, ESM possesses an exploitation permit and
mining licence with a renewable 20-year validity.
The Colnic and Ciresata deposits are described
as gold-copper porphyries while the Rovina deposit is termed a
copper-gold porphyry. All three of these deposits are located such
that they can access a central processing plant. The Rovina Valley
Project processing facility is being designed to produce a gold and
copper concentrate from the Colnic and Rovina deposits.
The Rovina Valley Project is within the Golden
Quadrilateral Mining District of the South Apuseni Mountains, an
area with a history of mining dating back to Roman times. This has
supported the development of excellent infrastructure including
rail, power and paved access roads. In addition, there are two
international airports less than 180km from the project location.
These being in the cities of Timisoara and Sibiu. The town of Brad
is within 5km of the project site from where there will be a good
source of local skilled labour. Sourcing the right skills and
resources locally supports ESM community upliftment
opportunities.
The Rovina Valley Project is expected to be
mined with a standard open-pit mining method using rigid dump
trucks and hydraulic loaders. The open pit mining operation is
anticipated to last approximately seventeen years, during which the
lower-grade material will be stockpiled if possible, for treatment
at the tail end of mining operations.
Over the life of the project, it is planned that 140.0 Mt
of ore will be mined. Of this ore, 123.3 Mt will be delivered
to the processing facility, including 13,9 Mt of LG ore which will
have been stockpiled for future processing. A total of 16,7Mt of LG
ore will be sent to waste due to insufficient space to store this
LG ore for future processing. A total of 203,1 Mt of waste
will be mined and placed on the waste facility combined with
tailings. This represents a life of mine stripping ratio of
1.45:1.
Waste Rock and Tailings
Management
Knight Piésold have advanced the design of a
waste management facility within the project area for the
co-deposition of waste rock and filtered rougher tailings. Process
plant rougher tailings will be filtered in the plant where the
resultant filter cake will be transported by conveyors and will be
co-mingled with waste rock prior to deposition. The cleaner tails
will be filtered separately from the rougher tailings and the
resultant filter cake will be transported by conveyors and
deposited separately within a lined zone contained within the
boundary of the co-mingled facility. This design has been
engineered to reduce the risk of development of impacted seepage
from potentially acid generating waste rock and capture the
impacted seepage from the cleaner tailings. After completion of
mining the Colnic pit, the waste rock and rougher tailings will be
preferentially backfilled into the Colnic pit, while the cleaner
tails will continue to report to the lined zone of the waste
management facility.
Operating Costs
Chief Operating Officer Sam Rasmussen adds, “The final report
supporting the updated DFS further demonstrates the robustness of
the project as the majority of capital costs were calculated on
supplier quotations and built-up versus factoring. Operating
costs were also built-up using updated consumables pricing further
increasing the confidence of project economics.”
Capital Costs
The estimated capital costs for the Rovina
Valley Project were in almost all cases built up from quotations
and proposals from equipment and service providers. The updated DFS
costs currently utilize an owner purchased and operated mining
fleet. All financial analysis for the Life of Mine includes the
total design, construction and commissioning, production, and
closure.
Project Opportunities
The updated DFS has been completed based upon
the development of the Colnic and Rovina pits only. Further
developing and treating the resource at Ciresata could further
extend the life of the operation while utilising the infrastructure
and processing capabilities anticipated to be in operation for the
Rovina and Colnic deposits.
Permitting Update
The Company is currently completing the draft of
the Planul Urbanistic Zonal (PUZ, Urban Zoning Plan) and expects to
file with the County of Hunedoara presently. It is expected to have
the public audience on the draft plan sometime in early Q2, 2022
with final submission and approval of the PUZ in Q3 2022. Once the
PUZ has been approved, submittal of the notification to complete
the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure will be filed
with the Ministry of Environment.
Rovina Valley Project 2022 Resource and Reserve
Update
Table 2: Rovina Valley 2022 Mineral Reserve
Estimate Colnic and Rovina Deposits
Deposit |
Classification |
Tonnage (Mt) |
Au(g/t) |
Cu (%) |
Au(koz) |
Cu(t) |
Colnic |
Proven |
25.60 |
0.65 |
0.11% |
|
535.0 |
28,158.7 |
Probable |
47.99 |
0.55 |
0.09% |
|
848.6 |
43,190.4 |
Rovina |
Proven |
22.58 |
0.34 |
0.29% |
|
243.3 |
67,005.8 |
Probable |
27.13 |
0.24 |
0.22% |
|
211.6 |
60,166.7 |
Colnic & Rovina |
Proven |
48.18 |
0.50 |
0.20% |
|
778.3 |
94,164.6 |
Probable |
75.12 |
0.44 |
0.14% |
|
1,060.2 |
103,357.2 |
Total |
Proven & Probable |
123.30 |
0.47 |
0.16% |
|
1,838.5 |
197,522 |
The Mineral reserve estimate uses a base gold price of $1,550/oz
and a base copper price of $3.30/lb
Notes:
- All tonnes quoted are dry tonnes.
Differences in the addition of deposit tonnes to the total
displayed is due to rounding.
- The estimate of Rovina Valley
Gold Project Mineral Reserves are not at this stage materially
affected by any known environmental, permitting, legal, title,
taxation, socioeconomic, marketing, political, or other relevant
issue. Furthermore, the estimate of Project Reserves is not
materially affected by any known mining, metallurgical,
infrastructure, or other relevant factor.
- Mineral Reserve estimates follow
the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM")
definitions standards for Mineral Resources and Reserves and have
been completed in accordance with NI 43-101.
- Effective date of reserves are
January 31, 2022
Table 3: Rovina Valley 2022 Mineral
Resource Estimate Update Colnic and Rovina Deposits
Deposit |
Classification |
Tonnage(Mt) |
Au(g/t) |
Cu(%) |
Au(Moz) |
Cu(Mlb) |
Au Eq*(g/t) |
Au Eq*(Moz) |
Colnic |
Measured |
29.2 |
0.65 |
0.12 |
0.61 |
74 |
0.81 |
0.76 |
Indicated |
103.6 |
0.48 |
0.10 |
1.61 |
224 |
0.62 |
2.07 |
Rovina |
Measured |
33.2 |
0.36 |
0.29 |
0.38 |
213 |
0.77 |
0.82 |
Indicated |
79.1 |
0.26 |
0.22 |
0.67 |
384 |
0.57 |
1.46 |
Colnic & Rovina |
Measured |
62.4 |
0.49 |
0.21 |
0.99 |
288 |
0.79 |
1.58 |
Indicated |
182.7 |
0.39 |
0.15 |
2.28 |
607 |
0.60 |
3.53 |
Total |
Measured & Indicated |
245.1 |
0.42 |
0.17 |
3.27 |
895 |
0.65 |
5.11 |
Notes: • *Au and Cu Equivalent
determined by using a long-term gold price of US$1,700/oz and a
copper price of US$3.50/lb with metallurgical recoveries not taken
into account. • Mineral Resources are reported
inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources that are not
Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic
viability. • Mineral Resources are contained within
a conceptual pit shell that are generated using the same economic
and technical parameters as used for Mineral Reserves but at gold
price of US$1,700/oz and a copper price of
US$3.50/lb. • Colnic and Rovina deposits are
amenable to open pit mining and Mineral Resources are Pit
constrained and tabulated at a base case cut-off grade of 0.35 g/t
AuEq for Colnic and 0.25 % CuEq for Rovina • Minor
summation differences may occur, because of
rounding. • Mineral Resource estimates follow the
CIM definition standards for Mineral Resources and Reserves and
have been completed in accordance with NI 43-101. With and
effective date of January 31, 2022 |
Table 4: Rovina Valley 2019 Mineral Resource Estimate
Ciresata Deposit
Deposit |
Classification |
Tonnage(Mt) |
Au(g/t) |
Cu(%) |
Au(Moz) |
Cu(Mlb) |
Au Eq*(g/t) |
Au Eq*(Moz) |
Ciresata |
Measured |
28.5 |
0.88 |
0.16 |
0.81 |
102 |
1.13 |
1.03 |
Indicated |
125.9 |
0.74 |
0.15 |
3.01 |
413 |
0.97 |
3.92 |
Total |
Measured & Indicated |
154.4 |
0.77 |
0.15 |
3.82 |
515 |
1.00 |
4.95 |
Notes: • From Table 14-20,
Technical Report “Rovina Valley Project, Preliminary Economic
Assessment, NI 43-101, Feb. 20, 2019“ from AGP Mining Consultants
Inc (available on SEDAR). This preliminary economic assessment is
preliminary in nature and there is no certainty that the
preliminary economic assessment will be realized.
• Au and Cu Equivalent determined by using a
long-term gold price of US$1,500/oz and a copper price of
US$3.50/lb with metallurgical recoveries not taken into
account. • The Ciresata deposit is amenable to bulk
underground mining and resources are tabulated at a base case 0.65
g/t Au eq • No Mineral Reserves have been defined
at the Ciresata deposit. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral
Reserves do not have demonstrated economic
viability. • Minor summation differences may occur,
as a result of rounding. • Mineral Resource
estimates follow the CIM definition standards for Mineral Resources
and Reserves and have been completed in accordance with the
Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects as defined by NI
43-101. |
On a consolidated basis of measured and indicated
resources, the Rovina Valley Project includes 399.5 Mt containing
7.09 Moz gold and 1,410 Mlbs copper equal to 10.06 M gold
equivalent ounces.
Qualified Persons
The mineral reserve estimate stated in this
press release have been reviewed and approved by Mr. David Alan
Thompson (ECSA No. 201190010), Principal Mining Engineer for DRA
Projects (Pty) Ltd, who is an independent Qualified Person as
defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. D Thompson was
responsible for the mineral reserve estimate of the RVP Feasibility
Study that supports this press release. Mr. D Thompson confirmed
that he has reviewed the information in this press release as it
relates to the mineral reserve estimate.
The mineral resources estimate stated in this
press release have been reviewed and approved by Mr. Sivanesan
(Desmond) Subramani (Pri. Sci. Nat - 400184/06), Principal for
Mineral Resources at Caracle Creek International Consultants, who
is an independent qualified person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. D
Subramani was responsible for the mineral resource estimate of the
DFS. Mr. D Subramani confirmed that he has reviewed and approved
the information in this press release as it relates to the mineral
resource estimate.
Mr. Randy Ruff, P. Geo., an employee of Euro Sun
and a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 has reviewed and
approved the technical information in this press release other than
the mineral resource estimates and the mineral reserve
estimates.
About SENET
SENET is one of the leading project management
and engineering firms in the field of mineral processing. For
almost three decades, SENET has provided project management,
multidisciplinary engineering, procurement, logistics management,
and construction services to the mining, mineral processing,
infrastructure and materials handling industries. SENET is
committed to a policy of exceptional service and engineering
excellence with a strong emphasis on quality, safety and
environmental aspects.
About Euro Sun Mining Inc.
Euro Sun is a Toronto Stock Exchange listed mining company
focused on the exploration and development of its 100%-owned Rovina
Valley gold and copper project located in west-central Romania,
which hosts the second largest gold deposit in Europe.
For further information about Euro Sun Mining,
or the contents of this press release, please contact Investor
Relations at info@eurosunmining.com
Caution regarding forward-looking
information:This press release contains statements which
constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of
applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the
plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company
with respect to future business activities and operating
performance. Forward-looking information is often identified by the
words “may”, “would”, “could”, “should”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”,
“anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” or similar
expressions and includes information regarding the Company’s
estimates, expectations, forecasts and guidance for production,
waste material, all-in sustaining cost, capital expenditures, cost
savings, project economics (including pre-tax net present value and
after tax cashflows) and other information contained in the updated
DFS; as well as references to other possible events, the future
price of gold and copper, the estimation of mineral reserves and
mineral resources, the realization of mineral reserve and mineral
resource estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future
production, costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and
timing of the development of the project and mining and processing
activities, requirements for additional capital, government
regulation of mining operations, environmental risks and the
anticipated timing for the filing of the updated DFS as a NI 43-101
compliant technical report.
Investors are cautioned that forward-looking
information is not based on historical facts but instead reflect
management’s expectations, estimates or projections concerning
future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and
estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the
statements are made. Although the Company believes that the
expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are
reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and
undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown
or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on
future results, performance or achievements of the Company. This
forward-looking information may be affected by risks and
uncertainties in the combined business of the Company and market
conditions, including (1) there being no significant disruptions
affecting the Company’s operations whether due to extreme weather
events and other or related natural disasters, labor disruptions,
supply disruptions, power disruptions, damage to equipment or
otherwise; (2) permitting, development, operations and production
for the Rovina Valley Project being consistent with the Company’s
expectations; (3) political and legal developments Romania being
consistent with current expectations; (4) certain price assumptions
for gold and copper; (5) prices for diesel, electricity and other
key supplies being approximately consistent with current levels;
(6) the accuracy of the Company’s mineral reserve and mineral
resource estimates; and (7) labor and materials costs increasing on
a basis consistent with the Company’s current expectations. This
information is qualified in its entirety by cautionary statements
and risk factor disclosure contained in filings made by the Company
with the Canadian securities regulators, including the Company’s
annual information form, financial statements and related MD&A
for the financial year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the
securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada
and available at www.sedar.com.
Should one or more of these risks or
uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the
forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may
vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned,
anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company
has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and
factors which could cause actual results to differ materially,
there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated,
estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and do not
assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information
except as otherwise required by applicable law.
The Company has included certain non-GAAP
financial measures in this press release, such as all-in sustaining
costs (“AISC”) per gold equivalent ounce, net
present value (“NPV”). These non-GAAP financial
measures do not have any standardized meaning. Accordingly, these
financial measures are intended to provide additional information
and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for
measures of performance prepared in accordance with International
Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). AISC, as
defined by the World Gold Council is a common financial
performance measure in the mining industry but have no standard
definition under IFRS. AISC include operating cash costs,
net-smelter royalty, corporate costs, sustaining capital
expenditure, sustaining exploration expenditure and capitalised
stripping costs. Other companies may calculate these measures
differently and should not be considered in isolation or as a
substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with
IFRS.
The TSX does not accept responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
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