Redhawk Resources, Inc. ("Redhawk" or the "Company") (TSX
VENTURE:RDK)(FRANKFURT:QF7) Redhawk Resources, Inc. (the "company" or "Redhawk")
through its wholly owned subsidiary, Redhawk Copper, Inc., is pleased to
announce the results of an update to the Scoping Study (Preliminary Assessment)
originally released on February 27, 2009 on its wholly owned Copper Creek
Project located in the Bunker Hill Mining District, Pinal County, Arizona. The
updated Scoping Study uses a baseline copper price of $2.75 per pound versus
$2.25 per pound in the initial Scoping Study. The Scoping Study was prepared by
KD Engineering of Tucson, Arizona under the direction of Joseph M. Keane, P.
Eng., of KD Engineering. The Scoping Study was prepared pursuant to National
Instrument 43-101, Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian
Securities Administrators. The Scoping Study is based upon NI 43-101 compliant
resource estimates prepared by Independent Mining Consultants ("IMC") of Tucson,
Arizona and released on 29 October, 2008. Golder Associates, Milne & Associates,
WestLand Resources, Call & Nicholas Engineers, and METCON, all well recognized
consulting firms, contributed to the Scoping Study authored by KD Engineering.
All dollar numbers in this news release and in the updated Scoping Study are in
$US.
The Scoping Study financial analysis is pre-tax and based upon an initial mining
rate of 2,500 tons per day in near surface breccia resources and increasing to
10,000 tons per day as the deeper porphyry resources get developed. Using a
copper price of $2.75 per pound, $15.00 per pound molybdenum, $750 per troy
ounce gold, and $12.00 per troy ounce silver, the economic analysis results in a
pre-tax IRR of 20.4 percent. The pre-tax NPV is $539.1 million at a 5 percent
discount rate, $350.0 million at a 7.5 percent discount rate, and $222.7 million
at a 10 percent discount rate. Payback of capital is achieved after 6.9 years of
production. At a zero discount rate a NPV of zero is produced at a $1.77 per
pound copper price (break even copper price). With a 7.5 percent discount rate,
a NPV of zero is produced at a copper price of $2.05 per pound.
Pre-
Discount Rate tax NPV
-------------------------------------------------
5% $539.1 million
7.5% $350.0 million
10% $222.7 million
A summary of the inputs, methodology, and results of the Scoping Study are
discussed below. For complete information on the Scoping Study inputs,
methodology, and results, the reader is referred to the complete Scoping Study
that will be posted on SEDAR.
The Copper Creek property consists of more than 5,000 acres (2,030 hectares) in
one contiguous block on the west flank of the Galiuro Mountains, approximately
75 miles (121 km) north east of Tucson, Arizona. The Copper Creek resources
consist of numerous "higher grade" breccia (Bx) hosted deposits and deeper
"porphyry like" deposits of Laramide age and situated within the southwest
porphyry copper province of North America. The deposits host significant copper
mineralization, many with strong molybdenum contribution, and by-product silver
and gold.
IMC estimated Measured, Indicated, and Inferred Resources of the Copper Creek
project at cutoff grades of 0.75% copper equivalent ("CuEq") in the breccia
deposits and 0.60% CuEq in the porphyry deposits is as follows:
Category Tons (short) Cu% Mo% Au opt Ag opt Pounds (Cu)
Measured Bx 5,898,000 1.41 0.013 0.002 0.128 166,324,000
Indicated Bx 1,411,000 1.76 0.034 0.003 0.106 49,385,000
Indicated
Keel 20,025,000 0.90 0.022 not est. not est. 360,450,000
Inferred Bx 2,091,000 1.37 0.027 0.008 0.063 57,293,000
Inferred
Keel/AE 157,126,000 0.75 0.016 not est. not est. 2,356,890,000
(% = percent; opt = troy ounces per short ton; not est. = not estimated in
resource due to insufficient number of assays from historical data; CuEq = Cu +
6.67 x Mo + 13.33 x Au + 0.27 x Ag as this reflects metal recovery and
production costs)
The Scoping Study base case is initial mining from the surface and near surface
breccia resources at a rate of 2,500 tons per day ("TPD") and then increasing to
10,000 TPD when the Keel and American Eagle ("AE") porphyry deposits are
developed. Mining in the breccias is anticipated to be a combination of blast
hole stoping with fill and mechanized cut and fill methods. Mining in the Keel
and AE is anticipated to be post-pillar room and pillar with engineered fill.
Based upon the above mining rates and methods, cutoff grades of each of the
deposits were calculated using $2.75/pound (lb) copper, $15.00/lb molybdenum,
$750/troy ounce (oz) gold and $12.00/troy oz silver. The breakeven cutoff grades
used were 0.90% CuEq for the Childs, Prince, and Globe breccia deposits; 1.10%
CuEq for the Mammoth and Old Reliable breccia deposits; and 0.70% CuEq for the
Keel and American Eagle deposits. Indicated economic resources are shown in the
table below:
Resources at Breakeven Cutoff Grade for Mine Planning
Deposit Tons (short) Cu% Mo% Au opt Ag opt
Childs 1,355,000 1.96 0.061 0.006 0.172
Prince 433,000 2.13 0.005 0.001 0.083
Globe 92,000 1.27 0.003 0.000 0.048
Mammoth 2,213,000 1.80 0.001 0.001 0.160
Old Reliable 519,000 1.58 0.014 0.003 0.080
Subtotal Breccias 4,612,000 1.87 0.021 0.003 0.145
Keel (Ind.) 17,188,000 0.95 0.023 not est. not est.
Keel (Inf.) 31,738,000 0.91 0.030 not est. not est.
AE (Inf.) 64,200,000 0.83 0.015 not est. not est.
Subtotal Porphyry 113,126,000 0.87 0.020 not est. not est.
Grand Total 117,738,000 0.91 0.020
At a mill feed rate of 3.6 million tons per year (10,000 TPD) this would
indicate a mine life of approaching 30 years, depending upon mining recovery
rates.
A higher cutoff grade than the breakeven cutoff grade of 0.70% CuEq, (shown for
the Keel and American Eagle deposits in the table above), was used as a base
case in the initial years of mining. At a 0.90% CuEq cutoff grade, the resulting
indicated and inferred tons and grades for both deposits is shown in the table
below:
Mine Plan Resources for Keel and American Eagle at 0.90 CuEq Cutoff
Deposit Tons (short) Cu% Mo% Au opt Ag opt
Keel (Ind. + Inf.) 26,450,000 1.12 0.039 not est. not est.
AE (Inf.) 27,463,000 1.01 0.017 not est. not est.
Grand Total 53,913,000 1.11 0.028 not est. not est.
The smaller tonnage is still generally contained in discreet blocks, or lenses,
that lend themselves to good stoping shapes for efficient mining. At the 3.6
million tons per year mill feed rate, the resource would indicate about 10.5
years of mine life using a 70% mining recovery. As the first 3 to 4 years of
production is from the breccias, the remaining years of production are from the
Keel and AE resources that are above 0.80% CuEq cutoff to complete a minimum
mine life of 20 years. At a cutoff grade of 0.80% CuEq, an additional 23 million
tons, at an average grade of 0.97% copper and 0.024% molybdenum, would become
available extending the mine life to over 21 years.
Capital expenditures in the Scoping Study are estimated as shown below:
Mine Development $268,159,000
Tailings Facility $26,455,000
Environmental $2,029,000
Plant and Equipment $92,454,000
TOTAL MINE AND MILL $389,097,000
Operating costs used in the Scoping Study are shown below:
Direct Mine Operating
Costs US$ per ton
Prince 31.06
Globe 31.06
Childs 31.06
Mammoth 35.32
Old Reliable 35.32
Keel 18.02
American Eagle 18.02
Process Costs $ per ton
2,500 tpd 14.31
10,000 tpd 9.15
Estimated process recoveries used in the Scoping Study are shown below:
Copper - (Childs, Mammoth, Globe, OR, Prince) 95%
Copper - Keel, AE 90%
Molybdenum 80%
Gold 40%
Silver 90%
Joe Sandberg, President of Redhawk, commented: "The Updated Scoping Study is a
thorough and conservative baseline starting point to evaluate the economics of
the Copper Creek project in light of current commodity prices. We are confident
that improvements can be made to the project that will result in better
economics than demonstrated in the baseline case and we are currently focused on
achieving this goal."
R. Joe Sandberg, CPG, President and Director of Redhawk Resources is the
qualified person within the meaning of N1 43-101 who supervised the preparation
of the information that forms the basis of this news release.
About Redhawk
Redhawk is a Canadian-based resource exploration and development company with
primary focus on the accelerated development of its advanced stage Copper Creek
copper-molybdenum project in San Manuel, Arizona. The Company also has a
gold/silver property in Nevada.
The 100% owned Copper Creek property consists of approximately seven square
miles of almost totally contiguous patented and unpatented mining claims and
state prospecting permits, located about 70 miles northeast of Tucson, Arizona
and about 15 miles east of San Manuel. The property is in the prolific southwest
US porphyry copper belt at the projected intersection of a major northwest belt
of porphyry copper deposits or mines (Ray, Miami/Globe, Superior/Resolution,
Johnson Camp) and a major east-northeast belt of porphyry deposits (San
Manuel/Kalamazoo, Silver Bell, Lakeshore, Safford, Morenci). The property is
within sight of the former BHP Kalamazoo/San Manuel copper smelter and mine and
within 30 miles of an existing operating copper smelter. The area is a mining
friendly and politically secure location with excellent and readily accessible
infrastructure.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
R. Joe Sandberg, President
The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of
the date of this press release and, except as required by applicable law,
Redhawk does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of
the included forward-looking information, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. By its very nature, such
forward-looking information requires Redhawk to make assumptions that may not
materialize or that may not be accurate. This forward-looking information is
subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which
may cause actual results, levels of activity and achievements to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such information.
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