LONDON (Alliance News) - Strategic Minerals PLC on Thursday said an updated scoping study of the Redmoor project suggests an indicative production rate of 660,000 tonnes per annum and a potential mine life of more than ten years.
Redmoor is a tin-tungsten project in Cornwall and its current life of mine production schedule suggests 7.1 million tonnes at 1.1% tin equivalent grade.
Based on the study, a preliminary assessment of the returns from an underground mining project at Redmoor was conducted. This assessment suggested a nominal plant feed rate of 600,000 tonnes per annum, with an initial run rate of 19% and a net present value of USD94 million based on a capital expense of USD89 million.
Strategic Minerals, which owns a 50% stake in Redmoor via the Cornwall Resources Ltd joint venture vehicle, said Cornwall Resources will undertake further work to advance the project toward a pre-feasibility study.
"The recently completed mining study, while still based on an inferred mineral resource, provides [Strategic Minerals] confidence that a major portion of the recently announced resource...can potentially be economically mined," said Strategic Minerals Managing Director John Peters.
"Using the results of this study, [Strategic Minerals] believes it has confirmed its view that Redmoor has the potential to be a world class tin and tungsten mine which will deliver attractive returns on investment," Peters added.
Strategic Minerals on Monday said it signed a binding contract for the acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in of Cornwall Resources. With the acquisition, the company will take its stake in the project to 100%, having acquired a 50% interest from New Age Exploration in 2016.
Shares in Strategic Minerals were down 1.6% at 1.58 pence on Thursday.
Strategic Minerals (SML)