Articles on equador this one focus on cornerstone5 Aug 2022 14:47
TSXV-listed Cornerstone Capital Resources (stock symbol “CGP”) was a first mover in Ecuador. It acquired the Cascabel copper-gold porphyry property in 2011, brought SolGold in as funding partner under a farm-in arrangement in 2012, and was project operator through to the discovery drill hole in February 2014, transferring operatorship over to SolGold in September 2014. The Alpala deposit on the Cascabel concession will become Ecuador’s largest mine, and one of the world’s most important copper producers, when it begins production in 2029. It also contains more gold resources than Ecuador’s largest current gold mine, Fruta del Norte.
Cornerstone retains a 15% direct stake in Cascabel carried (financed) by SolGold to completion of a bankable feasibility study and repayable out of Cornerstone’s share of dividends or earnings from a mine at Libor plus 2%, plus 6.9% of the shares in SolGold, for a combined project interest of 20.8%.
The recently completed Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) shows: (1) an after- tax NPV (@ 8% discount rate) of US$2.9billion, 19.3% IRR and 4.7-year payback @ Base Case (Cu-$3.60/lb; Au-$1,700/oz; Ag-$19.9); (2) an initial capex of US$2.7billion for the initial block cave development, first process plant module and infrastructure; (3) average annual production of 467MM lbs copper equivalent (291MM lbs Cu, 358kozAuand1MMozAg)@anall- in sustaining cost of US$0.06/lb Cu; and (4) an initial 26 year project life @
25Mtpa, with the potential for a mine life of >50 years.
The project has already attracted investment from majors such as Newcrest and BHP Billiton, BHP having a 13.6% and Newcrest a 13.5% stake in SolGold (or~11.5% of Cascabel each) so Cornerstone’s strategic 20.8% interest makes it an attractive acquisition target says H. Brooke Macdonald, Cornerstone’s CEO:
LatAm INVESTOR
24 Q32022
“There are simply not enough copper projects in the development pipelines of major mining companies to meet the anticipated demand for electric vehicles and low-carbon electrical infrastructure by 2030-2050, and underinvestment by the majors in early stage copper exploration means to maintain their production profiles and market valuations they will need to buy reserves - by acquiring juniors like Cornerstone and SolGold - to replace reserve depletion, so we anticipate a frenzy of M&A activity for existing copper projects like Cascabel as well as companies willing to fund drilling in potentially large porphyry system
environments in good jurisdictions like Ecuador.”
Macdonald expects Cornerstone Capital Resources to be bought out within the next 12 months. At present the company’s market cap stands at around $119million with a share price hovering around CAD$3.19. Yet analysts believe the recent pre-feasibility study for Cascabel means Cornerstone is worth much more. A conservative estimate from David Davidson, the Senior Analyst, at Paradigm Capital, has a $6.50 target on the stock, which he rates as a speculative buy.
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