Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Minera Alamos (TSXV: MAI) has released an encouraging preliminary economic assessment for its Cerro de Oro gold project in Zacatecas state, Mexico. Using a gold price of $1,600/oz., the company anticipates an internal rate of return of 111% and an after-tax net present value (at 5% discount) of $150.5 million.
The life of mine all-in sustaining cost will be $873/oz., averaging even less – $763/oz. – in the first four years.
Cerro de Oro has a low initial capital requirement of $28.1 million and a payback period of only 11 months. Alamos has already purchased a used crushing plant. The property has several historical pits and underground workings.
Average annual gold output will be 60,000 to 70,000 oz. in years one through four, and about 60,000 oz. annually over the life of the project. The open pit life is to be 8.2 years at a mining rate of 20,000 t/d. A total of 477,000 oz. gold will be recovered following leaching, carbon loading and doré production.
The project has a total, updated inferred oxide resource of 67 million tonnes grading 0.37 g/t gold or 780,000 contained oz. when a gold price of $1,700 was used.
Alamos also hopes to take advantage of a significant upside at Cerro de Oro. The deposit appears open in multiple directions and at depth. Moreover, deeper gold-containing sulphide zones are known, and more metallurgical testing will be done to determine if it is suitable for leaching.
