Swapping aluminum for copper will maintain China’s resources, group says
China depends on overseas imports for 60% of its aluminum resources as opposed to 70% of its copper resources.
A preliminary economic assessment of the Samapleu nickel-copper project in Cote d’Ivoire estimates production of 14,100 tonnes of copper concentrate a year over a 20-year mine life from three open pits, Sama Resources (TSXV: SME) says.
The early-stage study envisioned a plant that would process 2.4 million tonnes per year of run-of-mine mineralized material to produce 39,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate per year at a nickel grade of 10.34%, and 15,000 tonnes per year of copper concentrate at a copper grade of 23%.
The copper concentrate would be sold, and the nickel concentrate would then be fed to a carbonyl refining plant to extract nickel and iron and produce 3,900 tonnes per year of carbonyl nickel powder and 8,400 tonnes per year of carbonyl iron powder.
The early-stage study envisioned a plant that would process 2.4 million tonnes per year of run-of-mine mineralized material to produce 39,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate per year
The nickel and iron would be extracted from reduced concentrate in the form of metal carbonyls through CVMR’s proprietary carbonyl process, then separated and decomposed to metal nickel and iron products. CVRM is a private company based in Toronto with 36 years of vapour metal refining experience.
The powders are used in batteries, 3D printing, metal injection molding, aerospace and automotive parts manufacturing, as well as computer and electronic parts, super alloys, and medical instruments, the company says.
The study outlined a conventional open-pit operation with hydraulic excavators and wheel loaders and estimated that 44.42 million tonnes of mineralized material could be extracted over a 20-year mine life with average grades fed to the processing plant of 0.24% nickel, 0.18% copper and 11.86% iron.
The PEA estimated an after-tax net present value at an 8% discount rate of $169 million and an internal rate of return of 16.7%.
Initial capital costs and life-of-mine sustaining costs are forecast in the study to reach $282 million, including a $37 million contingency, and $179.7 million, respectively.
Over the last year, Sama has traded within a range of 12¢ and 33¢ per share and Wednesday afternoon were trading at 18.5¢.
The junior has about 216 million common shares outstanding for a market cap of about $40 million.
(This article first appeared in The Northern Miner)
