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09.12.2011
Bass Metals Confirms Commercial Robustness of Hellyer Gold Project (HGP)
Bass Metals Confirms Commercial Robustness of Hellyer Gold Project (HGP)
9 December 2011
HIGHLIGHTS:
• A study on tailings treatment options confirms HGP as a robust project utilising the Albion Process to recover gold and silver.
• Initial production forecast to recover 575,000 ounces of gold and 23 million ounces of silver over nine years.
• Cash Operating and Total Cash costs estimated at lower end of Australian primary gold production cost curve.
• NPV estimated at A$325 million at current metal price levels.
• Cash flow forecast to reach A$91 million per annum at current metal price levels.
• Company planning to progress detailed study in early 2012.
The Board of Bass Metals Ltd (ASX:BSM & BSMO) (“Bass” or “the Company”) is pleased to report that a study on the various gold recovery process options on its Hellyer Gold Project (HGP) in northwest Tasmania has produced strong support for the gold-silver recovery project’s commercial development utilising the Albion Process flow sheet.
The outcomes of Bass Metals’ recovery study on the 100%-owned HGP has defined it as an emerging large scale, medium to low cost gold-silver project, which is planned to be confirmed with further detailed testwork leading to a definitive feasibility study (DFS).
The study outcomes indicate that the HGP would have:
• An estimated capital cost of $189 million - which includes a 20% contingency factor.
• An estimated initial project production life of 9 years, producing a total of 575,000 ounces of gold and 23 million ounces of silver at a forecast Total Cash Cost of $288 per ounce of gold (after silver credits). On a comparative basis with the Australian Gold industry this would make the HGP one of the lower cost primary gold producers in Australia.
• A robust NPV of A$325 million (10% discount rate) at current level gold and silver prices.
• A pre-tax net cash flow forecast of approximately A$91 million per year after assuming debt servicing to cover 50% of the capital costs.
• An estimated annual scale of production at 64,000 ounces of gold and 2.5 million ounces of silver which, on a gold equivalent basis, is comparable to annualised production of 115,000 ounces of gold per year. (Full details are provided in the Key Findings section below.)
• A well defined resource that will be further confirmed prior to project development.
Importantly, Bass Metals has several additional gold rich zones in the region which could significantly increase the life and scale of the gold and silver production at the HGP. Processing of the Hellyer Tails will also ameliorate a significant legacy environmental issue.
The study testwork and compilation was managed by metallurgical consultancy, BatteryLimits. Bass Metals’ Managing Director, Mike Rosenstreich, said that while these study results are only a preliminary assessment of the commercial potential of the Hellyer Gold Project, it provides the Company with the confidence to move forward with one of the key planks to its longer term growth plans. “At what is a very competitive cash cost we will be able to generate significant shareholder value from what some people may have described as waste,” he added.
“There is tremendous significance in that for Bass Metals, its supporters and the local community as we will be moving to an additional profitable project with a potentially long-term, plus 10 years’ lifespan. The significance of that cannot be understated” Mr Rosenstreich said.
The Company is assessing a variety of options to finance this development including a mix of conventional debt and equity, a specialist Bond issue, commodity based loan and / or selling down or farming out a percentage of the Project. Bass has received expressions of interest for all of these options from a variety of local and international financial institutions and resource companies.
The Albion Process emerged ahead of the Pressure Oxidation (POX) option relatively late in the evaluation testwork process and given that there is a large amount of historical testwork data on POX for the Hellyer tails, this would have expedited the feasibility study process. A revised study and development schedule is currently being assessed.
More detailed summary information is below in Key Findings & Background Sections
A Competent Persons Statement is attached in Background Section also
Contact Media
Mike Rosenstreich David Brook
Managing Director – Bass Metals Ltd Professional Public Relations
Tel: (+61-8) 6315 1300 Mob: (+61) (0) 415 096 804
About Bass Metals Ltd (ASX: BSM)
Bass Metals Ltd is a growth-focused Australian base and precious metal producer with a portfolio of high quality zinc, lead, copper and gold assets in the rich Mt Read Volcanic belt in northwest Tasmania.
Listing in 2005, Bass has delivered operating profits for the past three years since 2008 based on its profitable base metals production hub at Que River in Tasmania.
The Company’s larger transformational Hellyer Mine Project commenced underground production in early 2011 from the Fossey deposit, discovered by Bass in September 2007. The planned ore treatment rate is 350,000 tonnes per annum (tpa), through the Hellyer Mill to produce 46,000 tpa of zinc concentrate, 22,000 tpa of lead concentrates and 3,000 tpa of copper-silver-gold concentrates. Bass has off-take contracts for its lead and zinc concentrates with global multi-metals business, Nyrstar, and for its copper silver concentrates with LN Metals.
The Company also has an active and successful exploration programme which has yielded new discoveries such as Fossey, Fossey East and McKay, as well as new exploration targets through the use of new exploration techniques not previously applied in the district. The Company has significant gold and polymetallic resources and is currently undertaking a feasibility study following on from positive scoping study outcomes indicating the potential to become a long-term, significant scale gold producer.
Bass has differentiated itself through successfully finding high-grade polymetallic resources, strategically and incrementally building up its assets and production profile to now become an emerging mid-tier diversified mining business.
To view the entire news in English, please follow the link:
http://www.irw-press.com/dokumente/BassMetals_Results091211_ENGLISH.pdf
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9 December 2011
HIGHLIGHTS:
• A study on tailings treatment options confirms HGP as a robust project utilising the Albion Process to recover gold and silver.
• Initial production forecast to recover 575,000 ounces of gold and 23 million ounces of silver over nine years.
• Cash Operating and Total Cash costs estimated at lower end of Australian primary gold production cost curve.
• NPV estimated at A$325 million at current metal price levels.
• Cash flow forecast to reach A$91 million per annum at current metal price levels.
• Company planning to progress detailed study in early 2012.
The Board of Bass Metals Ltd (ASX:BSM & BSMO) (“Bass” or “the Company”) is pleased to report that a study on the various gold recovery process options on its Hellyer Gold Project (HGP) in northwest Tasmania has produced strong support for the gold-silver recovery project’s commercial development utilising the Albion Process flow sheet.
The outcomes of Bass Metals’ recovery study on the 100%-owned HGP has defined it as an emerging large scale, medium to low cost gold-silver project, which is planned to be confirmed with further detailed testwork leading to a definitive feasibility study (DFS).
The study outcomes indicate that the HGP would have:
• An estimated capital cost of $189 million - which includes a 20% contingency factor.
• An estimated initial project production life of 9 years, producing a total of 575,000 ounces of gold and 23 million ounces of silver at a forecast Total Cash Cost of $288 per ounce of gold (after silver credits). On a comparative basis with the Australian Gold industry this would make the HGP one of the lower cost primary gold producers in Australia.
• A robust NPV of A$325 million (10% discount rate) at current level gold and silver prices.
• A pre-tax net cash flow forecast of approximately A$91 million per year after assuming debt servicing to cover 50% of the capital costs.
• An estimated annual scale of production at 64,000 ounces of gold and 2.5 million ounces of silver which, on a gold equivalent basis, is comparable to annualised production of 115,000 ounces of gold per year. (Full details are provided in the Key Findings section below.)
• A well defined resource that will be further confirmed prior to project development.
Importantly, Bass Metals has several additional gold rich zones in the region which could significantly increase the life and scale of the gold and silver production at the HGP. Processing of the Hellyer Tails will also ameliorate a significant legacy environmental issue.
The study testwork and compilation was managed by metallurgical consultancy, BatteryLimits. Bass Metals’ Managing Director, Mike Rosenstreich, said that while these study results are only a preliminary assessment of the commercial potential of the Hellyer Gold Project, it provides the Company with the confidence to move forward with one of the key planks to its longer term growth plans. “At what is a very competitive cash cost we will be able to generate significant shareholder value from what some people may have described as waste,” he added.
“There is tremendous significance in that for Bass Metals, its supporters and the local community as we will be moving to an additional profitable project with a potentially long-term, plus 10 years’ lifespan. The significance of that cannot be understated” Mr Rosenstreich said.
The Company is assessing a variety of options to finance this development including a mix of conventional debt and equity, a specialist Bond issue, commodity based loan and / or selling down or farming out a percentage of the Project. Bass has received expressions of interest for all of these options from a variety of local and international financial institutions and resource companies.
The Albion Process emerged ahead of the Pressure Oxidation (POX) option relatively late in the evaluation testwork process and given that there is a large amount of historical testwork data on POX for the Hellyer tails, this would have expedited the feasibility study process. A revised study and development schedule is currently being assessed.
More detailed summary information is below in Key Findings & Background Sections
A Competent Persons Statement is attached in Background Section also
Contact Media
Mike Rosenstreich David Brook
Managing Director – Bass Metals Ltd Professional Public Relations
Tel: (+61-8) 6315 1300 Mob: (+61) (0) 415 096 804
About Bass Metals Ltd (ASX: BSM)
Bass Metals Ltd is a growth-focused Australian base and precious metal producer with a portfolio of high quality zinc, lead, copper and gold assets in the rich Mt Read Volcanic belt in northwest Tasmania.
Listing in 2005, Bass has delivered operating profits for the past three years since 2008 based on its profitable base metals production hub at Que River in Tasmania.
The Company’s larger transformational Hellyer Mine Project commenced underground production in early 2011 from the Fossey deposit, discovered by Bass in September 2007. The planned ore treatment rate is 350,000 tonnes per annum (tpa), through the Hellyer Mill to produce 46,000 tpa of zinc concentrate, 22,000 tpa of lead concentrates and 3,000 tpa of copper-silver-gold concentrates. Bass has off-take contracts for its lead and zinc concentrates with global multi-metals business, Nyrstar, and for its copper silver concentrates with LN Metals.
The Company also has an active and successful exploration programme which has yielded new discoveries such as Fossey, Fossey East and McKay, as well as new exploration targets through the use of new exploration techniques not previously applied in the district. The Company has significant gold and polymetallic resources and is currently undertaking a feasibility study following on from positive scoping study outcomes indicating the potential to become a long-term, significant scale gold producer.
Bass has differentiated itself through successfully finding high-grade polymetallic resources, strategically and incrementally building up its assets and production profile to now become an emerging mid-tier diversified mining business.
To view the entire news in English, please follow the link:
http://www.irw-press.com/dokumente/BassMetals_Results091211_ENGLISH.pdf
NEWSLETTER REGISTRIERUNG:
Aktuelle Pressemeldungen dieses Unternehmens direkt in Ihr Postfach:
<a href="http://www.irw-press.com/alert_subscription.php?lang=en&isin=AU000000BSM8">http://www.irw-press.com/alert_subscription.php?lang=en&isin=AU000000BSM8</a>
Mitteilung übermittelt durch IRW-Press.com. Für den Inhalt ist der Aussender
verantwortlich.
Kostenloser Abdruck mit Quellenangabe erlaubt.