The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
WG: TSX.V
President and CEO: Greg Johnson
Senior VP and COO: John Sagman
VP, Corporate Development: Rob Bruggeman
Wellgreen Platinum Ltd. is focused on advancing its namesake platinum group metals-copper-nickel project located near the Alaska Highway in southwestern Yukon Territory.
In February, the company published the results of an updated preliminary economic assessment for the Wellgreen project that envisions a conventional open pit operation, with some selective higher grade underground mining.
Milling would start at 25,000 metric tons per day for the first five years of operation, then scale up to 50,000 tpd for an additional 20 years.
Capital expenditures to build the initial phase of the mine are roughly C$586 million, including contingencies in the amount of C$100 million.
Mine expansion, sustaining and closure capital is estimated to be C$964 million over the life of the mine.
Over the 25-year life, Wellgreen is anticipated to produce roughly 1.8 million ounces of platinum, 2.2 million oz palladium, 310,000 oz gold, 1.7 billion pounds of nickel and 1.1 lbs. of copper from about 34 percent of the current pit-constrained resource.
These metals would be contained in a bulk concentrate that would be shipped from an existing deep sea ports in Alaska.
The PEA estimates an after-tax net present value (7.5 percent discount) of C$1.2 billion and internal rate of return of 24.6 percent.
The assessment offered a number of opportunities to enhance the value of the project, including the potential to expand the mine-life by 15 years through a bulk underground operation or by 31 years through additional open-pit mining targeting the remaining 66 percent of the resource.
In May, the company announced plans to invest C$4.2 million on a phase-1 drill program designed to advance the Wellgreen project towards a pre-feasibility study.
This drilling is focused on infill drilling within the resource to be mined in the initial 25-year base case as well as step-out drilling targeting areas to expand the scope of the mine.
The 2015 optimization program also included metallurgical work aimed at increasing metals recoveries; and analyzing the cost and benefits of quantifying the exotic platinum group metals - rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium - and potentially including them in the Wellgreen resource estimate.
Cash and short-term deposits: C$4 million (June 30, 2015)
Working capital: C$5.8 million (June 30, 2015)
Market capitalization: C$25.8 million (Sept. 23, 2015)
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