The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - October 17, 2022
PolarX' Alaska Range project covers a roughly 22-mile-long copper-rich stretch of its namesake cordillera in Alaska.
A scoping study indicates that expansion of the Zackly (above) and Caribou Dome deposits would substantially improve the economics of building mines at PolarX' Alaska Range project.
A scoping study provides the first glimpse of potential mines at the Zackly and Caribou Dome deposits on PolarX Ltd.'s Alaska Range copper-gold project.
Spanning a roughly 22-mile- (35 kilometers) long stretch of its namesake cordillera, the Alaska Range project is rich in copper and gold deposits and occurrences. The two most advanced of these are Zackly, a high-grade gold-copper-silver skarn deposit that lies on the Stellar property, and Caribou Dome, a high-grade carbonate-hosted copper deposit that lies about 15 miles southwest of Zackly.
The scoping study envisions establishing an underground mine and processing facility at Zackly, followed by an open pit and underground mine at Caribou Dome.
Based on the current resources, this operation would produce 70,180 metric tons of copper, 102,577 ounces of gold, and 799,407 oz of silver over 6.5 years of mining.
At an estimated C1 cash cost of US$1.89 per pound of copper produced – after byproduct credits for the gold and silver also recovered – this operation generates a pre-tax net present value (7% discount) of US$72 million, internal rate of return of 26%, and a capital payback period of 2.3 years.
The pre-production capital cost of developing the Zackly and Caribou Dome mines outlined in the scoping study is US$111 million.
PolarX says the "scoping study process has provided comfort that a combined mining operation could potentially be economic at this interim stage."
The scoping study envisions that mining would begin at Zackly, the largest of the two deposits.
According to a new calculation, the Zackly deposit now hosts 4 million metric tons of indicated and inferred resource averaging 1.1% (45,000 metric tons) copper, 1.6 grams per metric ton (213,000 oz) gold, and 12.6 g/t (1.6 million oz) silver.
Ore mined from underground would be processed through a 600,000-metric-ton-per-year floatation recovery plant to be constructed at Zackly.
While the same plant could be used for both Zackly and Caribou Dome, the flowsheet for the two would be different. As such, the scoping study considers sequential mining and processing.
The first ore from Caribou Dome, which hosts 2.8 million metric tons of measured, indicated, and inferred resources averaging 3.1% (85,800 metric tons) copper, would be trucked to the plant during the fourth year of operation.
This mining would begin with a small open pit before transitioning to an underground operation.
PolarX says the findings of the scoping study demonstrate that "a sharp focus on resource expansion" could substantially enhance the economics of the envisioned Alaska Range operation.
The improved economics was demonstrated under a hypothetical scenario run during the scoping study process. Adding 300,000 metric tons of mineable material at Zackly at average mined grades would add US$31 million to the pre-tax NPV. Put another way, a 14% increase in Zackly ore would result in a 43% jump in NPV.
A hypothetical scenario with an additional 500,000 metric tons mined at both Zackly and at Caribou Dome on the same basis could potentially yield an extra US$52.5 million in pre-tax NPV, a 73% increase.
These scenarios demonstrate to PolarX that expanding the mineral resources with additional infill and expansion drilling could have outsized returns on a future mine at Alaska Range.
The Australian mineral exploration company says the deposits at both Caribou Dome and Zackly remain open along-strike and down-dip for potential expansion.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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