Integra Mining has acquired the New Celebration gold processing plant from South Kal Mines. The acquisition of the complete process plant includes a three-stage crushing and twin ball mill front end, leach and elution tanks, pumps and piping, electrical installations, carbon column and stripping equipment, gold furnace and associated buildings and equipment. The mill has previously processed oxide ore up to 1.8 Mt/y and has been rated at approximately 1.35 Mt/y on hard primary ore.
The consideration for the purchase is A$3 million plus a performance bond of A$150,000. Integra will contribute A$10,000/month to security and maintenance. Integra has 12 months to remove the processing plant from the New Celebration site.
The company’s recently completed Pre-Feasibility Study on the Aldiss-Randalls gold project has been based on the estimated throughput capacity of the New Celebration processing plant for the ore properties of the project. Integra’s Board considers this acquisition as a significant milestone towards development of stand-alone gold production from the wholly-owned Alidss-Randalls project.
In February 2006, Integra released a revised resources statement for Aldiss-Randalls, with total resources of 14 Mt at 2.6 g/t Au for 1.2 Moz. Of those resources, 917,000 oz were in the indicated category representing 79% of the total resource. Then in April, the company released preliminary results from the pre-feasibility study based on results of open pit optimizations and designs. The preliminary results included open pit optimized/designed in-pit resources of 5.4 Mt at 2.6 g/t Au (mining diluted) for 410,000 oz of gold recovered. Approximately 90% of the in-pit resources are in the Indicated Resources category.
The final financial modelling stage of the pre-feasibility study has been completed and indicates:
• Four-year mine life producing up to 115,000 oz/y of gold
• Life-of-mine cash cost A$548/oz
• Operating cashflow of A$173.5 million (A$882/oz spot price, 7.5% discount rate and assuming project finance required hedging of 61.5% of production)
• Pre-production capital cost estimate of A$44.7 million
• Pre-tax net cash of A$123.8 million,
• Project NPV of A$94.4 million @ 7.5% discount rate (equivalent to A$0.44 per share),
• Project IRR of 71%.
The company is currently evaluating a number of other production scenarios which may provide Integra with the ability to manage development risk through a staged development plan. This may include initial production on a toll treatment basis to provide early cashflow leading into a staged development up to full production.