Coffee with Samso Episode 132 with Barry Cahill, Executive Director of Cyprium Metals Limited (ASX:CYM)
The time has come for Cyprium Metals Limited to lay out the theme for the Nifty Story. The release of the Restart Study is, effectively, the beginning of what is about to come as the company progresses down the path of mining and delivery copper plates.
In this episode of Coffee with Samso Barry shares with us how the Cyprium business will take shape in the coming 18 months. The company is planning to be in production in 2023 and this is effectively shaped by this study.
Barry shares with us how the story will unveil itself with all the approval stages being met and in the process of being submitted. The process of extracting the copper is not an arduous process, and funding at this stage for the start should not be an issue.
On the 11th March, the company announced the following:
Nifty Copper Project Restart Study
HIGHLIGHTS
Current copper price ~USD4.60/lb
Oxide C1 costs of USD1.91/lb and C3 costs of USD2.82/lb
Average production of 25,000 tpa copper cathode
Oxide cathode production 146,100 tonnes copper metal
Pre-production capital AUD149M
Positive engagement with Financiers now accessing final study and extensive data room
NPV @7% of AUD277M with an IRR of 37% (post tax)
Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) to include 2021 drilling & inferred resource conversion
Oxide mine life 2023-29 at ~6.3 years (pre-MRE upgrade) with sulphide potential +20yrs
Metallurgical testwork confirms 85% recovery in Retreat and 90% in Oxide Pit material
Free cashflow AUD544M
Payback in 3 years
Regulatory approvals submitted and on track
Sulphide heap leach metallurgy testwork commenced
NEXT STEPS
Finalise the Financing of the project during Q2 2022
Update the Mineral Resource and in pit inventory, including expansion options
Complete financing and final government approvals post FID
Commence refurbishment and construction post finance and government approvals
Plate copper metal in the second half of 2023
Chapters
00:00 Start
00:15 Introduction
00:58 Barry and the mineral resource.
03:45 The Copper price margin.
05:06 Potential future mine life.
07:18 The Nifty West Drilling
08:50 The Pit Shells
10:48 The Nifty Processing Story
16:25 How big can the Nifty resources get?
18:10 What could derail the Nifty Story?
22:00 How does the Nifty Story compare to others in the market?
25:58 Any Environmental Issues?
29:07 Why is Cyprium so cheap?
31:53 History repeats itself.
32:44 What are shareholders and potential investors look at in Cyprium?
35:50 Who are your peers?
36:48 The other projects? The Total Strategy.
41:05 The plan going ahead.
44:55 No short cuts in mining.
45:25 The case of Risk Reduction.
46:28 Conclusion.
PODCAST
About Barry Cahill
Executive Director
Mr. Cahill is a mining engineer with over 30 years’ experience in exploration, operational mining and management. In particular, his experience covers management of project development and construction from exploration drilling through project funding, commissioning and development. He was the Managing Director of Finders Resources Limited from 2013 until its takeover in 2018. Mr. Cahill has previously been Executive Director of a number of public companies including Operations Director at Perilya Limited and Managing Director of Australian Mines Limited and Norseman Gold Plc.
About Cyprium Metals Limited (ASX:CYM)
Cyprium Metals Limited (ASX: CYM) is an ASX listed company with copper projects in Australia. The Company has a highly credentialed management team that is experienced in successfully developing sulphide heap leach copper projects in challenging locations. The Company’s strategy is to acquire, develop and operate mineral resource projects in Australia which are optimised by innovative processing solutions to produce copper metal on-site to maximise value.
The Company has projects in the Murchison and Paterson regions of Western Australia that is host to a number of base metals deposits with copper and gold mineralisation.
Paterson Copper Projects This portfolio of copper projects comprises the Nifty Copper Mine, Maroochydore Copper Project and Paterson Exploration Project.
The Nifty Copper Mine (“Nifty”) is located on the western edge of the Great Sandy Desert in the north-eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia, approximately 330km southeast of Port Hedland. Nifty contains a 2012 JORC Mineral Resource of 732,200 tonnes of contained copper (i). Cyprium is focussed on a heap leach SX-EW operation to retreat the current heap leach pads as well as open pit oxide and transitional material. Studies will investigate the potential restart of the copper concentrator to treat open pit sulphide material.
The Maroochydore deposit is located ~85km southeast of Nifty and includes a shallow 2012 JORC Mineral Resource of 486,000 tonnes of contained copper (ii). Aeris Resources Limited (ASX: AIS, formerly Straits Resources Limited) holds certain rights to “buy back up to 50%” into any proposed mine development in respect of the Maroochydore Project, subject to a payment of 3 times the exploration expenditure contribution that would have been required to maintain its interest in the project.
An exploration earn-in joint venture has been entered into with IGO Limited on ~2,400km2 of the Paterson Exploration Project. Under the agreement, IGO is to sole fund $32 million of exploration activities over 6.5 years to earn a 70% interest in the Paterson Exploration Project, including a minimum expenditure of $11 million over the first 3.5 years. Upon earning a 70% interest, the Joint Venture will form and IGO will free-carry Paterson Copper to the completion of a pre-feasibility study (PFS) on a new mineral discovery.
Murchison Copper-Gold Projects
Cyprium has an 80% attributable interest in a joint venture with Musgrave Minerals Limited (ASX: MGV) at the Cue Copper-Gold Project, which is located ~20km to the east of Cue in Western Australia. Cyprium will free-carry the Cue Copper Project to the completion of a definitive feasibility study (DFS). The Cue Copper-Gold Project includes the Hollandaire Copper-Gold Mineral Resources of 51,500 tonnes contained copper (iii), which is open at depth. Metallurgical test-work has been undertaken to determine the optimal copper extraction methodology, which resulted in rapid leaching times (refer to 9 March 2020 CYM announcement, “Copper Metal Plated”, https://cypriummetals.com/copper-metal-plated/).
The Nanadie Well Project is located ~650km northeast of Perth and ~75km southeast of Meekatharra in the Murchison District of Western Australia, within mining lease M51/887. The Cue and Nanadie Well Copper-Gold projects are included in an ongoing scoping study, to determine the parameters required to develop a copper project in the region, which provides direction for resource expansion work. (i) Refer to CYM ASX announcement dated 17 November 2021 “Updated Nifty Copper Mineral Resource Estimate” (ii) Refer to MLX ASX announcements: 10 March 2020, “Nifty Copper Mine Resource Update” and 18 August 2016, “Annual Update of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves” (iii) Refer to CYM ASX announcement: 29 September 2020, “Hollandaire Copper-gold Mineral Resource Estimate”
Disclaimer
The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer.
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