AMN - COTE D’IVOIRE: Positive PEA for Samapleu

Sama Resources has received a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the development of its Samapleu Nickel-Copper project located in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa. Over a 20-year mine life, the project has been estimated to deliver a pre-tax net present value (NPV) of US$615 million and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 32.5 per cent.

The PEA was prepared by DRA Global's office, in Montreal, Canada, through DRA Met-Chem.

Over the life of mine, the Samapleu project will produce an average of 3,900 tonnes of carbonyl nickel powder, 8,400 tonnes of carbonyl iron powder and 14,100 tonnes of copper concentrate per year.

Nickel and iron powders produced by CVMR's carbonyl process are used in batteries, 3D printing, Metal Injection Moulding (MIM), aerospace and automotive parts manufacturing, medical instruments, computer parts, electronic parts, moulds and tools, superalloys and sophisticated shapes for use in the defence and aerospace industries.

The PEA estimates capital costs of US$282 million, including contingency of US$37 million, and operational costs of $23.96 per tonne milled.

The after-tax NPV at an 8 per cent discount rate is estimated at US$391 million and an IRR of 27.7 per cent.

President and chief executive officer Dr Marc-Antoine Audet said: "These results highlight the value of the Samapleu Nickel-Copper asset for the company.

"That said, the Sama-HPX team will continue with its exploration efforts aiming at delineating massive sulphide accumulation that could be the source of high-grade nickel, copper and palladium lenses intersected in drill holes at the Samapleu deposits."

The current average sale price for the three products is US$6,463/tonne, based on carbonyl nickel powder sale price of $25,483/tonne, carbonyl iron powder sale price of $8,389/tonne and copper concentrate sale price of $966/tonne.

The mineral resources estimate for the Samapleu nickel and copper deposits contains at a nickel equivalent cut-off grade of 0.1%, 33.18 million tonnes of indicated resources at an average of 0.27% nickel equivalent and 0.24% nickel and 17.78 million tonnes of inferred resources at an average of 0.25% nickel equivalent and 0.22% nickel.

The mining method selected is a conventional open pit operation with off-highway haul trucks, hydraulic excavators and wheel loaders. The mineralised material, contained in three pits is intended to be mined by surface operations.

The mineral processing plant is designed to annually process 2.4 million tonnes of run-of-mine mineralised material to produce 39,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate at 10.34% nickel grade and 15,000 tonnes of copper concentrate at 23% copper grade.

This copper concentrate will be a saleable product and the nickel concentrate will be fed to the carbonyl refining plant, which supports the production of 3,900 tonnes of carbonyl nickel powder and 8,400 tonnes of carbonyl iron powder.

The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources, considered too speculative in nature to be categorised as mineral reserves. Additional trenching and/or drilling will be required to convert inferred mineral resources to indicated or measured mineral resources.

There is no certainty that the resources development, production and economic forecasts on which this PEA is based will be realised.

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