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| Image credit: Altus Strategies. |
(Wallace Refiners) – Altus Strategies (AIM:ALS)(TSXV:ALTS)(OTCQX:ALTUF) announces a significant increase to the Net Present Value (“NPV”) generated by an update to the Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) on its 100% owned Diba gold project in western Mali (“Mali”).
The PEA has been updated to incorporate the significant increase in modelled oxide gold recoveries (from 80% to 95%), in line with the results of the metallurgical testwork undertaken on Diba drill core, as announced by the company on 28 October 2020.
At 10% discount rate and US$1,500/oz gold price, after-tax NPV is US$107 million with payback of 6.1 months; after-tax IRR is 715%. This projected open-pit heap leach operation has an average All-In Sustaining Costs of US$544/oz per year calculated at the PEA stage.
CEO Steven Poulton said that increase in the modelled gold recoveries contributed most to the significant NPV improvement.
“The updated PEA generates an impressive US$107 million after-tax NPV10 for just the oxide portion of the Diba gold project using a highly conservative US$1,500 per ounce gold price. The NPV10 increases to US$140 million at a US$1,800 per ounce gold price. This significant 32% increase in the NPV from the previous PEA (dated 22 July 2020) is a product of increasing the modelled oxide gold recoveries from 80% to 95%, in line with the results of the recently announced metallurgical testwork undertaken on Diba core. The PEA envisages a simple low-cost and low-strip ratio open-pit gold mine using standard heap-leach processing,” said Poulton.
Diba hosts a shallow dipping near-surface gold deposit with a Mineral Resource Estimate comprising: 4,834,000 tonnes at 1.39 g/t Au for 217,000 oz in the Indicated category; 5,479,000 tonnes at 1.06 g/t Au for 187,000 oz in the Inferred category.
Altus Strategies is a mining royalty company generating a diversified and precious metal focused portfolio of assets. The company’s focus on Africa and differentiated approach, of generating royalties on its own discoveries as well as through financings and acquisitions with third parties, has attracted key institutional investor backing.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Wallace Precious Metals The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Wallace Precious Metals nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Wallace Precious Metals and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
