THUNDER BAY – Business / Mining – Premier Gold Mines Limited (“Premier”) (TSX: PG) (OTCPK: PIRGF) is pleased to announce that it has filed technical reports ( the “Report” individually or collectively the “Reports”) prepared for the South Arturo Mine and the McCoy-Cove Project. The Reports may be found on the Company website or under the Company’s profile at www.sedar.com.
South Arturo
The independent technical report dated January 25, 2021 (effective date December 1, 2020), titled “Preliminary Feasibility Study for the South Arturo Mine, Elko County, NV” was completed by Practical Mining LLC. and provides updates to processed tons, strip ratio, cash costs, AISC, NPV, IRR and payback contained in the Company’s news release issued on January 19, 2021. The finalized highlight financial statistics for the PFS can be found in Table 1 below as contained in the South Arturo technical report. Qualified persons for the South Arturo technical report are Dagny Odell, P.E. Laura Symmes, SME, and Robert Raponi, P. Eng.
The PFS was based on the current mineral reserves, utilizing drilling to November 2019 with a life of mine plan that includes the underground El Nino Mine and the proposed Phase 1 Open Pit. Mineral Reserves are reported only for material amenable to roasting from the Phase 1 pit and El Niño underground.
Table 1: PFS Financial Statistics (*Attributable to Premier) |
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Parameter |
El Niño UG |
Phase 1 Pit |
Combined |
|||
Gold price – base case ($/oz) |
$1,400 |
$1,400 |
$1,400 |
|||
Silver price – base case ($/oz) |
$15 |
$15 |
$15 |
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Mine life (years) |
2.0 |
18 |
18 |
|||
Mining Rate (tons/day) |
600 |
135,000 |
NA |
|||
Strip Ratio (tons waste:ton ore) |
NA |
11.4 |
NA |
|||
Processed tons (ktons) |
364 |
10,338 |
10,702 |
|||
Average grade (oz/t Au) |
0.180 |
0.081 |
0.084 |
|||
Average gold recovery (roaster %) |
88.5% |
80.8% |
81.4% |
|||
Average annual gold production (koz)* |
12 |
15 |
16 |
|||
Total recovered gold (koz)* |
23.5 |
265.6 |
289.1 |
|||
Capital (m$)* |
NA |
$29.7 |
NA |
|||
Cash cost ($/oz)1 |
$1,028 |
$622 |
$655 |
|||
Processing Costs ($/ton) |
19.66 |
20.22 |
20.20 |
|||
All-in sustaining cost ($/oz)1 |
$1,066 |
$845 |
$863 |
|||
Project after-tax NPV5% (m$)* |
$7.2 |
$76.4 |
$83.7 |
|||
Project after-tax IRR |
NA |
54% |
NA |
|||
Payback Period |
NA |
7.0 |
NA |
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1. Net of by-product sales |
McCoy-Cove
The independent technical report dated January 25, 2021 (effective date January 1, 2021), titled “Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Cove Project, Lander County, Nevada” was completed by Practical Mining LLC. and provides detail to the disclosure contained in the Company’s news release issued on January 18, 2021. The qualified persons for the McCoy-Cove Report are Dagny Odell, P.E. Laura Symmes, SME, and Robert Raponi, P. Eng.
The McCoy-Cove property, located near Battle Mountain, Nevada, is 100% owned by Premier and includes the Cove Project.
Highlights of the updated PEA results include:
- After-tax NPV5 of $178.0 million, and an after-tax internal rate of return (“IRR”) of 36% based on a gold price of $1,400/oz – increasing to NPV5 of $306 million and IRR of 53% at a gold price of $1,680/oz
- Average operating costs of $215/ton, Cash Cost of $859/oz Au and All-in Sustaining Cost (AISC) of $948/oz Au
- Indicated mineral resources of 1,110,000 tons at 0.316 oz/t Au and 0.850 oz/t Ag for 351,000 ounces of gold and 943,000 ounces of silver
- Inferred mineral resources of 4,262,000 tons at 0.317 oz/t Au and 0.602 oz/t Ag for 1,353,000 ounces of gold and 2,565,000 ounces of silver1
- Metallurgical recoveries of 82.5% for gold and 67.1% for silver
- Gold production of 743,000 ounces during 8-year life of mine (LOM)
- Average LOM annual gold production of 102,000 ounces
- LOM capital cost of $107.2 million after pre-development costs of $23.9 million
- Mine construction capital of $81.9 million
- After-tax payback period of 4.5 years
1 Based on a gold equivalent cut-off grade of 0.141 oz/t or 4.83 g/t Au. |
About Premier & i-80
Premier is a gold producer and respected exploration and development company with a high-quality portfolio of precious metals projects in proven, accessible and safe mining jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and Mexico. On December 16, 2020, Equinox Gold Corp. (TSX: EQX, NYSE American: EQX) and Premier Gold Mines Limited (TSX: PG, OTCPK: PIRGF) announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Equinox Gold will acquire all the outstanding shares of Premier. Concurrently, Premier will spin-out to its shareholders shares of a newly created US-focused gold production and development company to be called i-80 Gold Corp.
Premier remains focused on creating i-80 as a Nevada-focused mining company with an organic pipeline of assets to achieve mid-tier gold producer status. In addition to its producing mine, El Nino at South Arturo, Premier is beginning to plan for future production growth through the potential addition of the Phases 1 & 3 open pits at South Arturo, advancing the Pinson underground and open pit opportunities at the Getchell Project (following completion of the acquisition), and completing permitting and the underground development plan for the 100%-owned McCoy-Cove Property.
Qualified Person
Stephen McGibbon, P. Geo., Executive Vice President, Corporate and Project Development, for Premier, is the Qualified Person for the information contained in this news release, is a Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101 and has approved the technical content of this document.