Granite Creek Copper Ltd. (TSXV:GCX) has obtained positive results from its Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Carmacks Copper-Gold-Silver project located in the Yukon.
The PEA demonstrates attractive project economics with significant opportunities for additional mine life expansion, reinforcing the potential of the Minto Copper District to become a top-tier global copper district.
PEA Highlights
Attractive project economics:
- Base case metal prices of US$3.75/lb Cu, US$1,800/oz Au and US$22/oz Ag:
- Pre-tax NPV 5% of C$324M and 36% IRR
- After-tax NPV 5% of C$230M and 29% IRR
- Case 1 metal prices of US$4.25/lb Cu, US$2,000/oz Au and US$25/oz Ag:
- Pre-tax NPV 5% of C$475M and 48% IRR
- After-tax NPV 5% of C$330M and 38% IRR
- Mine life of nine years at 7,000t per day with clear exploration potential to extend mine life with four target areas within one km of the current resource.
- Capital cost of C$220M with payback of two years from commencement of production.
- Head grade of 1.10% copper equivalent (CuEq) consisting of 0.90% Cu, 0.30g/t Au and 3.5g/t Ag.
- Average cash operating costs of US$1.76/lb CuEq and all-in sustaining costs of US$2.57/lb CuEq.
- Option for tailings treatment: PEA study identifies additional potential cash flow through processing of oxide tailings to increase total copper recovery. Recovery sensitivity shows an additional $180M pre-tax NPV based of a 20% increase in recovery rates.
President and CEO, Timothy Johnson, said the company envisions developing the Carmacks Project into a low-carbon source of copper. A critical mineral, as defined by the Canadian government, copper is key to the transition to a zero-carbon economy through the electrification of transportation and other industries, and the development of renewable energy production.
He said the 2023 PEA clearly demonstrates the viability of the Carmacks Deposit as a robust open pit sulphide and oxide copper-gold-silver project with significant potential upside from both resource expansion and secondary processing of oxide material to further improve oxide recoveries. The Project is to be powered by the Yukon’s electrical grid which uses primarily renewable electricity.
“The completion of the PEA is a major accomplishment that doesn’t just advance the Project beyond previous studies but completely re-envisions Carmacks as a high-grade, open pit copper, gold and silver producer with excellent expansion potential in a tier one jurisdiction,” Mr Johnson said.
“The inclusion of sulphide alongside oxide ore, either as a blend or a straight sulphide feed, has resulted in significant upside on the Project, with further opportunities recognized in both processing and exploration.
“Potential for near mine resource expansion is demonstrated in new volumetrically significant targets identified by comparison of the geophysical signatures of known mineralization with similar signatures of untested targets near the proposed pits.
“These strong geophysical responses have a high correlation with copper sulphide minerals on the Project, giving us high confidence in these new targets, which are a priority for testing in upcoming drill campaigns.”
For further information please visit: https://gcxcopper.com/
