Study Completion Targeted For Early 2022
New Age Metals Inc. (TSXV:NAM) has reached agreements with leading engineering firms to complete a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) of its 100% owned River Valley Palladium Project near Sudbury, Ontario.
Chairman and CEO, Harry Barr, said the PFS will be undertaken over the next eight to 12 months, with completion slated for early 2022.
The PFS will be completed by four engineering firms: P&E Mining Consultants Inc. for Initial Mineral Reserve estimation, mine planning, economic analysis and Project Lead; SGS Canada Inc. and D.E.N.M. Engineering Ltd. for mineral processing and metallurgical test work; Knight-Piésold Consulting for design of the tailings facility and open pit geotechnical engineering; and Story Environmental for environmental and community impact interactions and permitting.
P&E Mining Consultants Inc. will be updating the Mineral Resource Estimate and leading the preparation of the Pre-Feasibility Study NI 43-101 Technical Report.
“We are extremely pleased to have assembled such an impressive team for our Pre-Feasibility Study,” Mr Barr said.
“These firms will work together with NAM to optimise the value of the River Valley Palladium Project, by maximising the economic aspects while minimizing the environmental impacts and benefitting the local communities. The River Valley Project will be very well-timed for the green metal revolution.”
Work for the Pre-Feasibility Study is planned to commence this month. Four new holes will be drilled by NAM to recover fresh material for new mineral processing and metallurgical testwork.
The SGS Canada Inc. and D.E.N.M team will work on the material to optimize recovery of palladium, platinum, gold, copper, nickel, rhodium and cobalt. This work will build on previous studies by SGS Lakefield in 2012 and include, for the first time, systematic rhodium recovery determinations.
Knight-Piésold Consulting will complete the first geotechnical and geomechanical studies of the Project, based on new drilling and excavations by NAM in the areas of the open pit mines, processing plant, waste dumps and tailings facilities, as outlined in the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of June 2019.
Story Environmental will continue baseline environmental studies and build effective relationships with local government agencies and communities, including First Nations, for future permit applications and approvals.
Mr Barr said that overall, the Pre-Feasibility Study as led by P&E will consider optimised mine production and mineral processing rates based on a potentially more valuable Updated Mineral Resource Estimate than that which underpinned the 2019 PEA.
The 2019 PEA had a positive economic outcome. For the Pre-Feasibility Study, however, River Valley Project economics are expected to benefit markedly from historically high palladium and rhodium metal prices, new more tightly constrained domain models of the mineralized zones, and a shift to Net Smelter Return-based reporting.
In tandem with the Pre-Feasibility Study, NAM plans to continue exploration geophysical and drilling programs to add, expand and upgrade Mineral Resources and investigate the grades and distribution of rhodium in the priority mineralised zones of the River Valley Palladium Project.
