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A REVISION of the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Premier African Minerals’ RHA Tungsten project in Zimbabwe has extended the life-of-mine, hiked the expected concentrate output and increased the internal rate of return (IRR).
The multicommodity natural resource company recently announced that the revised PEA showed that the life of the $12.8-million mine would be extended from six to 15 years, with 23,907 tonnes of concentrate produced, up from the 2013 estimate of 8,908 tonnes, and an average head grade of 6.97 kg/tonne delivered, compared with the initial 7.51 kg/tonne.
Pretax project net present value, at five percent, reached $183million, with the IRR rising to 455 percent.
“This update to our September 2013 PEA takes into account recently announced mineral resource increases, final metallurgical studies and test work and a number of other important trade-off and optimisation studies and, while still at PEA status, reflects a substantial increase in the confidence levels of the project,” said Premier CEO George Roach.
The emerging mine, with an operating cost of $145.9million, would deliver revenue of $434.7million. – Mining Weekly
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derick.khumalo