RNC Minerals ("RNC") (TSX: RNX) in its capacity as Manager of the Dumont Joint Venture (the "Joint Venture") with Arpent Inc., a subsidiary of Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman, LP and Waterton Mining Parallel Fund Offshore Master, LP ("Waterton"), is pleased to announce that the full Dumont Nickel-Cobalt Project ("Dumont") NI 43-101 compliant technical report ("feasibility study") has been filed under RNC's profile on SEDAR.
Image: A piece of Ni about 3 cm in size. Photo courtesy of Materialscientist (talk)/Wikipedia.
“With the filing of the positive feasibility study, RNC, with our partner Waterton, are well positioned to accelerate discussions with potential partners to advance the Dumont project towards construction.” said Mark Selby, President and CEO of RNC. “Once in production, Dumont will be one of the largest base metal mines in Canada, one of the top five sulphide nickel producers globally, and one of the only large scale fully permitted nickel-cobalt projects that can begin to satisfy the significant growth in nickel and cobalt demand driven by the electric vehicle sector.”
The previously announced highlights from the feasibility study are listed below.
Dumont 2019 Feasibility Study Highlights
Large scale, low cost, long-life project
Initial nickel production in concentrate of 33ktpa ramping up to 50ktpa in Phase II expansion – production of approximately 1.2 million tonnes (2.6 billion pounds) of nickel in concentrate, over a 30-year life with an initial capital expenditure of $1.0 billion.
Phase I C1 cash costs2 of $2.98/lb ($6,570/t). Life-of-mine C1 cash costs2 of $3.22/lb ($7,100/t Ni) and AISC of $3.80/lb ($8,380/t) of payable nickel (low 2nd quartile of cash cost curve)
Significant earnings and free cash flow generation support strong project economics
$920 M after-tax NPV8% and 15.4% after-tax internal rate of return (“IRR”)
Estimated annual EBITDA ramping up from $303 million in Phase I to $425 million in Phase II and averaging of $340 million over the life of project. Free cash flow averages $ 201 million annually over the 30-year project life
Top tier mining asset in excellent jurisdiction
2nd largest nickel reserve in the world of 2.8 million tonnes (6.1 billion lbs) contained nickel and 9th largest cobalt reserve with 110 thousand tonnes (243 million lbs) contained cobalt
Once in production, a top 5 nickel sulphide operation globally, a top 3 Canadian base metal asset, and one of largest battery metal development projects globally
Fully permitted, construction ready project located in Abitibi region in Quebec – one of world’s leading mining jurisdictions
Impacts and Benefits Agreement successfully negotiated with local First Nation
The Study has also Identified opportunities to significantly increase the return of the project:
Implementation of autonomous truck fleet
Larger-scale initial project phase of 75ktpd
Sale of magnetite by-product
Source: Company Press Release