Name and Location
Hayes Creek zinc/gold/silver project, Northern Territory, Australia.

Client
PNX Metals.

Project Description
The scoping study has demonstrated the project as financially robust, producing zinc concentrate and gold/silver doré from openpit and underground operations.
The project comprises the Iron Blow and Mt Bonnie deposits, in the Pine Creek region of the Northern Territory.

The production model envisages openpit mining at Mt Bonnie, starting in 2019 for an initial 1.8 years of production, followed by 5.2 years of underground mining at Iron Blow for a total mine life of seven years.

Construction of a central standalone mineral processing facility is expected to treat the ore from both deposits at an estimated 400 000 t/y feed rate to produce an average of about 16 100 t/y of zinc, 14 000 oz/y of gold and 1.29-million ounces of silver in doré a year.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The base case pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, has been estimated at A$109.4-million and the internal rate of return at 58%, with a payback of two years.

Value
Initial capital expenditure is estimated at A$54-million for the processing plant and infrastructure. A further A$10.9-million will be required in Year 2 of underground development.

Duration
Production is expected to start in 2019.

Latest Developments
The technical components of a prefeasibility (PFS) on PNX’s Hayes Creek project are now fully funded, after the company secured $1.6-million by signing two agreements for the forward sale of silver from the project.

The PFS, due for completion in mid-2017, will expand on the scoping study and hopes to increase the confidence level of resources in the mining inventory to at least the indicated status. It will also aim to undertake further detailed metallurgical testwork and analyses of various options of revenue streams versus costs to allow for more detailed process engineering. This will subsequently allow government and environmental approval processes to start.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
PNX Metals, tel +61 8 8364 3188 or email info@pnxmetals.com.au.