Phoenix to fast-track openpit development at Idaho-based mine

7th May 2019

By: Simone Liedtke

Creamer Media Social Media Editor & Senior Writer

     

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The measured and indicated resource of base and precious metals exploration and development company Phoenix Global Mining’s Empire mine, in the US, has increased by 45.6% to 15.27-million tonnes, up from about 10.5-million tonnes, the company reported on Tuesday.

The increase was based on work completed over the last year, which included 8 604 m of drilling in 93 holes, and provides the company with a strong base from which to embark on a bankable feasibility study (BFS).

Production for the Empire mine, meanwhile, is anticipated to start in late 2021.

The measured and indicated resource had increased from the 10.42-million tonnes reported in April 2018.

Copper reserves increased by 37.4% to 73 872 t, compared with the 53 755 t reported in April 2018; while gold increased by 75.9% to 139 000 oz, from the previously reported 79 000 oz.

Silver reserves increased by 69.6% to just over six-million ounces, from just over 3.5-million ounces previously.

The most significant increase, however, was seen in zinc, which increased by 108.3% to 29 813 t, from 14 311 t in April 2018.

The combined metal value of these, at current prices, equate to about $800-million, CEO Dennis Thomas said, adding that, considering the large orebody potential of the Empire mine and surrounding operations, the company would be approaching future prospects and projects in “bite-size chunks”.

Looking ahead, Thomas noted that, once the operation was under way, the company’s focus would also be on paying dividends to shareholders, as well as on reinvesting into the sulphide exploration opportunities within the Empire orebody.

For the time being, Phoenix intends to continue focusing on the Empire mine, which Thomas described as the company’s “low-hanging fruit”.

He further noted that Empire had an additional 4.3-million tonnes of inferred resources, but that only measured and indicated resources would be used for the purposes of completing a BFS.

The BFS should be done by either the first quarter, or early in the second quarter, of 2020, Thomas told Mining Weekly Online on Tuesday.

Moreover, Phoenix confirmed on Tuesday that it would now fast-track into production a low capital cost openpit mine with a planned production rate of 8 000 t/y of copper and zinc at an average head grade of 0.61% copper.

“At a 0.325% cut off grade, we now have over ten-million tonnes in the measured and indicated category at a copper grade of 0.61% copper. This will be the cornerstone for the development of a low capital cost fast-track openpit oxide operation, to produce 8 000 t/y of combined copper and zinc,” Thomas commented.

He further added that the Phoenix team would seek to optimise the project economics as the company progressed the BFS, as well as to evaluate the potential for early cash flow from the gold and the silver resource.

In addition to the Empire resource update, Phoenix also reported on the results of its first sulphide inferred resource at the newly discovered Red Star zone, which is located to the north of the Empire copper-oxide pit.

Drilled for the first time in 2018, Red Star is showing an inferred resource of 103 500 t with an average grade of 173.4 g/t silver, 0.85 g/t gold, 0.33% copper, 3.85% lead and 0.92% zinc.

“We look forward to the continued evaluation of the Red Star zone, which has all the makings of a highly profitable mine,” Thomas commented.

With the expansion earlier this year, along the strike length of the Empire orebody, Phoenix is now looking at 5.35 km of strike length and orebody that it will be exploring, going forward.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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