K92 mine releases result of assessment

The National Business

THE K92 Mining Inc last Friday announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment on its Kora gold deposit.
Kora and the Irumafimpa gold deposit (Irumafimpa) make up the Kainantu gold project.
The assessment was undertaken with the company’s restart process at Irumafimpa, where production recently started.
Kora is expected to:

  • Have a nine-year operating life and treat 3.2 million tonnes at  7.1 grams per tonne of gold  (g/t Au), 25 g/t Ag and 1.7 per cent Cu (9.3 grams per tonne of gold (g/t Au eq);
  • generate an estimated positive cash flow to deliver a return of US$558m (K1735m) using current metal prices;
  • achieve an estimated pre-tax NPV of US$415m (K1294m) using current metal prices, exchange rate and a 5 percent discount rate;
  • have an initial capital cost estimated to be US$13.84m (K43.04m), including US$3.3m (K10.2m) for the plant upgrade identified in the Mincore scoping study, but excluding the proposed Kora exploration inclines and diamond drilling; and,
  • Sustain capital cost estimated to be a further US$64 million (K199m) spent over the life of Kora.