Live Webinar and Q&A – Marimaca Project PEA Results: US$524 million post-tax real NPV8 and 33.5% IRR
September 3, 2020
Vancouver, British Columbia, September 03, 2020 – Marimaca Copper Corp. (“Marimaca Copper” or the “Company”) (TSX: MARI) is pleased to announce it will host a webinar following the release of its PEA for the Company’s flagship Marimaca Copper Project (“Marimaca” or “the Project”), located in northern Chile, on Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. Pacific, 11:00 a.m. Eastern, 4:00 p.m. UK, 5:00 p.m. CET.
The webinar will include a question and answer session following the presentation. Questions can be submitted through the webinar platform, or via email to [email protected] no later than two hours prior to the scheduled start time.
A recording of the webinar, including the presentation slides, will be made available on the Company’s website at www.marimaca.com following the event.
Webinar link details below:
Webinar Link
Exceptional PEA Results for the Marimaca Project including US$524 million post-tax real NPV8 and 33.5% IRR
Highlights from the PEA Results
- US$524 million post-tax NPV8 (real) assuming a US$3.15/lb flat long-term copper price
- Payback of 2.6 years
- Post-tax IRR of 33.5%
- US$640millionpost-tax NPV8(real) assuming aUS$3.45/lbflat long-term copper price
- Payback of 2.4years
- Post-tax IRR of 38.0%
- Average annual steady state EBITDA of US$169million
- Pre-production capital cost of US$285million
- Capital intensity of US$7,125/tonne of copper production capacity
- Assumes mining fleet is purchased via lease to own to minimize upfront capital costs
- Profitability Index (NPV/Capex) of 1.8x
- Life of mineaverage all-in-sustaining cash costs of US$1.29/lb of copper1
- Life of mine average C1 Cash Costs of US$1.22/lb of copper2
- Conventional open pit mining focused exclusivelyon oxide mineralization
- Life of mine stripping ratio of 0.84:1
- Highestgrade feed materials availablein first five years of production resulting in improved payback and overall economics
- Conventionalheap leach, SX-EW, processing circuit
- Projected average life of mine metallurgical recoveries in heap leach of approximately 76% of total copper supported by data from several metallurgical testing programs
- Processmakes use of readily availablesea water
- Average annualsteady statecopper productionover first 6 yrs ofclose to 40,000 tonnes of cathode
- Total mine life of 12 years
- Total recovered copper of approximately 430,000tonnes over the life of mine
- Significant ongoing exploration potential for both oxide and sulphide mineralization which could substantially extend the mine life of the Project
Luis Tondo, CEO of Marimaca Copper commented:
“The exceptional results of the PEA have confirmed our belief that Marimaca is a development stage copper project of the highest quality. Its pre-production capital costs places it in the very lowest tranche of projects in the copper development space, while its low operating costs, which places it in the bottom quartile of operating copper mines globally, means that the project will be profitable even in lower copper price environments.
“The Marimaca Project is substantially more de-risked than a typical PEA level project due, primarily, to the significant amount of technical work we have already completed, which includes four phases of metallurgical testing, geotechnical studies, nearly 100,000 metres of drilling over the Project and engagement with various input providers for the Project.
“In a commodity which is dominated by large, technically challenging projects in difficult jurisdictions, that carry with them a level of development and operating risk commensurate with their size and complexity, Marimaca represents a copper development project at the other end of the spectrum. Marimaca is a project, located in a tier 1 mining jurisdiction, that can be both financed and built with lower levels of execution risk, and which provides a platform for Marimaca Copper to become a mid-tier copper producer in the future.”
For further details, and to read the full PEA results for the Marimaca Copper Project, please refer to the announcement released August 4, 2020, which can be accessed via Marimaca’s website.
Contact Information
For further information please visit www.marimaca.com or contact:
Tavistock
+44 (0) 207 920 3150
Jos Simson/Emily Moss
[email protected]
Notes to Editors
Marimaca is fast becoming recognised as one of the most significant copper discoveries in Chile in recent years as it represents a new type of deposit which challenges accepted exploration wisdom and promises to open up new frontiers for discoveries elsewhere in the country. Marimaca is hosted by intrusive rocks while the numerous manto deposits in the same region are hosted by volcanics. With a lack of new copper exploration discoveries in Chile, the growing Marimaca resource is a high-profile development project as it is situated in the coastal belt at low elevation close to Antofagasta and Mejillones. This prime location could enable its future development at a relatively modest capital investment. Marimaca will benefit from nearby existing infrastructure including roads, powerlines, ports, a sulphuric acid plant, a skilled workforce and seawater.