Amur Minerals Corporation shares declined 6% to 0.8p in late morning trading on Tuesday, following the completion of its TEO project for its Kun-Maine copper sulphide project in the Russian Far East.
The company said its TEO Project was complied by Oreoll LLC and GKZ Russian Federation certified experts across all project disciplines, and confirmed that the GKZ expert commission gave the green light to a 19 year open pit operation design, with revenue generation derived from two saleable concentrates, which would allow for the recovery of payable values for copper and nickel.
Amur Minerals added that minor payable amounts for gold, palladium and platinum would also be recovered in the operations.
The mining firm noted that the design parameters would maximise revenue generation for the Russia Federation based on fully loaded tax and royalty schemes, with the total net present value deliverable to the Federation projected at approximately $628 million.
It also commented that its approach did not optimise the financial return to the operator of the project, which would be addressed during the mine planning stage, its final requirement.
Amur Minerals confirmed that the life of mine cutoff grade was stated at 0.2% nickel with an annual nominal production rate of 12.4 million ore tonnes selected.
The life of mine capital costs were projected at $1.9 billion, along with $1.1 billion for preproduction and construction costs, $698 million for sustaining expenses and $85 million in working capital.
According to the mining group, operating costs per tonne are currently estimated to be $42.3, including expenses linked to ore and waste mining, depreciation and royalties.
Its life of mine combined payable metals from the two concentrates are set to total 627,000 tonnes of nickel, 177,000 tonnes of copper, 1.5 tonnes of gold, 3.3 tonnes of platinum and 2.5 tonnes in palladium.
The company highlighted that nickel and copper account for 95% of the revenue from the two intermediate nickel and copper concentrate products.
“The TEO Project feasibility study results generated by the GKZ expert commission indicates the Kun-Manie operation should be scaled up to as much as 12.4 million ore tonnes per year for a 19 year open pit operation. This is a more than doubling of the previously anticipated capacity of 6.0 million ore tonnes per year,” said Amur Minerals CEO Robin Young.
Amur Minerals also noted the ongoing geopolitical upheaval in Russia, and mentioned that sources of funding would be scarce, particularly as Western companies had withdrawn from Russia as a result of the heavy conflict.
“The Company also notes that the present geopolitical situation related to the Russian Federation will impact the Company’s ability to develop Kun-Manie due to sanctions and restrictions implemented by the Federation.”
“Sources for capital funding will likely be limited and western companies are no longer considering investment within Russia.”
