Name of the Project
Cascabel copper/gold/silver project.

Location
Northern Ecuador.

Project Owner/s
Exploraciones Novomining, an 85%-owned subsidiary of SolGold.

Project Description
A new prefeasibility study (PFS) has determined that, over an initial 28-year mine life, Cascabel could produce 4.3-million tonnes of copper equivalent comprising 2.9-million tonnes of copper, 6.9-million ounces of gold and 18.4-million ounces of silver.

At peak production, the mine will yield 216 000 t/y of copper, 734 000 oz/y of gold and 1.16-million ounces of silver a year.

Block cave mining will be used at the project.

Following a ramp-up period of about two years, the initial cave will achieve a production rate of 12-million tonnes a year. The cave will extract high-grade ore, averaging 1.5% copper equivalent for the first ten years of operation.

The mining operations will be expanded by an additional 12-million tonnes a year, increasing to a total production rate of 24-million tonnes in Year 6 of mine production.

Ore from the mine will be transported to the underground primary crushers by load, haul, dump loaders and crushed to -160 mm. The crushed ore will be conveyed directly to the coarse ore stockpile adjacent to the mill at the surface.

Ore will be reclaimed from the coarse ore stockpile and conveyed to a conventional semiautogenous grinding ball mill crusher circuit. Slurry from the ball mill will be pumped to the flotation circuit, where concentrate will be floated, filtered and stored for transport by truck to the port site concentrate storage barn. Tailings will flow by gravity to the tailings storage facility.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The new PFS shows the project to have a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $5.4-billion and 33% internal rate of return, with a payback of four years.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital is estimated $1.55-billion, a $1-billion saving on the previous PFS.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
SolGold has finalised a $750-million funding package, which marks a milestone for advancing the copper and gold project to a final investment decision (FID).

An initial $100-million will be disbursed in three tranches. These funds will be used for derisking, permitting and completing a development funding package and completing a feasibility study necessary for the FID.

The remaining $650-million will contribute to funding construction of the project.

The financing includes a syndicated gold stream agreement with Franco-Nevada and Osisko Bermuda. Under this agreement, SolGold will receive $750-million in project advancement funding and a portion of development funding. In return, Franco-Nevada and Osisko will receive a share of the gold produced from the project.

The syndicate will receive an amount in reference to 20% of the recovered gold in concentrate from Cascabel until 750 000 oz of gold have been provided, after which the percentage will reduce to 12% for the life of the mine.

The syndicate will make ongoing production payments to SolGold equivalent to 20% of the spot gold price at the time for every ounce of gold delivered to the syndicate under the agreement.

The agreement also includes a staged buyback option upon a change of control transaction, which provides the option to reduce the gold stream by 50% within three years of the closing date and 33.33% thereafter, until the fifth anniversary of the closing date

According to a SolGold timeline, an FID could be forthcoming between 2026 and 2028.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
SolGold, tel +44 20 3823 2130 or email investors@solgold.com.au.