Coda Minerals Identifies Significant Profitability Bump at Elizabeth Creek Copper-Silver Project

A new study by Coda Minerals (ASX: COD) has highlighted an opportunity to significantly increase the profitability of the company’s Elizabeth Creek copper-silver project in South Australia.

An updated base case flowsheet has identified ways to increase copper and silver production via a simpler process that also has the added bonus of lower costs.

The new results also included full capital expenditure and operational expenditure re-estimations for a revised whole-ore leach production plan as part of an ongoing Elizabeth Creek pre-feasibility study.

Increased Recoveries

Coda now believes that the simplified flowsheet can provide increased recoveries and production of as much as 454,000 tonnes of copper and 20 million ounces of silver over the life-of-mine, up from a previously estimated 384,000t copper and 16Moz silver.

The upgrade also estimates pre-tax net present value of approximately $1.29 billion and an internal rate of return of 39%—up from $1.2b and 35%, respectively.

Most notably, the new figures see a total capex reduction of $74m, with the forecast payback period reduced from 4.0 years to 3.25 years.

Significant Advance

Chief executive officer Chris Stevens said the flowsheet results are possibly the most significant advance in the history of Elizabeth Creek.

“Recovery optimisation has always been the single biggest lever we can pull, and these results show just how much value this work has unlocked,” he said.

“The fact that copper and silver alone now deliver stronger economics on a like-for-like basis compared with our previous base case producing all three metals (copper, silver and cobalt) from the outset is very encouraging.”

“This simplifies and streamlines the project using a base case flowsheet based on well-established technology.”

Potential Cobalt Upside

Mr Stevens added that, while the base case economics no longer requires cobalt production, it nevertheless represents further upside for the project.

Its presence also increases the potential for critical minerals incentives and funding support.

“For a polymetallic orebody, this is the ideal position to be in and changes cobalt from being a dependency to an opportunity.”

“This work underpins our strategic vision to get Elizabeth Creek to a construction-ready state—we are continuing to be surprised to the upside with Elizabeth Creek and am very excited about future project work.”