Cyprium Metals’ scoping study confirms viability of Nifty copper mine restart

A scoping study for the restart of the Nifty copper project in Western Australia has demonstrated the economic viability of a large surface mine with an annual production of 36,000 tonnes of contained copper-in-concentrate for owner Cyprium Metals (ASX: CYM).

The study was based on an updated measured and indicated mineral resource estimate published in March of 119 million tonnes grading 0.84% copper for 1Mt of contained copper.

The optimisation part of the exercise centred on an optimal truck-shovel surface pit generating approximately 3.5Mtpa of ore feed (versus a nameplate capacity of 2.8Mtpa).

The pit has been determined to contain 70Mt of sulphide ore at 0.9% copper for an expected 570,000t of recovered metal through a concentrator over a 22-year mine life.

The scoping study work increased the ore feed rate to 4.5mtpa using three 600t class primary waste excavators and reduced the total mine life to 17 years.

High-level plan

Executive chair Matt Fifield said the study outcomes consolidated months of work by Cyprium and engineering partner MEC Advisory.

“This is a meaningful step for Cyprium, which is focused on the surface mine opportunity at Nifty,” he said.

“This study outlines a high-level plan whereby a relatively large truck-shovel surface mine enables us to best recover the significant resources while a moderate investment in the brownfield processing plant capacity could nearly double the potential throughput.”

Standalone project

Nifty’s restart will require an estimated capital expenditure of $175 million for plant refurbishment, expansion and ancillary site capital, excluding the costs of a mobile fleet.

It is expected to generate a net present value of $880m and a 46% internal rate of return at a copper price of $13,000/t.

The surface mine is being treated as a standalone development without any dependency on Nifty’s copper cathode potential.

“The copper cathode project is a separate workstream dedicated to producing near-term copper through a restart of the adjacent cathode plant,” Mr Fifield said.

“Our restart plans for the copper cathode project are advanced and we will disclose those once finalised.”

Board approval

The scoping study outcomes have attracted approval from Nifty’s board of directors for the project to move to the pre-feasibility stage.

It will see further development of the scoping study to a “sufficient point of confidence” that can support the declaration of a reserve report.

The report will be followed by a pre-feasibility study incorporating additional scenarios to reduce mining costs, such as pre-stripping and waste haulage.

“Nifty has many advantages that will de-risk the ultimate project execution,” Mr Fifield said.

“These include being a brownfield site with existing infrastructure, having a large resource that can be processed through an on-site concentrator and existing permits which will facilitate speed to market.”

“It is clear that we have an economic project concept [and] with continued execution by Cyprium’s team and our strong engineering partners, we expect the pre-feasibility study will advance quickly towards execution planning.”