Anglesey Mining plc
01 October 2020
LSE:AYM
Parys Mountain Preliminary Economic
Assessment in progress
Anglesey Mining plc is pleased to report that it has appointed
Micon International Limited (“Micon”) to carry out a Preliminary
Economic Assessment (“PEA”) on its Parys Mountain copper, zinc,
lead, gold and silver project, located on the island of Anglesey in
North Wales.
Micon is an experienced minerals industry consultant that has
reviewed mining projects across all continents. Micon has
long experience with Parys Mountain commencing in 2006 and
including preparation of the JORC compliant resource estimate in
2012 and the Scoping Study in 2017. This background will
enable Micon to move swiftly and knowledgeably to completion of
this important PEA.
The PEA is the next step in the development of Parys Mountain on
the road to production and follows from the optimisation studies
recently completed by QME Mining Technical Services (“QME”).
The QME work highlighted up to 10 million tonnes of potentially
mineable material available at Parys Mountain which is
significantly larger than the 2.1 million tonnes of indicated
resource that was utilised in Micon’s positive 2017 Scoping
Study.
QME also identified that it should be possible to utilise a
lower cut-off grade for mine planning purposes than used in the
Micon 2017 study. QME based this on their review of the
expected operating costs at Parys Mountain based on their long and
detailed experience in underground mine operations in Ireland and elsewhere.
As a result of the QME work it is expected that the planned
production rate of 1,000 tonnes per day utilised in 2017 will be
expanded, and that the projected mine life of just 8 years will be
significantly extended.
In preparing the PEA, Micon will review all the QME work
including capital and operating cost estimates, ore-body modelling
and mine production planning. It is intended that Micon will
evaluate several separate development scenarios based on the
various ore zones available for mining and on differing production
rates to best optimise the assets at Parys Mountain. Micon
will incorporate the results into detailed production and financial
models to produce comprehensive and compliant reports that will be
in a form that can be publicly released. It is expected that
the PEA will be finalised by the end of November.
Subsequent to completion of the PEA, Anglesey would intend to
press on to undertake a Preliminary Feasibility Study to support
financing for development of the mine at Parys Mountain.
Anglesey Chief Executive, Bill
Hooley, said: "I am very pleased that we are able to
announce the appointment of Minco to complete this PEA. The
QME optimisation work has given us a sound basis from which to
complete the PEA. We are confident that the results from the
PEA will confirm our expectation in the extent of the mineral
resources at Parys Mountain, and will demonstrate improved outcomes
and a longer mine life beyond those indicated previously.”
About Anglesey Mining plc
Anglesey is in evaluation work at its 100% owned Parys Mountain
copper-zinc-lead deposit in North
Wales, UK with a 2012 reported resource of 2.1 million
tonnes at 6.9% combined base metals in the indicated category and
4.1 million tonnes at 5.0% combined base metals in the inferred
category.
Anglesey holds a 10% interest, and management rights to the
Grangesberg Iron project in Sweden, together with a right of first refusal
to increase its interest by a further 50.1%. Anglesey also
owns 12% of Labrador Iron Mines Holdings Limited which holds direct
shipping iron ore deposits in Labrador and Quebec.
Anglesey is also actively reviewing other compatible base metal
projects suitable for incorporation into the Anglesey Group.
For further information, please contact:
Bill Hooley, Chief Executive +44
(0)7785 572517
Danesh Varma, Finance Director
+44 (0)7740 932766