Asiamet Resources Limited Further Re [Preliminary Economic Assessment]
02 March 2016 - 6:00PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMARS
BKM Copper Deposit Preliminary Economic Assessment Update
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 02, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asiamet
Resources Limited ("ARS" or the "Company") is pleased to advise that a
Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on the Beruang Kanan Main
("BKM") deposit within the Company's 100% owned KSK Contract of Work in
Kalimantan, Indonesia, is advancing well in line with plan and budget.
The independent PEA is expected to be delivered at the end of the first
quarter this year.
The PEA is a conceptual study evaluating the potential economic
viability of developing an open pit mine and heap leach SX-EW processing
facility to treat near surface copper resources delineated in the 2015
BKM Resource estimate (ARS Announcement October 21, 2015). ARS estimates
that approximately 25% of global copper supply is produced using the
heap leach, solvent extraction and electro-winning ("SX-EW") process and
the opportunity for ARS to assess the application of this proven
technology to produce copper metal at the BKM site is expected to
greatly enhance the attractiveness of the project.
Significant progress is being made across all of the PEA inputs with
positive results reporting from each of the study areas in line with the
Company's expectations. Progress for each of the PEA component study
areas is summarized as follows:
-- Metallurgy and Resources - Recent studies have significantly advanced the
metallurgical understanding of the deposit. Sequential copper assaying
was completed on 1,918 drill samples to characterize the distribution of
leachable copper mineralization within the preliminary open pit design.
The metallurgical testing program comprises both acid only and
bacterially assisted acid bottle rolls, and short acid column tests. The
test work program is being undertaken in Core Resources laboratory in
Brisbane, and the extended leaching tests are providing encouraging
results from both the acid only and bacterial assisted methods. High
short term (55 day) recoveries of +70% have been obtained from the acid
only leaching. Bacterial leach tests are continuing with recoveries to
date consistent with expectations given copper head grade and leach
residence time. Leach tests are showing mild acid production in the
latter part of the leach, a factor which should help reduce the amount of
acid required in the heap leach process and have a positive impact on
operating costs.
-- Process Plan Design - An initial process plant design concept using a
partial valley fill and multiple lift heap leach configuration is
considered to be suitable for the BKM site, supported by the local
topography and competent nature of the mineralized rocks. This
configuration will enable the construction of leach pads closer to the
mining operation and help reduce haulage costs. Copper rich solution
("PLS") will be collected at the base of the heap into process ponds.
Both the leach pads and the ponds will be lined to contain all solutions
as part of the environmental management plan. The PLS will be pumped to a
solvent extraction plant ("SX") for removal of the copper. From the SX
plant the purified and concentrated solution is pumped to the
electro-winning ("EW") plant where copper is extracted from solution and
plated onto stainless steel sheets using electric current. Copper product
from the process is targeted to be London Metals Exchange ("LME") grade A
with a copper content of 99.999%. Target markets will include
manufacturers within Indonesia and/or nearby South-East Asia.
-- Mine Engineering - Two open pit mine shells are being engineered by
Orelogy to assess the optimum pit wall slopes, shapes and depths, mining
equipment type and sizing, and the sequencing of waste and ore mining to
meet the requirements of the site civil works development and copper
leach pad construction and operations. This work is critical to ensuring
optimum and timely development of the mining operations to maximize
mining of ore and minimize waste removal while retaining geotechnical
stability, all of which have a significant impact on the operating costs.
The availability of experienced local Indonesian mining contractors,
anticipated low waste to ore stripping ratio's and the short transport
distances from mine to leach pads is expected to result in low mine
operating costs.
-- Project infrastructure options covering roads, power, water, mine and
process plant infrastructure, accommodation, site utilities and services
are all being evaluated and costed with various service providers for
feeding into the capital and operating cost estimates. Power is a
material cost item for mining operations, and opportunities for low cost
small scale hydropower near the BKM site are being evaluated by SMEC, a
leading provider of hydropower solutions globally.
-- Transport and logistics options for the delivery of plant and equipment
to the site, ongoing servicing of the mine operations and the
distribution of the copper end product are being evaluated and costed by
Resindo, an Indonesian company with expertise in bulk materials handling.
Options being assessed include road and river barge, both of which are in
place and extensively used by the forestry and coal industries for
product and supplies movement. Large truck fleets currently utilize the
all-weather access roads into the BKM area for logging and a number of
river barge ports are currently operational within easy access of the
site.
-- Cost estimates and timelines for the mine and plant development together
with the operating cost data are progressively being delivered and fed
into the financial model for the project as they become available. This
financial analysis will assess the potential economic viability of the
project based on the BKM Mineral Resource and provide a range of
financial outputs based on standard industry practice for PEA level
studies. Assuming a positive outcome from this work a conceptual
development plan and scope of work for a feasibility study will be
developed.
Asiamet Resources CEO Tony Manini commented
"This initial phase of project design, engineering and
economic-financial evaluation of the BKM project represents the most
important milestone in the life of the company to date and the highly
experienced Asiamet team together with its expert consultants are
completing a range of detailed studies aimed at delivering a high
quality PEA to time and budget. The combination of a good grade, heap
leachable, low stripping ratio copper deposit in a low cost operating
environment like Indonesia is highly compelling, and while we still have
studies to complete, results to date indicate that the Company has good
reason to be optimistic on the PEA outcomes. Success in developing BKM
to its full capacity will provide the platform for Asiamet to continue
growing its copper and gold production base via the large Beutong
copper-gold project and further exploration of its highly prospective
land holdings, the key foundation assets upon we are striving to build a
leading Asian copper and gold company."
Qualified Person
Data disclosed in this press release have been reviewed and verified by
ARS's qualified person, Stephen Hughes, P. Geo, Vice President
Exploration of the Company and a Qualified Person within the meaning of
NI 43-101 and for the purposes of the AIM Rules.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tony Manini, Deputy Chairman and CEO
For further information please contact:
Tony Manini
Deputy Chairman and CEO, Asiamet Resources Limited
Telephone: +61 3 8644 1300
Email: tony.manini@asiametresources.com
FlowComms Limited
Sasha Sethi/ Mehrdad Yousefi
Telephone: +44 (0) 7704 974784
Email: Sasha@flowcomms.com / Mehrdad@flowcomms.com
Asiamet Resources Nominated Adviser
RFC Ambrian Limited
Andrew Thomson / Oliver Morse
Telephone: +61 8 9480 2500
Email: Andrew.Thomson@rfcambrian.com / Oliver.Morse@rfcambrian.com
VSA Capital Limited
Andrew Raca / Justin McKeegan
Telephone: +44 20 3005 5004 / +44 20 3005 5009
Email: araca@vsacapital.com
Optiva Securities Limited
Christian Dennis
Telephone: +44 20 3137 1903
Email: Christian.Dennis@optivasecurities.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider
(as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on
the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking
statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan",
"expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate",
"suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain
events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Such forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially
from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in
such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others:
the actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of
economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to
be refined; possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates;
accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry;
delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; and
fluctuations in metal prices. There may be other factors that cause
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March 02, 2016 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
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