A new feasibility study for Liberty Mines‘ McWatters nickel deposit southeast of Timmins, Ont. has outlined a production plan lasting 28 months to produce 9.6 million lbs. of nickel.
Included in the study was an updated resource estimate for the deposit.
Indicated minerals, up 32% from a 2005 estimate, now stand at 715,000 tonnes grading 0.94% nickel using a 0.5% nickel cutoff grade for a total of 14.8 million lbs. nickel.
From that resource is a diluted mineable reserve of 597,000 tonnes grading 0.92% nickel using a cutoff of 0.6%.
The deposit’s inferred resource is about 14,000 tonnes grading 3.39% nickel for about 1 million lbs. nickel.
The company plans to ramp up to a rate of 1,200 tonnes per day, which will take about a year, and a will use the longhole stoping method for the majority of the reserves with some longwall panel mining.
The cost per tonne for the project is estimated at $89.21 per tonne of ore mined and operating costs are about $40 per tonne while the cost per lb. of nickel is $5.56 after smelting charges and the average operating costs per lb. of nickel are about $2.52.
Preproduction capital costs are $19 million, which includes all underground development, equipment and surface infrastructure, though will be offset by about $6 million of revenue generated by preproduction ore from development.
So far, Liberty is about 35% finished with the underground work and 75% through the construction work, which the company says has been under budget.
The project is expected to bring in a cash flow of $53.9 million, a pre-tax net present value of $46.2 million at a 5% discount rate and an internal rate of return is 385%.
The study used an average price of US$12.50 per lb. for nickel and an exchange rate of $1 to US98.
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