Recent metallurgical testing of Marathon PGM’s (MAR-T, MRPGF-O) eponymous platinum group metals (PGMs) and copper project improves the project’s net present value by 47% to $113 million, the company says.
Marathon says it’s considering revising its feasibility study to include the new metallurgical flow sheet and recovery data.
The company had representative samples of ore from the Marathon project 10 km north of Marathon, Ont., tested by the Xstrata Process Support under the guidance of Micon International.
Metallurgical recoveries increased for gold, platinum and palladium. Gold improved by 7% to 79.9%, platinum increased by 8% to 71% and palladium recoveries were up 3% to 81%.
The company says the recent decline in costs of most of the materials that would be used in the construction and operation of the proposed mine is another reason for reviewing the project’s capital and operating costs.
Marathon conducted the tests to optimize the metallurgical flow sheet.
More specifically, it wanted to optimize the reagent addition rates and addition points and complement last year’s extensive metallurgical work done by SGS Lakefield, used in the definitive feasibility study that came out in December.
The Xstrata test program included bench-scale open-circuit and locked cycle tests and a continuous five-day mini-pilot plant campaign, during which about 2 tonnes of crushed ore was processed.
Marathon hopes to build a 22,000-tonne-per-day open-pit operation that would produce 42 million lbs. copper, 201,000 oz. PGMs plus gold and 310,000 oz. silver per year over 10 years.
The feasibility study put cash costs at $586 million with an aftertax internal rate of return of 12.4% and a payback period of 4.7 years.
Cash costs, net of credits would be negative US$53 per oz. PGMs plus gold, or about US28¢ per lb. copper.
In related news, Marathon recently finalized the purchase of the Bamoos land package from Benton Resources (BTC-V, BNRJF-O), adding 3.3 sq. km to the northern boundary of the Marathon project.
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