5th May 2015 08:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stratex International PLC Tuesday said it has made significant progress on its development and exploration assets in Turkey.
The mining exploration and development company said its joint venture partner on the company's 45% owned Altintepe gold project, Bahar Madencilik, has been funding all pre-production costs, including USD39 million towards construction.
Construction of a three-stage crushing plant and adsorption, desorption and recovery plant at the project is "well advanced", and the ADR plant is due to be commissioned in late-June. Construction of the leach pad is recommencing soon after "unseasonably" wet weather hampered operations until late April.
Stratex said that the court decision regarding legal challenges to the company's environmental impact assessment for Altintepe is "pending", but admitted it is not known when a decision will be made.
"Construction of the mine has progressed, despite heavy precipitation continuing into late-April. It is unfortunate, however, that these conditions have continued to delay construction of the leach pad but dry weather can be expected to be the norm now and final construction should commence shortly," said Chief Executive Bob Foster.
Lodos Maden Yatirim Sanayii ve Ticaret AS is the company's joint venture partner on the Muratdere copper project. Lodos has completed a a feasibility study as the final part of its commitment to earn a 70% stake in the project from Stratex.
The study has provided a revised base-case model for the copper project, and using current metal prices delivers a net income after tax of USD90 million with internal rate of return of 29% and a net present value of of USD35.9 million, it said in a statement.
"The revised economic model for Muratdere based on re-structured deployment of capital expenditure and current metal prices has delivered a much more favourable end-result. We are now reviewing the detail of the feasibility study and will be making a site visit shortly before resuming discussions with partner Lodos to decide on the best way forward for Stratex," said Foster.
In total, Muratdere will produce nearly 16.0 million tonnes of copper ore over a 16 year mine life to produce 68,139 tonnes of copper in concentrate, Stratex said. The revised capital cost now stands at USD44.7 million, consisting of USD28.7 million of initial capital, USD16.1 million in operating capital, and USD5 million in recoverable VAT.
In addition, Stratex said it has begun exploration at the Karaagac project and said drilling will begin as soon as the necessary forestry permits have been granted.
Stratex said its exploration partner at Karaagac, Anadolu Export, will pay Stratex USD500,000 in cash if the company can provide a minimum JORC resource of 50,000 ounces of gold. Stratex will also benefit from a 1.5% net smelter royalty on any future mineral production.
"It is also encouraging to report that, with the improving weather situation, the exploration programme on the Karaagaç project is now getting underway, the programme being funded by Turkish partner Anadolu Export," Foster said.
Stratex shares were down 11.5% to 1.28 pence per share on Tuesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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