Avalon switches to copper-only focus at Viscaria

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A scoping study into the Viscaria copper project, in Sweden, has confirmed that a copper-only development could be justified.

In 2013, project owner Avalon Minerals conducted a scoping study on the copper and iron potential at the Viscaria project, which revealed that an openpit mining operation could produce between 15 000 t/y and 22 000 t/y of copper, based on a production rate of 3.5-million tonnes a year and a mine-life of some 10.3 years.

The project’s capital expenditure had initially been set at $180-million.

However, Avalon said on Monday that the copper-only scoping study had considered a base-case stand-alone 1.2-million tonne a year processing plant, which could deliver 12 000 t/y of copper in concentrate, at a pre-production capital cost of $87-million.

The planned mine was based on three openpit mines contributing some 75% of the mill feed, while the remainder of the mill feed would be contributed from underground sources.

Over a minimum mine-life of eight years, the project was expected to produce 107 000 t of copper-in-concentrate at an average C1 cost of $1.86/lb.

The copper-only project had an estimated net present value of $74-million and a pre-tax internal rate of return of 22%.

Avalon told shareholders that environmental permitting for the Viscaria project have now started, and a definitive feasibility study was planned for completion by the second half of 2017, with a decision to mine expected by late 2017.

Additional step-out drilling would also continue underground to target additional resources to increase the production rate to two-million tonnes a year, or over 20 000 t/y of copper in concentrate.