お知らせ • Sep 16
New Century Resources Limited Provides Feasibility Study Demonstrates Compelling Value Proposition for In-Situ Resource Development At Century
New Century Resources Limited provided the results of the In-situ Feasibility Study (Study), with defined in-situ resource deposits at Silver King and East Fault Block building on the existing tailings reprocessing operations. As the Study utilises a portion of Inferred Resources, the ASX Listing Rules require a cautionary statement is included in this announcement. The Study referred to in this announcement is a study of the potential of combining the Company's in-situ resources with the Company's current tailings mining at the Century Mine. The Study includes a proportion (14%) of Inferred Resources. There is a lower level of geological confidence associated with Inferred Resources and there is no certainty that further exploration work will result in the determination of Indicated Resources or that the production target will be realised. The Company has concluded however, that it has reasonable grounds for disclosing a mining and production target which includes 14% of Inferred Mineral Resources as the Inferred Resources used in the Study are not critical to the economic viability of the combined operations. Further evaluation work and appropriate studies are required before the Company will be in a position to estimate additional Ore Reserves to support a longer mine life. New Century believes that the production target, forecast financial information derived from that target, and other forward-looking statements included in this announcement are based on reasonable grounds. However, neither the Company nor any other person makes or gives any representation, assurance or guarantee that the production target or expected outcomes reflected in this announcement in relation to the production target will ultimately be achieved. Investors should note that the Company believes the commodity prices, AUD:USD exchange rate and other variables that have been assumed to estimate the potential revenues, cash flows and other financial information are based on reasonable grounds as at the date of this announcement. However, actual commodity prices, exchange rates and other variables may differ materially over the contemplated mine life and, accordingly, the potential revenue, cash flow figures and other financial information provided in this announcement should be considered as an estimate only that may differ materially from actual results. Accordingly, the Company cautions investors from relying on the forecast information in this announcement and investors should not make any investment decisions based solely on the results. Several key steps need to be completed to achieve the expansion of production at the Century Mine. Many of those steps are referred to in this announcement. Investors should note that if there are any delays associated with completing those steps, or completion of the steps does not yield the expected results, the actual revenue and cash flow figures may differ materially from the Study results presented in this announcement. To achieve the range of outcomes indicated in this announcement, funding, including working capital, in the order of AUD 83.5 million will likely be required. The Company is generating cashflow from operations, has existing cash reserves, and has a financing facility through Värde Partners. Any start-up working capital requirement is anticipated to be covered by the cash flow generation of the existing operations or alternatively financing facilities, however investors should note there is no certainty that cashflow available from existing operations will be sufficient, or that the Company will be able to raise any additional funding if needed. It is also possible that funding may only be available on terms that may be dilutive to or otherwise affect the value of the Company's existing shares. The Century Zinc Mine (Century Mine or Operation) is located in north-west Queensland approximately 250km from Mt Isa. Production at Century began in 2000 and was one of the zinc mines in the world, producing 475,000tpa zinc and 50,000tpa lead concentrates using conventional open-pit mining, grinding and flotation at the Lawn Hill mine site. Processed concentrates were transferred along a 304km underground slurry pipeline to Century's port facility at Karumba, on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Concentrates were then dewatered before being transported on the M.V. Wunma transhipment vessel to export ships anchored offshore and then sold to smelters globally. The Mine was placed on care in maintenance in 2016 by the previous owners and acquired by New Century in 2017. The current tailings Ore Reserve (49.3Mt at 3.0% Zn and 14g/t Ag, as at 30 June 2021) provides base production, with in-situ resources under the Study providing additional production. The two in-situ deposits on the mining lease (Silver King and East Fault Block) are located less than 2km from the processing plant and have been used as the feed source for the current Study, with two additional deposits on the Company's leases (South Block and Watson's Lode) to be assessed for potential mine life extension in due course. The underground mining methods employed in the Silver King mine design include a mixture of sub level open stoping methods, listed in order of prevalence in the mine plan; modified Avoca, transverse stoping in wide ore zones including double lift stoping where hanging wall conditions permit, uphole stoping, and floor benching with post cemented rock fill to establish sill pillars. Access to the underground workings will be via a decline, located on the footwall side of the Silver King ore body at an average gradient of 1 in 8 down. The nominal production level interval is 20m vertically. However, this may vary locally to maximise ore extraction in line with the geology of the orebody. Development ground support has been designed in line with the rock mass characterisation with over all stability being high. Minimal geotechnical risk is forecast within the stopes under the proposed dimensions with hanging wall stability relatively high.
