お知らせ • Mar 30
Denarius Metals Corp Announces Positive Preliminary Economic Assessment Results for Zancudo Project
Denarius Metals Corp. announced the results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment for its 100%-owned Zancudo Project, which includes the historic producing underground Independencia Mine, located in the Municipality of Titiribi, Department of Antioquia, Republic of Colombia, approximately 30km southwest of Medellin. The Preliminary Economic Assessment was prepared in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum Definition Standards incorporated by reference in National Instrument 43-101 with an effective date of March 19, 2026. The updated Preliminary Economic Assessment, based on the Mineral Resource estimate announced by the company on November 3, 2025, envisions an 11-year mine life over which the company expects to generate revenue of approximately USD 2,000 million and pre-tax gross profit of approximately USD 723 million from the sale of approximately 466,000 payable ounces of gold and 2,200,000 payable ounces of silver at a life-of-mine average all-in sustaining cost of USD 2,482 per ounce of gold. The Zancudo deposit remains open for further expansion in all directions and the company is commencing the next 15,000 meters drilling program in early April. The Zancudo Project Preliminary Economic Assessment is based on an updated Mineral Resource estimate, with an effective date of October 31, 2025 comprising 1,000,000 tonnes grading 6.9 g/t gold and 84 g/t silver totaling 217,000 ounces of gold and 2,700,000 ounces of silver in the Indicated Resources category and 4,600,000 tonnes grading 5.6 g/t gold and 84 g/t silver totaling 832,000 ounces of gold and 12,500,000 ounces of silver in the Inferred Resources category. Over the approximately 11-year mine life, production from the mining and processing of approximately 3,300,000 tonnes of material containing 619,000 gold ounces and 7,200,000 silver ounces is expected to produce 466,000 payable gold ounces and 2,200,000 payable silver ounces through the sale of high-grade gold-silver concentrates to Trafigura Pte. Ltd. under a long-term offtake contract. Remaining initial capital costs of USD 11 million, of which USD 3.4 million will be funded by proceeds from the Trafigura Prepayment Facility. All-in sustaining cost of USD 2,482 per ounce of payable gold on a by-product credit basis based on a long-term gold price of USD 4,000 per ounce. Approximately 50% of the Zancudo Project's operating costs, mainly its mine contractor fees and its royalties, fluctuate with changes in the price of gold. At long-term gold and silver prices of USD 4,000 per ounce and USD 50 per ounce, respectively, total life-of-mine undiscounted after-tax project cash flow amounts to USD 452 million. At a 5% discount rate, the net present value of the total life-of-mine after-tax project cash flow amounts to USD 324 million. The Zancudo Project has an after-tax internal rate of return of 558% and payback in one year. The estimated remaining capital costs to bring the Zancudo Project into commercial operation in 2026 are based on an underground mining operation utilizing local contract mining and a processing plant that will be installed under a build and operate arrangement with a local civil engineering and industrial construction services firm. The local mine contractor is responsible for certain capital development and all operating development within the underground mine and will be compensated for such work through its mine operating contract with the company. The remaining initial capital expenditures for the construction period are estimated at USD 11 million. An additional USD 16 million is estimated for sustaining capital, of which USD 13.5 million is associated with capital development in the Brisas area beyond the initial construction period and USD 2.5 million corresponds to the 15,000 meters exploration drilling program commencing in April and being carried out through 2026. Capital cost estimates are based on industry standards. In the case of the remaining initial capital costs, the amounts are based on actual contracts and commitments or were developed using quotes provided by contractors and specialists experienced in mining development in Colombia. The minable resource is accessed utilizing existing workings, new planned development including a new portal, ventilation/secondary escapeways, and rock handling systems. Nominal dimensions of the waste development is sized to accommodate a transition into mechanized mining. The minable resource will be extracted utilizing three mining methods, long hole open stoping and cut and fill for the steeply dipping veins and traditional room and pillar for the flat-lying mineralization. Most of the waste is planned to remain underground reducing the requirement for surface waste facilities. Mining costs in the Preliminary Economic Assessment are based on an agreement arranged between the company and a local contract miner wherein the contractor will be paid for their services at a rate tied to actual gold production and spot gold prices. The company is constructing a 1,000 tonnes per day processing plant that will produce a high-grade Au-Ag concentrate that will be shipped to a local port in Colombia and sold under a long-term offtake contract with Trafigura. The Zancudo process scheme includes three-stage crushing followed by conventional grinding and product slurry conditioning. Processing of the conditioned slurry product will be followed by industry typical bulk sulfide flotation to produce a bulk sulfide concentrate for the recovery of gold and silver. The flotation concentrate will be thickened, filtered and prepared for shipment. Flotation tailings will be thickened and filtered for disposal as dry-stacked material in the tailings storage facility. Site preparations for the new processing plant have made good progress to date. Civil works will commence in the second quarter of 2026 followed by installation of the plant equipment and construction of the dry-stack tailings storage facility over the summer months. Commissioning is expected to take place in the third quarter this year. The company has recently engaged a Plant Contractor with extensive experience in extractive industries projects to build and then operate the new processing plant on a contract basis. The Plant Contractor has agreed to finance their fees for the plant installation services, valued at USD 3 million, through the issuance of 2,529,000 common shares of the company at a price of CAD 0.76 per share, equivalent to USD 1.4 million, and the balance to be settled through the processing fees to be paid to the Plant Contractor by the company during the operation of the plant.
