공고 • Jul 17
New Pacific Metals Corp Reports Results of Updated Carangas Preliminary Economic Assessment
New Pacific Metals Corp. has reported the results of its updated preliminary economic assessment technical report titled "Carangas Project NI 43-101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment" for the Carangas project in Oruro Department, Bolivia prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects by Ausenco Engineering Canada ULC dated effective July 16, 2026. The Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report considers an increased throughput rate and the inclusion of the gold zone when compared to the previous Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report dated September 5, 2024. Highlights from the Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report are as follows (all figures in USD): Post-tax net present value (NPV) (5%) of USD 2,650 million and internal rate of return (IRR) of 35.9% at base case metal prices of: USD 45.00/ounce silver, USD 3,400/ounce gold, USD 1.20/pound zinc, and USD 0.90/pound lead; Post tax NPV and IRR of USD 4,160 million and 51.5%, respectively, at USD 67.50/ounce silver and the other metal prices held constant; Post tax NPV and IRR of USD 3,230 million and 37.0%, respectively, at USD 5,100/ounce gold and the other metal prices held constant; 19-year life of mine (LOM), excluding two-years of pre-production, producing approximately 195 million ounces of payable silver, 1.1 million ounces of payable gold, 1,453 million pounds of payable zinc and 941 million pounds of payable lead, or 339.0 million ounces silver equivalent; Mining will occur during years 1 through 16. For years 17 to 19 all production will come from stockpiles; Payable silver production of approximately 15.5 million ounces per year (18.9 million ounces silver equivalent per year) in years 1 through 8, the "pre-gold production period"; average all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of USD 18.25/ounce silver equivalent, or average AISC of USD 12.11/ounce silver, net of by-products, during the pre-gold production period; Payable silver production of approximately 7.6 million ounces per year and payable gold production of approximately 142.7 thousand ounces per year (20.7 million ounces silver equivalent per year) from years 9 through 16, the "gold production period"; average AISC of USD 17.78/ounce silver equivalent, or average AISC of USD -39.49/ounce silver, net of by-products, during the gold production period; Payable silver production of 10.3 million ounces total (21.6 million ounces silver equivalent total) for years 17 to 19, the "stockpile period"; and Average LOM AISC of USD 19.16/ounce silver equivalent, or average LOM AISC of USD 0.11/ounce silver, net of by-products. Initial capital costs of USD 644.5 million and a post-tax payback of 2.4 years. LOM capex of USD 1,200 million, including USD 422.7 million of growth capex and USD 166.5 million in sustaining capex; and Closure costs of USD 149.8 million. The Project has robust economics, manageable upfront capex, annual silver production of approximately ten million ounces per year, and over one million ounces of gold produced over the life of mine. With the completion of the Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report, the Company will continue to advance technical work, including a 30,000 meters infill drilling program. Besides the technical works, the Company will also focus on advancing the Project's permitting front aiming to complete the Exploration Licenses to Administrative Mining Contracts conversion and to start the Environmental Impact Assessment Study process over the remaining periods of the year. Table 1 shows key assumptions and summarizes the projected production and economic results of the Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report. Tables 2 and 3 show sensitivities to silver and gold prices and Table 4 shows sensitivities to operating and capital costs. The Project, as outlined in the Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report, is anticipated to include contract mining open-pit operation, supplying mill feed to a conventional crushing, grinding and flotation circuit, which is expected to produce silver-lead and zinc concentrates. The operation is expected to be expanded from 8.0 million tonnes per year to 16.0 million tonnes per year in year 6 by the addition of a twinned crushing, grinding and flotation circuit. In year 9, it is expected that an 8.0 million tonnes per year gold circuit (including cyanide leaching, counter-current decantation, Merril-Crowe, and smelting) will be put into operation. This circuit will make use of the crushing, grinding and rougher flotation units from the second concentrator plant. It is expected that the initial concentrator plant will continue to operate at 8.0 million tonnes per year producing silver-lead and zinc concentrates. The Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report anticipates the Project will have several capital and operating cost advantages: Mineralized material is flat-lying, which is anticipated to result in a pit with a final depth of approximately 520 meters below surface and a low LOM average strip ratio of 1.4:1; It is proposed that the mine will be operated by a contractor with current operations in Bolivia, eliminating the need for the Company to procure a mining fleet and sustain capital for fleet replacement; Bond ball mill work index averaging 12 kilowatt-hours per metric tonne and a Bond abrasion index averaging 0.06, therefore it is anticipated that processing mineralized material will require modest power consumption and low grinding media consumption; Test work shows that total silver recoveries to the silver/lead and zinc concentrates are favorable at 83.9% on average, with the silver/lead concentrate containing a high silver content expected to exceed 3,500 grams per tonne for years 3 to 9, It is expected that the mine will be connected to the national electricity grid, providing low-cost power at USD 0.06/kWh to the processing plant and other on-site infrastructure; and The site can be accessed via national highways and all-season local roads. The Project is designed to process 8.0 million tonnes per year of mineralized material in the first 5 years, and 16.0 million tonnes per year in years 6 to 18. The processing facility will use conventional comminution circuits followed by selective sequential flotation to produce a lead/silver concentrate and a zinc/silver concentrate. These circuits will include primary crushing, followed by a SAG-Ball milling circuit and sequential selective flotation to separate silver/lead and zinc while rejecting pyrite and non-sulfidic gangue minerals. During years 9 to 16, the gold plant will use convention cyanide leaching for the gold flotation concentrate along with CCD, Merrill Crowe, and smelting circuits to produce gold doré. Tailings would then be thickened and pumped to a conventional storage facility.
