The recent, 2023 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) provides a revised start-up mine plan (initial 6 years of production) for the Copperstone project, including revised resource estimates, as well as alternative mining methods, mining dilution and recovery assumptions.
Significant site infrastructure, such as pre-existing tailings, surface facilities, utilities at site (power and water) and rehabilitated underground development will allow for reduced upfront construction cost and low initial capital per payable gold ounce to be produced over the life of the mine. A significant portion of the existing on-site infrastructure is in good repair and is available for the restart of site operations.
2023 PEA Summary (all numbers in US Dollars)
| Gold Price | $1,800/oz Au | $2,000/oz Au |
| After-tax NPV (5%) | $61.8 million | $89.3 million |
| After-tax IRR | 50.5% | 71.1% |
| Payback Period | 1.8 years | 1.3 years |
| Initial Capital | $36.3 million | $36.3 million |
| Sustaining Capital | $52.1 million | $52.1 million |
| Average Annual Payable Gold Production | 40k oz | 40k oz |
| Initial Mine Life | 5.7 years | 5.7 years |
| LOM Cash Cost per oz gold payable | $1,012 | $1,031 |
| LOM All-in sustaining per oz gold payable (“AISC”) | $1,286 | $1,305 |
| Pre-tax cumulative undiscounted free cash flow | $89.8 million | $131.1 million |
| After-tax cumulative undiscounted free cash flow | $86.8 million | $121.7 million |
The full report, “National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report: Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Copperstone Project, La Paz County, Arizona, USA (June 26, 2023) authored by J.J. Brown P.G. et al is available for download from Sabre Gold’s SEDARPlus profile or on their website at https://www.sabre.gold/sabre-gold/Copperstone_PEA_43-101.pdf
