Fortune Bay files Goldfields PEA report, Saskatchewan
Fortune Bay Corp. [FOR-TSXV; FTBYF-OTCQX; 5QN-FSE] filed an independent preliminary economic assessment (PEA) technical report for its 100%-owned Goldfields project located near Uranium City, northern Saskatchewan.
Fortune Bay’s news release dated 1Nov22, titled “Fortune Bay Announces Positive PEA For Goldfields Project, Saskatchewan,” outlines the key results, assumptions and estimates contained in the Goldfields PEA, which provides a base case assessment for developing the Goldfields mineral resource by conventional open-pit mining methods, and gold recovery with a standard free milling flowsheet.
In summary, the economic model supports an operation with low capital cost and high rate of return over an 8.3-year mine life, with average annual production of 101,000 ounces of gold.
PEA highlights includes Robust economics with after-tax net present value (NPV) (discount rate 5%) of $285-million, internal rate of return (IRR) of 35.2% and payback of 1.7 years estimated with gold price of US$1,650/oz.
Average annual gold production would be 101,000 ounces over life-of-mine (LOM), with an average of 122,000 ounces per year in the first four years and an 8.3-year LOM producing 835,000 ounces of gold.
Average cash cost of US$778/oz and all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of US$889/oz gold. Initial capital expenditures would be $234-million.
The PEA technical report was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects by Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc., in collaboration with Moose Mountain Technical Services for the mine design, and SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. for the updated mineral resource estimate and environmental, permitting and social aspects.
The 100%-owned Goldfields project is located approximately 13 km south of Uranium City and comprises 12 mineral dispositions, covering approximately 5,000 hectares, and is host to the Box and Athona gold deposits and numerous other gold prospects and occurrences.
The project is located within a historical mining area and benefits from established infrastructure, including a road and hydro power line to the Box deposit. Nearby facilities and services in Uranium City include bulk fuel, civil contractors and a commercial airport. The Project has a history of gold production (64,000 oz produced between 1939 and 1942), numerous exploration drilling campaigns (over 1,000 drill holes) and historical mining studies by previous owners of the project.
The current total gold resource for Box and Athona (effective date 1Sep22) stands at 979,900 ounces of gold in the Indicated category (23.2 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.31 g/t gold) and 210,800 ounces of gold in the Inferred category (7.1 million tonnes averaging 0.92 g/t gold).
Fortune Bay is an exploration and development company with 100% ownership in two advanced gold exploration projects in Saskatchewan (Goldfields project), and Chiapas, Mexico (Ixhuatan project), both with exploration and development potential.
The company is also advancing the 100%-owned Strike and Murmac uranium exploration projects, located near the Goldfields project, which have high-grade potential typical of the Athabasca basin.