Press Release Source: Crowflight Minerals Inc.
Crowflight Updates Bankable Feasibility Study on Bucko Lake Nickel Deposit, Increases Net Present Value of Project By CDN$44 Million at US$8.00 Per Pound Nickel
Thursday March 22, 7:30 am ET
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - March 22, 2007) - CROWFLIGHT MINERALS INC. (Crowflight, the Company) (TSX VENTURE:CML - News) is pleased to announce the results from an update on its recently announced Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) on its Bucko Lake Nickel Deposit (refer to press release of February 1, 2007) that includes the impact of the addition of 26 million pounds of contained nickel in reserves resulting from the inclusion of the 32% increase in mineral resources (from 85 million pounds to 110 million pounds of nickel) announced on December 7, 2006. The inclusion of these reserves in the mine plan resulted in a CDN$44 million increase in the net present value of the project assuming a life-of mine nickel price of US$8.00 per pound nickel compared to the BFS numbers released in the announcement of February 1, 2007.
The BFS demonstrates that the project has the ability to deliver a 92.2% rate of return and a net present value at an 8% discount rate of $201.2 million at an average life-of-mine nickel price of US$8.00 per pound, or approximately one-third of current nickel prices. The table below demonstrates the internal rate of return and net present value of the project over a range of nickel prices that have existed over the past 3 years.
Economical Parameters at Varying Nickel Prices
Average
Ni NPV Annual
Price Previous New Diffrenence Cash Flow
-------- ---------- ------ ------------ -----------
(US$/lb) (C$M) (C$M) (C$M) (C$M)
$ 6.00 $ 66.6 $ 86.1 $ 19.5 $ 32.4
$ 8.00 $157.3 $201.2 $ 43.9 $ 55.1
$ 10.00 $247.9 $316.4 $ 68.5 $ 77.7
$ 12.00 $338.6 $431.5 $ 92.9 $100.4
$ 14.00 $429.2 $546.6 $117.4 $123.0
Thomas Atkins, President and CEO of Crowflight commented on the updated BFS stating: "We've been confident, since our initial resource-reserve increases of a year ago, that the project had the potential to grow. Having achieved an eight-year mine life at the BFS production rate of 1,000 tonnes per day, we'll now turn our attention, coincident with ongoing construction, to studying expanded throughput which we're confident will further enhance project economics. A simple sensitivity analysis demonstrates that a 25% increase in throughput has the potential to increase the NPV of the project by $20 million, IRR by 34% and average annual cash flow by $13.1 million, prior to taking into account any cost savings associated with such an increase. We see great potential to continue to grow the Deposit once we begin additional in-fill drilling from underground workings later this year and throughout 2008."
Discussion of BFS Results
The BFS was prepared by the same team of professionals and independent consulting firms as the December 2005 feasibility study and February 1, 2007 BFS. The BFS studied 2.5 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated Resources grading 2.01 percent nickel at a 1.4% nickel cut-off grade (versus the February 1, 2007 BFS announcement that studied Measured and Indicated Resources of 1.8 million tonnes grading 2.1% nickel at a 1.5% nickel cut-off grade). The study considered an underground mine utilizing the rehabilitated three-compartment shaft available on the property, plus an internal ramp system for primarily long-hole stoping, contractor mining of 2.3 million tonne reserve grading 1.84% nickel at a similar 1.4% nickel cut-off grade (these are the Resources announced in the press release of December 7, 2006).
Shaft hoisted ore is to be processed in a surface concentrator at the rate of 1,000 tonne per day. Under this scenario, the concentrator will recover approximately 81% of the contained nickel to produce an average annual 12.5 million pounds of contained nickel in a concentrate grading from 17% nickel and free of any deleterious elements which would result in penalties. Minor amounts of by-product credits were available from platinum group elements, copper and cobalt. Concentrate is to be transported and sold to Xstrata Nickel under the terms of a definitive offtake agreement. Capital cost of project development to production is estimated to total $66 million and includes all engineering, procurement, construction, management and contingencies. The mine life is approximately 8 years beginning with production in the second quarter 2008 with production concluding in early 2015 under the reserves considered in this BFS announcement.
Table of Summary BFS Results
Reserves (millions of tonnes) 2.296
Nickel Grade (%) 1.84
Contained Pounds of Nickel (millions) 97.4
Capital Cost (C$M) $ 66.0
Production (tonnes per day) 1,000
Recoveries (%) 81
Nickel Concentrate Grade (%) 17
Cash Operating Costs (US$/lb Ni)(i) $ 3.56
(i)Pre-tax, On and Off-site costs at US$8.00/lb nickel and includes
ongoing mine development costs and all royalties (taxes are expected to
total 32% on income after taking into account depreciable tax pools
associate with project development costs) employing a US$:CDN$ exchange
rate of 0.82.
Crowflight will utilize a combination of refurbished used equipment already purchased by the Company supplemented by new equipment purchases. Crowflight is currently installing support infrastructure to facilitate the rehabilitation of the historical 3-compartment shaft which provides access to the 1000 Level of the mine (approximately 330 metres below surface) and is intended to be used for production. This includes the installation of electric power, the construction of a used hoist and headframe and numerous office, shop and dry buildings. The Company recently announced that it had signed a contract agreement with Dumas Contracting Ltd., as the general contractor for the rehabilitation of the underground workings at the Bucko Deposit and underground development as it advances the project towards production.
The Bucko Deposit remains open laterally and at depths below 600 metres. Once underground, Crowflight will begin a program of detailed in-fill drilling for stope planning purposes and to expand resources in close proximity to those already identified. The Company's geologists believe there remains excellent potential to continue to expand resources below the 1000 Level of the mine. The Company is also spending $2.5 million on its 500 square kilometre portfolio of advanced stage exploration properties surrounding the Bucko Lake Deposit and 100 kilometres north of Bucko, immediately adjacent to the CVRD-Inco's producing Thompson and Birchtree mines.
The following diagram demonstrates the net present value of the project under percent changes in the nickel price, US dollar-Canadian dollar exchange rate, capital cost, operating costs, reserves, increased production and nickel grade assuming a base US$8.00 per pound life of mine nickel price with all other variables based on Bankable Feasibility Study numbers.
To view a graph, please click on the link below:
ccnmatthews.com
In December 2005, Crowflight announced results from a feasibility study on the Bucko Deposit. The Company required the feasibility study to advance full project permitting with permitting expected to take from 6 to 18 months to complete. Crowflight was also required to spend an additional $2.5 million in BFS related activities to earn its interest in the Bucko Lease. Upon completion of the 2005 feasibility study, the Company set out to study ways in which to improve the economics of the Deposit. The net present value at a 10% discount rate of $22.6 million at an average life-of-mine nickel price of US$5.00 per pound (approximately one-quarter of recent nickel prices). The current BFS delivers a net present value at an 8% discount rate of $34.3 million at a similar average life-of-mine nickel price.
Crowflight intends to file a NI 43-101 compliant BFS report that supports the results of this press release on Sedar (www.sedar.com) in the next few days.
Qualified Person/Quality Control Notes
This press release has been reviewed by Mr. Paul Keller, P. Eng., Crowflight's Vice President Operations and Mr. Greg Collins, P. Geo., Crowflight's Vice President Exploration, Qualified Persons under the National Instrument 43-101 guidelines. National Instrument 43-101 compliant Indicated Resources have been calculated by Eugene Puritch, P.Eng. and Dr. Wayne Ewert, P. Geo. of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. of Brampton, Ontario.
Conference Call
The Company is hosting a webcast - conference call today, Thursday, March 22, 2007 to review this and other recent announcements and provide an update on development activities at its Bucko Lake Nickel Deposit, near Thompson Manitoba. Webcast and conference call
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disclosure:
own 10,000 shares from back in the summer |
