North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Copper Fox Metals Inc. March 22 published an updated resource estimate for Schaft Creek, a large porphyry copper-gold-silver-molybdenum project advanced under a joint venture between Teck Resources Ltd. (75%) and Copper Fox (25%).

According to the new calculation, Schaft Creek hosts 1.35 billion metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 0.26% (7.76 billion pounds) copper, 0.17 grams per metric ton (7 million ounces) gold, 1.25 g/t (54.3 million oz) silver, and 0.017% (510.6 million lb) molybdenum.

This is nearly a 5% increase over the 1.29 billion metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 0.26% (7.38 billion pounds) copper, 0.16 g/t (6.5 million ounces) gold, 1.2 g/t (51.5 million oz) silver, and 0.017% (470.6 million lb) molybdenum calculated for Schaft Creek in 2018.

The updated resource is being used to prepare a preliminary economic assessment that evaluates a 133,000-metric-ton-per-day mill and open-pit mining operation at Schaft Creek, which is slightly larger than the 130,000-metric-ton-per-day operation outlined in a 2013 feasibility study. The operation detailed in the earlier study was forecast to produce 4.88 billion lb of copper, 4.21 million oz of gold, 25.1 million oz of silver, and 214.9 million lb of molybdenum over a 21-year mine life.

In addition to a larger mill, the coming PEA will include changes in financial assumptions and metals prices over the eight years since the completion of a feasibility study for Schaft Creek.

"The geological and resource modeling completed on the Schaft Creek deposit over the past several years has informed a high level of confidence in the current resource estimate which forms the basis for the Schaft Creek PEA," said Copper Fox Metals President and CEO Elmer Stewart. "The recently announced 2021 Schaft Creek program is focused on further refinements to the conceptualized pit used to constrain the resource estimate with the objective of obtaining additional information to confirm opportunities to lower capital and operating costs and refine overall pit slope angles."

The 2021 program at Schaft Creek will further evaluate throughput assumptions, improved metal recoveries, metal production, and ensure a capital-efficient fit for purpose process design flowsheet. The collection of additional geotechnical information in the proposed pit area may provide opportunities to decrease the strip ratio, which would reduce operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

The partners will also further evaluate the construction timeline and offsite infrastructure costs to reduce initial capital costs and improve project valuation.

Based on the updated project configuration, the partners will also review environmental baseline data and regulatory requirements, as well as the associated permitting timeline.

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Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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