VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — (Marketwired) — 08/06/13 — Zincore Metals Inc. (TSX: ZNC)(LMA: ZNC) („Zincore“ or the „Company“) is pleased to report it has received a positive Pre-Feasibility Study („PFS“) for the development of its Accha Zinc Oxide District („AZOD“) project in southern Peru. This independent study was prepared by AMEC, an international consultancy, engineering and project management company.
At the AZOD project, Zincore is pursuing a district strategy with a single pyrometallurgical facility, the Waelz kiln, to process zinc and lead oxide material from all AZOD project deposits to produce a high grade zinc-lead fume, or oxide concentrate. The PFS considered two scenarios for the production of final saleable products. A Base Case investigated further processing of the fume by the Company to produce a special high grade (SHG) zinc ingot and lead sulphate, by-product. An alternate scenario, the Fume Case, investigated selling the zinc-lead fume to third-party refineries.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PFS:
Highlights of the PFS results are presented below in Table 1 for both the Base and Fume Cases. Table 2 and Table 3 provide a summary of cash costs for the Base Case and Fume Case, respectively.
Zincore CEO and President, Jorge Benavides, commented, „This PFS demonstrates tremendous progress in moving the AZOD project towards becoming a zinc producing operation. In addition to helping us better understand our metallurgical processes, the work for the PFS included re-interpreting the geology at both the Accha and Yanque deposits. This has resulted in new resource and reserve models, which have driven efficient new mine plans. As discussed in the section of this news release titled -Economic Sensitivities-, this work indicates that both the project Base Case and Fume Case are cash flow positive, after tax and on an undiscounted basis, when considering the current three-year moving average prices of zinc and lead.“
Mr. Benavides concluded: „There is a general industry consensus that we will see higher zinc prices within a few years as many larger mines have depleted their reserves and there has not been sufficient development of new zinc sources. These positive study results support the technical and economic viability of our AZOD project and we believe that Zincore holds a valuable asset. This gives us a good opportunity to deliver value to our shareholders, despite the current market conditions.“
Assumptions
Project Description
The AZOD project covers approximately 47,000 hectares and is comprised of 64 contiguous exploration concessions within the Parcco, Colquemarca, Lacca Lacca and Yanque communities, 65 km south of Cuzco, the regional capital of the Cuzco Region. The specific concessions which are the subject of the PFS cover approximately 4,000 hectares within four of the exploration concessions.
The operational approach for the AZOD project is a district strategy with mines proposed to be located at two sites. The Yanque open pit site will be the base for all facilities including mining operations and the proposed pyrometallurgical plant. The Accha open pit and underground mine, which will be located approximately 60 km by road to the north of Yanque, will be equipped with minimal facilities. Hydrometallurgical facilities, as contemplated in the Base Case, will be located approximately 700 km from the AZOD facilities at the port city of Ilo.
The Project is anticipated to be constructed over approximately a year and a half time period from initial start to commencement of pre-operation commissioning activities.
Mineral Resource Model Yanque and Accha
As part of the PFS, an updated mineral resource model for the Yanque deposit was constructed based on 2011 drilling at Yanque. The Accha resource model was updated based on existing drill data. Previous drilling at Accha has encountered mineralization beyond the limits of the current Mineral Resource estimates and has potential for expansion with additional drilling. At Accha, the Company carried out exploration trenching and drilled six exploration holes, which identified new mineralized zones to the north of the previously identified limits of the deposit, as reported in the Company-s news releases dated October 12 and December 9, 2010.
Accha
Updated Mineral Resources for the Accha deposit that are amenable to underground and open pit mining methods, have an effective date of 5 July, 2013. As shown in Table 5, open pit Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources total 6,613 kt averaging 6.37% Zn and 0.78% Pb and 197 kt of Inferred Mineral Resources of 4.60% Zn and 0.51% Pb using a cut-off grade of 2.2% Zn Eq. Underground Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources total 937 kt at an average grade of 5.57% Zn and 0.96% Pb and Inferred Mineral Resources total 553 kt at an average grade of 5.07% Zn and 0.81% Pb using a cut-off grade of 3.79% ZnEq.
For more information about the Accha deposit in-fill drilling program which generated the data used in re-modelling the Mineral Resource estimates, please see our news releases from 2010 dated: December 7th, November 4th, October 6th, September 15th and April 29th.
Yanque
The new Yanque Mineral Resource estimate which is amenable to open pit mining methods, replaces the previous estimate announced by Zincore in 2011. This new estimate incorporates diamond drill data from 45 holes drilled in the Zincore 2011 drill campaign, executed from May to August, 2011 and totalling 6,527.30 m. The estimate totals 26,491 kt of Indicated Mineral Resources with an average grade of 2.37% Zn and 2.18% Pb and 1.169 kt of Inferred Mineral Resources with an average grade of 2.17% Zn and 1.09% Pb. Resources are estimated within a conceptual Lerchs-Grossmann pit shell constructed using prices of US$ 1.28/lb Zn and US$ 1.05/lb Pb and reported using a marginal cut-off grade of 1.67% zinc equivalent (ZnEq).
For more information about the Yanque deposit in-fill drilling program, which generated a portion of the data used in re-modelling the Mineral Resource estimates, please see our 2011 news releases dated November 23rd, July 5th, June 21st, May 19th and March 23rd.
Mineral Reserves
As part of the PFS, AMEC completed a mine plan which evaluated open pit mining at Yanque and a combined open pit and underground operation at Accha for both the Base Case and the Fume Case. Conventional selective open pit mining operations are contemplated, and include drilling, blasting, loading, and hauling by trucks. Dilution factors were applied to the block model in order to simulate the interaction between blocks during the mining process. Final open pit designs were defined by an iterative modeling process (skin analysis). As part of this analysis, non-economic marginally mineralized material was excluded from the pit, improving the strip ratio. Pit optimization was carried out using the Lerchs-Grossmann algorithm, and pit designs were constructed using reasonable mining, processing, general and administration, refining, treatment and marketing costs. The underground mine design at Accha utilizes the cut and fill method.
Due to differences between the conceptual mine design used in Mineral Resource estimation, and the final pit definition and interface between the open pit and underground mine established during the PFS planning, a portion of the Accha Underground Proven and Probable Reserves reported in Table 6 and 7 are contained in the Accha Open Pit Measured and Indicated Resources reported in Table 4. Table 6 summarizes the Mineral Reserve estimate for the Base Case.
Based on the Mineral Reserve estimates for the Base Case, the forecast life-of-mine is approximately eight years with an average ore production rate of 1,340 kt per year with the first year at 80% production and the last year at 15%. The Accha underground operations will be conducted simultaneously with the Accha open-pit operations, commencing two years after open pit pre-stripping begins. The amount of waste rock produced from operations is estimated to be 15,404 kt, with a waste/ore average stripping ratio of 3.32 and 1.36 for Accha and Yanque respectively.
Mineral Reserves for the Fume Case are summarized in Table 7.
The Fume Case life-of-mine forecast is nine years, and assumes an average ore throughput of 1,349 kt per year with 80% of annual production capacity in the first year and 80% of the annual production capacity in the last year. The Accha underground operations are planned to be conducted simultaneously with the Accha open-pit operations, commencing two years after open pit pre-stripping begins. The amount of waste rock produced from operations is projected to be 17,485 kt, with a waste/ore average stripping ratio of 4.08 and 1.36 for Accha and Yanque respectively.
Metal Prices for Economic Model
As part of the PFS, a study was undertaken by third-parties to provide independent views of metal pricing forecasts and treatment charges. Unlike many other metals, significant new sources of zinc have not been developed in recent years. Given that it takes many years to develop a new mining operation, this has created a situation where there are limited new sources of zinc that can be brought into the market in the foreseeable future. This lack of new supply is set against a backdrop where a number of the large producers of zinc have depleted their reserves and are nearing the end of their expected lives. As a basic metal of industry used primarily for galvanizing steel, there is a general consensus among metals markets participants that a supply-demand imbalance is coming for zinc, with an expectation of long term price increases.
The outlook for lead is also favourable given its use in batteries for motorized vehicles, including automobiles and electric-bicycles that have been adopted in rapidly modernizing economies such as China, India, Brazil and Russia. Unlike zinc, lead has enjoyed a more favourable pricing environment in recent years, and the Company-s forecast sources expect lead price increases to be more moderate than those for zinc during the forecast AZOD project mine life.
In order to balance this optimism, it was decided to use two sources of zinc and lead pricing forecasts for the financial analysis in the PFS financial model. Metal prices are reported as averages from forecasts from Wood Mackenzie, an acknowledged leader in metals pricing and market terms, and forecasts from the World Bank. Treatment charges, which are a critical factor in the end revenue streams, have been taken from Wood Mackenzie sources. Table 8 shows the lead and zinc pricing assumptions as used for the financial analysis in the PFS. Prices used in the table are higher than the three-year moving average price of $US0.94/lb for zinc and $US1.01/lb for lead; the effect of differing metal price assumptions on the financial model is provided as part of the project sensitivities in Tables 12 and 13.
Capital and Operating Cost Summary
Capital cost estimates utilized in the PFS are itemized below in Table 9. Capital costs are estimated with an accuracy range of +-25% (including contingency) and are consistent with an AACE Class 4 estimate. Operating costs used in the PFS are listed in Table 10 and 11 for the Base Case and Fume Case respectively, and contemplate using a mining contractor for both the open pit and underground mining operations.
Economic Sensitivities
Table 1 in this news release presented the results of the financial analysis on both a pre-tax and post-tax basis for the Base Case and the Fume Case. Table 12 shows the sensitivity of the financial analysis using the Base Case assumptions on an after-tax basis at an 8% discount rate. Table 13 presents the sensitivity of the financial analysis using the Fume Case on an after-tax basis at an 8% discount rate.
Cash flow models were also prepared considering the current three-year moving average zinc and lead prices and resulted in after tax undiscounted cumulative net cash flows of US $169.9 million for the Base Case and US $64.3 million for the Fume Case.
Permitting
Zincore, through its wholly indirectly owned subsidiary Exploraciones Collasuyo S.A.C., has the appropriate exploration concessions, permits and community relations agreements required to allow the company to continue to explore and carry out study work on the AZOD Project. There are no currently-known environmental, archaeological, social or political conditions that would limit Zincore-s ability to continue to advance the Project.
Social
The proposed open pits, underground mine and centralised mineral processing and pyrometallurgical plant will be situated between 70 km to 150 km south of Cusco in areas that are sparsely populated. Zincore is very aware of importance of good community relations and communication and devotes significant time and effort to maintain successful outcomes in these areas. The Company is also aware of the sensitivity around issues relating to communities as a whole in Peru. Zincore believes that it has been very proactive and has sound relations with the various communities and individuals who own the surface rights to the land which would be affected by any form of mine development. As the Company moves towards development of the AZOD project, it anticipates engaging in discussions with local communities, municipalities, the Regional government of Cusco, and regulatory authorities with a view to agreeing on plans that best suit all parties that may be impacted by the proposed operation.
Opportunities for Investigation to Further Improve AZOD Project Economics
The Company is considering undertaking further evaluations of several aspects of the project that may extend the life and/or profitability of the project that include:
The NI-43-101 technical report on the results of the PFS will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days. The NI 43-101 technical report will be authored by Stella Searston, RM SME, Christopher Wright, P.Geo., Sergio Munoz, CMC, William Bagnell, P.Eng., Vikram Khera, P.Eng., and Stewart Twigg, P.Eng., of AMEC, and Michael Valenta, Pr.Eng (Int), FSAIMM, of Metallicon Process Consulting (Pty) Ltd. These Qualified Persons have verified the data in the news release that pertain to the PFS.
Readers are cautioned that the conclusions, projections and estimates set out in this press release are subject to important qualifications, assumptions and exclusions, all of which are detailed in the PFS and technical report. To fully understand the summary information set out above, the technical report that will be filed on SEDAR at should be read in its entirety.
David Terry, Ph.D., P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration for Zincore has reviewed the information contained in this news release and is a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101.
About Zincore
Zincore is a Vancouver-based mineral exploration company focused mainly on zinc and related base metal opportunities in Peru. The Company-s common shares trade on both the Toronto and Lima Stock Exchanges under the symbol ZNC. For more information, please see our website at .
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or the Company-s future performance, business prospects or opportunities including, without limitation, the results of the Pre-Feasibility Study on the Accha Zinc Oxide District. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as „seek“, „anticipate“, „plan“, „continue“, „estimate“, „expect, „forecast“, „may“, „will“, „project“, „predict“, „potential“, „targeting“, „intend“, „could“, „might“, „should“, „believe“, „outlook“ and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward looking information. Forward looking information involves risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking information. The Pre-Feasibility Study results are estimates only, are preliminary in nature and are based on a number of assumptions, any of which, if incorrect, could materially change the projected outcome. Until a positive feasibility study has been completed, and even with the completion of a positive feasibility study, there are no assurances that Accha Zinc Oxide District will be placed into production. Factors that could affect the outcome include, among others: the actual results of development activities, project delays, inability to raise the funds necessary to complete development, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, future prices of metals, particularly zinc, actual zinc recovery, inability to confirm specific buyers and terms for the Fume product, conclusions of economic evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, political instability, insurrection or war, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, necessary permitting or in the completion of development or construction activities as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled „Risk Factors“ and elsewhere in the Annual Information Form of Zincore dated March 22, 2013 which is filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available on SEDAR (). The Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update any forward-looking information except as required by law.
Contacts: Zincore Metals Inc. Adam Ho Manager, Investor Relations (604) 669-6611 ext.3 (604) 669-6616 (FAX)
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