Metal x copper, page-12

A long way from Hollandaire and Nanadie, no project 'synergies' there. MLX struggled to run UG Nifty above a loss, albeit at a copper price of AUD ~8,100. Reading MLX's last annual report. Seems the exploration tenements are subject to a JV farm-in agreement with IGO:

As a result of the strategic review, on 11 June 2020 the Company announced that it had signed a binding Farm-in and Joint Venture Term Sheet with IGO Limited (IGO) on the Company’s Paterson Exploration Project. Under the agreement IGO must spend $32M on mineral exploration over 6.5 years to earn a 70% interest, with a minimum commitment of $11M over the initial 3.5 years. The Company will be free-carried to the completion of a Pre-feasibility Study on a new mineral discovery.

Because of the costs of the UG mine, a scoping study was completed into an OP strategy. This is probably what CYM is getting itself into.

The Scoping Study reported the following key results:
• 10-year open pit life providing approximately 23 Mt of sulphide feed to the existing concentrator, at an estimated average grade of 1.24% copper, with a waste-to-orestrip ratio of approximately 7.6:1.
• 250,000 - 270,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate at an average annual production rate of approximately 26,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate.
• All-in sustaining cost of approximately A$5,400 - A$5,800 per tonne of copper produced (US$1.67 - US$1.79/lb) from the open pit sulphide operation. Treatment and refining costs are approximately A$960 per tonne of copper sold (US$0.30/lb).
• Estimated pre-production capital for the open pit sulphide operation of $40M - $60M including studies, pre-production drilling, concentrator and infrastructure refurbishment, open pit pre-strip, and commissioning.
• At the assumed long term copper price of A$8,500 per tonne (US$2.62/lb), total pre-tax net cash flow of $405M - $435M, pre-tax net present value (10% discount rate) of $170M - $190M and a pre-tax internal rate of return of 50% – 54% for the open pit sulphide operation.
• Opportunity to recommission the existing heap leach SX/EW facility to treat oxide ore mined from the open pit as well as reprocessing of the existing leach pads, to produce an additional estimated total 40,000 – 50,000 tonnes of copper as cathode over eight years.


Note the capex required, but also favorable metrics vs a copper price of today's $10,000 AUD.

Maroochydore is a feasibility-ready project, but requires more exploration:
Since acquisition, the Company has completed a number of drilling geophysical programmes at Maroochydore, with work focusing on developing additional metallurgical testwork programs. Metallurgical domaining of the orebody has been completed. However, the area is sparsely drilled and inadequately defined, with primary copper sulphide mineralisation remaining open along-strike and down-dip.