Banter and general comments, page-38201

Its a good point you make.

DVP have updated their scoping study around Pioneer Dome (a proposed 1.2Mt/yr, open pit transitioning to UG operation). The UG scale element of this is in the same ball-park as BP33. Their scoping unit costs are presented below. As an UG mining contractor they should have a robust idea of what the underground mining costs are.


If BP33 ROM was A$71/t, and the processing cost was at or below develop's estimate (which includes flotation) of $51.5/t then the mine gate pre-royalty cost for BP33 would be about A$712/t for SC5.0 (Core's planned grade for BP33 should be around this level).

• 5.7 * (1.4/5.0) * 63% = 1.005 [so about 5.7t of ore would be needed for a ton of SC5.0]
• 5.7 * A$71.0 = A$405 of costs towards SC5.0 concentrate
• 5.7 * (A$51.5 + A$4.1) = A$307/t

So assuming some dilution from the reserve grade of 1.53% to 1.40% as a ROM grade, BP33 using DVP's scoping costs would be A$712/t mine gate cost. If BP33 were to have a cost structure around this level, its going to be very profitable at US$1,100/t and above for SC6.0

The DVP case still has high Capex for a combined DMS+Flotation plant with all the support infrastructure this entails. They however present a DMS only that would reduce capex to just A$35-40m. In this scenario the starter open pit serves the same purpose as BP33's decline. DVP are estimating they are getting DSO ore from UG with A$40m or less of Capex to support this process. If DVP can do that for A$40m at Pioneer Dome, why are estimates like A$100m are being chucked around as the cost of BP33 to achieve the same task?

A call to BB at DVP should be part of the process of estimating BP33 capital costs!!