chile approves panaust?s inca de oro acquisiti

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Found this hope you all enjoy the read.


ASX-listed base- and precious-metals-miner PanAust has received Presidential approval for its acquisition of a majority interest in the Inca de Oro copper/gold project, in Chile.

?We are delighted that the Presidential decree has been received and that we can now move rapidly to complete the feasibility study for the Inca de Oro project, with the objective of entering into orders for long-lead items in early 2012,? said MD Gary Stafford.

PanAust would hold a 66% interest in the project, with Chile?s State-controlled Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco) retaining the remainder.

The miner?s interest in the project would be held through a 90% interest in development vehicle PanAust Minera, while the remaining 10% of the vehicle would be held by independent Australian company, the Minera Group.

Stafford told shareholders on Wednesday that PanAust would initially invest $45,3-million of equity into Inca de Oro to acquire the 66% interest. A further $10-million would then be invested by PanAust Minera before the end of June this year, to fund a feasibility study on the project.

PanAust Minera has also agreed to pay a net smelter return royalty to Codelco from revenues generated by the Inca de Oro project. The smelter royalty was capped at $30-million.

The Inca de Oro project hosts an estimated indicated and inferred sulphide copper/gold mineral resource of 259-million tons, grading 0,46% copper and 0,13 g/t gold.

A prefeasibility study has confirmed the potential for a conventional openpit mining and flotation operation, to support production of 50 000 t/y of copper and 40 000 oz/y of gold in concentrate, over a ten year life-of-mine.

Stafford said in a statement that the acquisition fitted well with PanAust?s corporate strategy for growth and represented an opportunity to establish a business in one of the world?s most attractive copper mining regions.

Meanwhile, PanAust on Wednesday also declared an initial mineral resource estimate for the KTL copper/gold deposit, in Laos.

The KTL deposit has now been estimated to contain a total combined inferred and indicated resource of 81,6-million tons, at 0,43% copper, and 0,19 g/t gold, to contain around 350 000 t of copper and 500 000 oz of gold.

Scoping studies have also started on the development concept for the Phonsavan copper/gold project, which contemplates two openpit mines, at KTL and Tharkhek, feeding a central processing plant with a capacity to produce around 30 000 t/y of copper in concentrate, as well as gold credits.

The studies would be phased with an overall objective of completing a feasibility study by the end of 2012, subject to ongoing resource drilling success.


Good luck to all that hold PNA