Rob Ryan was previously the CEO for Bardoc Gold where he oversaw the feasibility study process in an exemplary manner that earned him high praise in the mining industry and from the Bardoc Gold Board. My understanding is that he opposed the Bardoc Board when they deferred starting the mine due to Covid, lower POG and rising inflationary costs in the mining industry and looked for a buyer. In hindsight, Rob was absolutely correct and Bardoc was sold to St Barbara far too cheaply.
Bardoc's model is likely to guide the restart of Youanmi.
The Bardoc PFS was delivered in March 2020 and the DFS 12 months later but it could be less at Youanmi given that restarting an existing UG mine with approvals in place is much easier and RR is a renowned feasibility study expert.
Rob designed a two-stage mining and processing schedule for Bardoc based on a 2.1Mtpa plant. With the high price of gold, the same 2 stage process + large mill is now an excellent fit for Youanmi.
Bardoc planned to first mine and process the oxide free milling ore (1-million-ounce @ 2g/t). By comparison Rox has 1.0Moz at 1.74g/t of shallow oxide gold Grace/Plant Zone/ shallow Link/Currans/RWB/Commonwealth etc.
Bardoc production was planned for 136,000 gold ounces PA at an AISC of A$1,188 per ounce and the Younami AISC could be similar for the shallow gold.
Bardoc Stage 2 plant upgrade included circuits to treat refractory ore. This 2 stage approach reduced initial preproduction costs to A$177 million with a 32-month payback.
This UG stage 2 is where Rox hits its straps with 2m ozs at almost 6.9g/t. This is an exceptionally high grade resource.
At Bardoc the model generated on average $113 million in free cash flow per year post-construction, a pre-tax NPV6% of A$479 million and Internal Rate of Return of 41 per cent.
But the assumed base case gold price at Bardoc was just A$2,250/ounce whereas Rox will have a much higher assumed POG in its feasibility studies.
The higher price of gold rocket fuels the free cash flow.
In summary the PFS is likely to capitalise on the higher price of gold to proceed in 2 stages.
Stage 1 will be to mine and process the shallow oxide gold in a state-of-the-art on-site 2.1 million tonnes per annum capacity CIL plant.
Stage 2 will see the mill upgraded with refractory circuits to process a mix of oxide and refractory ore.
We can expect the DFS by June 2025 at the latest (and possibly several months earlier) with FID shortly after.
The PFS is positive for adding value to the company and the DFS and FID are major catalysts for share price increases.
While in Stage 1 production, Rox will prepare for underground mining by dewatering and restoration of UG works etc.
Hawke's Point is very likely to increase their stake in Rox, just as they did at Capricorn and Ora Banda.
The production output should be 100Kozs+ PA, up from 71Kozs PA in the Scoping Study.
The project should generate on average around $120 million PA in free cash flow per year post-construction (up from $69.4 million PA in the Scoping Study).
Mine construction is likely to begin in 2025.
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