IMO the development stage Pine Point project (Osisko) in Canada could possibly be a rough sort of a template for Rumble on what a large scale open pit Zn + Pb operation could look like. Even though it's an MVT deposit as opposed to what's likely an unconformity/clastic Zn-Pb deposit, they share many similarities:
- Large scale mining operation planned from "moderate" grade mineralisation spread over ~60km in a lot of smaller deposits (although grades slightly higher 4.5% Zn + 1.7% Pb)
- The project does have a number of small, higher grade MVT deposits that RTR has yet to produce (although RTR likely to have some higher grade feeder zones at/near structures IMO) - however the bulk is flat lying, stratiform mineralisation. Osisko are planning some UG but the bulk is open pit.
- The deposits start from about 60m down to about 100m in general and are 10-20m thick (stratiform).
- Cheap mining costs because of no need to drill and blast, soft overburden ($3/tonne). RTR suggests something similar when they allude to "soft" overburden, gravelly iron formation and easy to OP.
- Strip ratio of 5.2 which seems high however the PEA makes it appear very feasible. When you look at the sections RTR released starts to look comparable IF the grades remain decent and don't drop off. Obviously this is very early stage so won't know for a while.
- Clean, premium concentrate produced. As @pangea metallurgy might be a bit more challenging due to Australia's relatively deep laterite as opposed to Canada where glaciers have exposed unweathered bedrock. I'm no metallurgist though so can't comment on this. Brett did state in an earlier announcement however that it should have "simple metallurgy".
- Pit constrained indicated mineral resource of 12.9M tonnes (UG and OP of 37.6M tonnes). RTR believes they can find substantially more resource than this, would means lower grades are more palatable.
- Initial capital costs for the development of $556M, 10 year mine life, gross revenue $4.4B, AISC of $0.73/lb, after tax NPV(8) $500M, after tax IRR 29.6% and after tax payback period 2.9 years.
This project is aiming to be a top ten producer globally of zinc. Notably, RTR has an exploration target 3x larger and the MD has stated that he believes that Chinook alone may meet this exploration target. IMO the reason for the excitement and aggressive buying of this stock has been for that reason - the scale potential. DYOR as this is early days and we won't know the scale of this for quite some time. At least now we have the cash to do so and we will soon. GLTAH
https://www.mining.com/osiskos-pea-for-pine-point-suggests-large-scale-operation/
https://www.osiskometals.com/medias/iw/6022004-000000-40-ERA-0002-R00.pdf
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