Skeena Resources filed its feasibility study today.
Skeena is focused on redeveloping the past-producing Eskay Creek gold-silver mine
The company highlighted the following:
- After-tax net present value (“NPV”) (5%) of C$1.41 billion at a base case of US$1,700 gold and US$19 silver
- Robust economics with an after-tax internal rate of return (“IRR”) of 50.2% and an industry leading after-tax payback on pre-production capital expenditures of 1 year
- High-grade open-pit averaging 3.87 g/t gold equivalent (“AuEq”) (2.99 g/t gold, 79 g/t silver) (diluted) with a strip ratio of 7.5:1
- Years 1 - 5 average annual production of 431,000 AuEq ounces, places Eskay Creek as a tier one operation
- Life of mine (“LOM”) production of 3.2 million AuEq ounces from 2.4 million ounces of gold and 66.7 million ounces of silver
- Estimated pre-production capital expenditures (“CAPEX”) of C$592 million, yielding a compelling after-tax NPV:CAPEX ratio of 2.4:1
- LOM all-in sustaining cost (“AISC”) of US$652/oz AuEq recovered in concentrate
- Proven and Probable open-pit mineral Reserves of 29.9 million tonnes containing 2.87 million ounces gold and 75.5 million ounces silver (combined 3.85 million AuEq oz)
- A carbon intensity of 0.20 t CO2e/oz AuEq produced, positioning Eskay Creek to be one of the lowest carbon intensity mines worldwide
Cost of building the mine has gone up. Skeena said that the initial capital cost of $592M (US$451M) represents a 21% increase compared to the July 2021 PFS estimate, stating costs are up due to "...inflationary trends in labour and materials costs experienced in the past year."
