SolGold set to soar as flagship copper mine strikes gold
SolGold have raised their outlook for their flagship copper mine after metallurgical testing showed a potential extra $8.7bn (£6.8bn) in revenues over its life.
The Primary Economic Assessment initially indicated total revenues of $74bn over the life of the mine.
The Australian company’s Alpala project, which has been labelled as a future tier one copper mine, has shown significant increases in the amount of copper, gold and silver that can be extracted.
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The results point to the recovery of an additional 4.4m ounces of gold, 24m ounces of silver and 354,000 tonnes of copper.
Commenting on the results, Nicholas Mather, SolGold’s Chief Executive Officer said:
“The updated metallurgical recoveries for copper, gold and silver are very impressive indeed.
“In comparison to declining global concentrate grades and quality, SolGold is looking at some substantial competitive advantages at the Alpala project in comparison to other undeveloped copper gold resources around the world.”
Analysts at investment bank Liberum described the mine as “one of the largest and highest grade greenfield copper discoveries in the world.”
The Australian company is seeking to use the Alpala project as a blueprint for further exploration of copper and gold projects across Ecuador.
The Company wholly owns four other subsidiaries active throughout the country that are now focused on thirteen high priority gold and copper resource targets.
SolGold believes several of these have the potential, subject to resource definition and feasibility, to be developed in close succession or even on a more accelerated basis from Alpala.
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BHP and Newcrest are both major investors in SolGold with over 10 per cent holdings.
A pre-feasibility study is expected for the first quarter of 2020.
Main image credit: Getty