Canada’s Wallbridge Mining Company will continue to work on scaling up its “exceedingly rare” Fenelon gold project on the country’s Abitibi Greenstone Belt after posting a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on a C$645 million, 212,000-ounces-a-year mine with a circa-12-year life.
The company used a US$1750/oz gold price to come up with a base-case after-tax NPV of C$721 million and C$1070m NPV with gold at US$1950/oz.
Toronto-listed Wallbridge has a current market value around C$131 million.
“Projects such as Fenelon, with a projected annual production profile of more than 200,000 gold ounces, located in a mining-friendly jurisdiction with established infrastructure, having substantial exploration upside and access to clean hydro-electric energy are highly desirable yet exceedingly rare in the mining industry today,” Wallbridge chair Tony Makuch said.
“We are extremely pleased that the PEA on Fenelon alone is demonstrating robust economics at this early stage.
“We expect further improvements as we continue to add to the resource base through our exploration efforts at Fenelon and elsewhere on our very large land position in the northern Abitibi greenstone belt.”
Wallbridge CEO Marz Kord said the company bought Fenelon in 2016 with a small historic resource based on “sporadic geological work by previous owners”.
“Since then, we have been very successful in delineating a multi-million-ounce gold resource, which remains open in virtually all directions,” he said.
“Over the next few months, we will evaluate alternatives to advance Fenelon.
“We have a great near-term opportunity to incorporate satellite deposits such as Martiniere into future studies, with the potential for substantial synergies on a district scale.”
