Dual focused White Cliff Minerals is an exploration and development company with a portfolio of advanced cobalt-nickel projects in Australia and a gold-copper mine development project in Central Asia.
Cobalt and Nickel:
Three major cobalt and nickel projects play into one of the strongest investment thematic the world has seen in recent years – the rise of electric vehicles – and have genuine potential to develop into mines, particularly considering their location close to existing processing infrastructure in the Western Australian Goldfields.
Gold and Copper:
With golds enduring value and coppers status as a critical energy infrastructure metal the Company’s gold-copper project provides exposure to both sectors. The high-grade Aucu gold-copper project in the Kyrgyz Republic, which is 90%-owned by White Cliff, contains an inferred resource of 484,000 Ounces of gold (3 million tonnes at 5.1 g/t Au) and 64,000 tonnes of contained copper (17.2Mt at 0.37% Copper) There are substantial growth opportunities across the rest of the project.
AUSTRALIAN TECHNOLOGY METALS (COBALT-NICKEL)
White Cliff has three outstanding, 100%-owned cobalt-nickel projects in the Western Australian Goldfields that share multiple development options and a strong prospect of being brought into production in the near-term. They are:
Coronation Dam
- 16km2 tenement
- Near surface cobalt-nickel mineralisation 5.7km long and 1km wide
- Assays of up to 0.68% cobalt including:
- 16 metres at 0.42% cobalt and 1% nickel
- 24 metres at 0.23% cobalt and 0.8% nickel
- Near nickel-cobalt processing infrastructure – 90km from Glencore’s Murrin Murrin plant
- Limited wide-spaced drilling
Ghan Well
- 39km2 tenement
- Near surface cobalt-nickel mineralisation 11km long and up to 1.8km wide
- Assays up to 0.76% cobalt including
- 12 metres at 0.14% cobalt and 0.78% nickel
- 11 metres at 0.14% cobalt and 0.99% nickel
- Near nickel-cobalt processing infrastructure - 26km from Glencore’s Murrin Murrin plant
- Limited previous drilling
Coglia Well
- 70km2 tenement
- Near-surface cobalt-nickel mineralisation 7.5km long and 1-2km wide
- Adjacent to Glencore’s Rocky Well and Matilda nickel-cobalt deposits (29Mt at 0.11% Co and 1% Ni)
- Assays of up to 3% nickel and 0.25% cobalt including:
- 16 metres at 0.16% cobalt and 0.65% nickel
- 12 metres at 2.2% nickel and 0.06% cobalt
- Limited wide-spaced drilling
Planned activity for 2018 includes drilling to establish JORC resources and metallurgical test work to determine recovery and leach kinetics.
LOCATION: Central Asia, Kyrgyz Republic
2014 RESOURCE 156,000 Ounces (1.2Mt at 4.2 g/t gold)
2016 RESOURCE 302,000 Ounces (1.8 Mt at 5.2 g/t gold), 44,870t Copper (10.6 Mt @0.42% Cu)
2017 RESOURCE 484,000 Ounces (2,9Mt at 5.1 g/t gold), 64,000t copper (17.2Mt @0.37% Cu)
GOLD RECOVERY: 98%
CONTAINED COPPER: 64,000 tonnes (327,000 ounces gold equivalent2)
COPPER GRADE: 0.37% Copper
TONNES: 17.2 Million tonnes
TOTAL RESOURCE2: 811,000 ounces gold equivalent
2 Gold equivalent resource: 64,000t [email protected] $6,400/t Cu/ $1,250/Oz Au = 327,000 Oz Au-eq
SCALE POTENTIAL: Multiple mineralised systems
Mineralisation outcrops at surface over 700 vertical metres
Remains open at depth
Mineralisation extends over 4,000 metres along strike
Remains open along strike
TOTAL EXPENDITURE3: $USD 9 Million
DISCOVERY COST: $USD 11 per ounce equivalent of gold
The discovery cost is substantially lower than industry cost averages4 in Australia of $USD 61 per ounce equivalent of gold
COMMENTARY: The Aucu gold deposit currently contains 484,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 5.1 g/t gold. The deposit consists of several sub parallel mineralised zones that have each been identified over several kilometres of strike. Only a fraction of these mineralised zones have been drilled. The parts that have been drilled have been tested to about 120 metres below surface. There is evidence to indicate that the structures occur over at least 700 metres of vertical elevation. The Company expects to find substantial additional mineralisation at depth and along these structures that will grow the project to a scale that will allow the development of a gold mine.
Notes:
2 Gold equivalent resource: 64,000t [email protected] $USD 6,400/t Cu/ $USD 1250/Oz Au = 327,000 Oz Au-eq
3 Total expenditure includes all costs incurred in Kyrgyz and Australia relating to the project excluding acquisition costs.
4 Source: MinEx consulting 2016, http://www.minexconsulting.com/publications/jun2016.html
PATH TO PRODUCTION: White Cliff Minerals Limited focused on developing the Aucu gold deposit into an operating gold mine. The Company is targeting an increase in existing resources from 302,000 ounces to + 1.0 million ounces over the next two years which should be capable of supporting a 75,000 to 100,000 ounce per year gold mining operation. Based on the mineralisation identified to date ore is expected to be sourced from both open pit and underground operations.
To develop a mining operation in the Kyrgyz Republic the Company is required to define an indicated resource and conduct a feasibility study which includes a complete environmental study
The key components that need to be completed to advance the Aucu gold project to production are:
- Define an indicated and measured resource. The Company has a target of defining a +1 million ounce indicated resource prior to conducting a feasibility study
- Conduct a preliminary feasibility study confirming the positive economics of the project. The preliminary study includes baseline environmental and social impact studies that demonstrate the benefit of the project to the local community.
- The prefeasibility study is assessed by the State Agency for Geology and Mineral Resources (SAGAMR) and once approved the mineral resource is added to the State Mineral Inventory. Once the project is approved a mining license can be granted
- The Company is then required to submit a full feasibility study including detailed economic, engineering, environmental, forestry, water and social impact studies.
- Further assessment is conducted by SAGAMR and the Company is granted to necessary permits to conduct mining
- Once the permits are granted the Company has a set amount of time to construct the project and commence production