
First Vanadium Corp. (TSX-V: FVAN) (OTCQX: FVANF) (FSE: 1PY) announces positive results on its Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Company’s Carlin Vanadium Project located 6 miles south from the town of Carlin, Nevada in the United States. The PEA has been prepared by independent consultant Wood Canada Limited (Wood) in accordance with National Instrument 43-101. The PEA is based on the Mineral Resource Estimate outlined in the Company’s Technical Report dated April 9, 2019. The PEA demonstrates positive economics for a large-scale open pit mining operation, with 16 years of Vanadium production and 4 additional years of acid/power sales.
Paul Cowley, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “The PEA crystalizes potential economics for the Company’s vanadium asset and provides for design options and enhancement opportunities. Unit Operating costs averaging US$4.81/lb V2O5 in the first 10 years and US$5.17/lb V2O5 over Life of Mine are of significant note, and in the range of lower quartile operating costs of vanadium producers. We can see numerous opportunities to lower both Capex and Opex to benefit the vanadium asset which we will act upon to advance the project.”
“With a positive PEA, the Carlin Vanadium Project becomes an even more important resource of a critical and strategic metal essential to protecting US national interests, particularly as the US looks towards vital future domestic sources of strategic metals which includes vanadium.”
Paul Cowley continues, “In addition, the benefit of having both vanadium and a separate gold opportunity on the same property located within the world-famous Carlin Gold Trend is unique, broadens our opportunities and is another of our many strengths. With our goal to maximize on all our high-quality opportunities to enhance value for our shareholders, it is now time to bring our exceptional gold opportunity to the forefront with the aim to drill-test this summer. This drill program will be led by Ex-Newmont Regional Manager and proven mine-finder, Dave Mathewson who has found 6 gold deposits within 3-9 miles of the property.”
PEA Highlights (US$ unless otherwise noted):
The preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature, and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
PEA Summary Results
The PEA parameters are summarized in Table 1. All currency is stated as US$ unless stated otherwise.
Table 1: PEA Summary Parameters
Assumptions | |
Vanadium Price (Base case) US$/lb V2O5 | $10.65 |
Production Profile | |
Total Tons (millions) Oxide Processed | 9.33 |
Total Tons (millions) Non-Oxide Processed | 7.04 |
Process Plant Oxide Head Grade (% V2O5) | 0.65 |
Process Plant Non-Oxide Head Grade (% V2O5) | 0.79 |
Mine Life (years) | 16 |
Project Life (years) – Years 17-20 only selling Sulfuric Acid and Energy from Acid Plant | 20 |
Annual average process plant throughput (Mtpy) | 1.02 |
Vanadium Process Plant Oxide Recovery | 78.6% |
Vanadium Process Plant Non-Oxide Recovery | 77.4% |
Total Payable Vanadium (V2O5) Million Pounds | 181.69 |
Average annual Vanadium (V2O5) Production Million Pounds | 11.40 |
Operating Costs | |
Unit Operating Costs (per ton processed) | $56.79 |
Average Mining Costs (per ton) | $2.30 |
Processing Costs (per ton Oxides) | $27.59 |
Processing Costs (per ton Non-Oxide) | $43.94 |
G&A (per ton processed) | $2.01 |
LOM Average Cash Cost US$/lb V2O5 | $5.17 |
Capital Requirements | |
Pre-Production Capital Cost (millions) | $535 |
Sustaining Capital Cost (Life of Mine) Excluding Salvage | $64.7 |
Royalty and Option Exercise (millions) – (Included in Pre-Production Capital Cost) | $5.9 |
Taxes | |
Taxes (millions) | $78 |
Project Economics | |
Pre-Tax | |
NPV (millions) (6% Discount Rate) | $56 |
IRR (%) | 7.9% |
Payback (years) | 7.5 |
Cumulative Undiscounted Cash Flows (millions) | $356 |
After-Tax | |
NPV (millions) (6% Discount Rate) | $29 |
IRR (%) | 7.0% |
Payback (years) | 7.7 |
Cumulative Undiscounted Cash Flows (millions) | $301 |
Project Summary
The Carlin Vanadium Project is located 6 miles south of the town of Carlin, Nevada, and within the Carlin Gold Trend, Nevada’s most prolific gold mining trend, dominated by Barrick and Newmont. The project possesses strong infrastructure being only 6 miles by road to a major highway, rail hub, power and skilled mining work force. The project is a near surface primary vanadium resource hosted in black shale, the largest highest-grade resource of its kind in North America.
Mining
The mine design is based on two objectives; firstly, to mine the highest grade in the oxides, followed by non-oxides, and secondly, once the whole deposit is mined, tailings produced by feeding the stockpiles would be stored in the pit. A drill, blast, load, and haul profile has been built into the model at an average cost of US$$2.30/ton, however, it may be possible that some of this material can be mined without drilling or blasting. This will be determined in subsequent studies. A total of 69 million tons of material will be mined over the 11-year life of the open pit, mined in phases. Maximum material moved in any one year will be 7 million tons. Nine million tons of oxide and seven million tons of non-oxide material with an average strip ratio of 3.22:1 will be moved over the life of the pit. The overall grade of the mined resource will be 0.71% V2O5 and will include a 6 million ton lower grade stockpile that will be processed when the pit is complete in years 12 to 16.
Metallurgy and Processing
The process plant is designed to produce V2O5 as a saleable product from two distinct material types that make-up the resource, oxide and non-oxide shales, using conventional equipment and conventional beneficiation and hydrometallurgical techniques. The Run-Of-Mine (ROM) oxide feed from the mine is attrition scrubbed and classified to produce an oxide concentrate. The Run-Of-Mine (ROM) non-oxide feed from the mine is crushed, ground, attrition scrubbed/classified and floated to produce a non-oxide concentrate. Both concentrates follow steps of acidulation, pressure oxidation, impurity removal, vanadium solvent extraction and precipitation as ammonium metavanadate (AMV). Finally, AMV is calcined to form V2O5 product. The overall recovery of V2O5 through the process flowsheet for oxide material is estimated at 78.6%. The overall recovery of V2O5 for non-oxide material is estimated at 77.4%.
Project Economics and Sensitivities
The economic results of the PEA are summarized in Table 2 on an after-tax basis. The sensitivities and the impact of cash flows have been calculated up to +/- 45% variations against the base case. Project economics include a 4 year post mineral processing extension, when only the acid plant is operating and producing sulfuric acid and energy for sale, which generate a contribution to the after-tax project economics of US$40 million to the cashflow and US$12 million to the NPV@6%.
Table 2: Project Economics After Tax – Sensitivity.
V2O5 Price Sensitivity | ||||||||
-45% | -30% | -15% | Base Case | 15% | 30% | 45% | ||
US$/lb V2O5 | 5.86 | 7.46 | 9.05 | 10.65 | 12.25 | 13.85 | 15.44 | |
Cashflow After Tax | US$M | (507) | (222) | 57 | 301 | 543 | 783 | 1,020 |
NPV@6% After Tax – Base Case | US$M | (457) | (286) | (121) | 29 | 174 | 316 | 457 |
NPV@8% After Tax | US$M | (442) | (296) | (154) | (25) | 100 | 222 | 343 |
IRR | % | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.43% | 7.02% | 11.71% | 15.85% | 19.63% |
Capital Cost Sensitivity | ||||||||
-45% | -30% | -15% | Base Case | 15% | 30% | 45% | ||
Cashflow After Tax | US$M | 538 | 459 | 379 | 301 | 226 | 150 | 60 |
NPV@6% After Tax – Base Case | US$M | 243 | 172 | 101 | 29 | (42) | (115) | (194) |
NPV@8% After Tax | US$M | 183 | 114 | 45 | (25) | (94) | (166) | (241) |
IRR | % | 19.71% | 14.03% | 10.03% | 7.02% | 4.69% | 2.78% | 1.02% |
Operating Cost Sensitivity | ||||||||
-45% | -30% | -15% | Base Case | 15% | 30% | 45% | ||
Cashflow After Tax | US$M | 636 | 527 | 415 | 301 | 187 | 65 | (68) |
NPV@6% After Tax – Base Case | US$M | 224 | 160 | 95 | 29 | (38) | (110) | (186) |
NPV@8% After Tax | US$M | 141 | 87 | 32 | (25) | (82) | (143) | (208) |
IRR | % | 13.04% | 11.19% | 9.21% | 7.02% | 4.61% | 1.72% | 0.00% |
Further Project Enhancement Opportunities
The Company believes that there are numerous opportunities to enhance the Carlin Vanadium Project further through:
Mineral Resource
The pit constrained Mineral Resource Estimate which formed the basis of the PEA, is set out in Table 3.
Table 3: Pit Constrained Mineral Resource Estimate for Carlin Vanadium Project- Effective January 31, 2019.
Classification | Cut-off (% V2O5) | Grade (% V2O5) | Tons (M) | V2O5 lb (M) |
Indicated | 0.3 | 0.615 | 24.64 | 303 |
Inferred | 0.3 | 0.520 | 7.19 | 75 |
Qualified Persons and NI 43-101 Disclosure
The results of the PEA in this news release were prepared by Wood Canada Limited and SRK Consulting (U.S.), Inc., in accordance with the Canadian securities regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and has been reviewed and approved by, as it relates to geology, sampling, drilling, exploration, QAQC and mineral resources: Dr. Bart Stryhas, CPG (SRK); as it relates to metallurgy, processing, plant Capex and Opex: Alan Drake, Eng.L. (Wood); as it relates to infrastructure: Paul Baluch, P.Eng. (Wood); as it relates to mine planning: Antonio Peralta Romero, P.Eng. (Wood); and as it relates to financial modelling and economic analysis: Susana Gonzales, P.Eng. (Wood). All are independent Qualified Persons, as defined under NI 43-101.
Within 45 days from the date of this news release, the Company will file the PEA Technical Report on SEDAR.
The scientific and technical content in this news release that is not derived from the technical report has been reviewed and approved by Paul Cowley, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and President and CEO of the Company. This includes comments on the project’s comparative cash operating cost.
About First Vanadium Corp.
First Vanadium has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Carlin Vanadium Project, located in Elko County, 6 miles south from the town of Carlin, Nevada and Highway I-80.
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