Strong economic outlook for Hautalampi mine according to pre-feasibility study
Stockholm, 20 March 2023 – The mining company Eurobattery Minerals AB (Nordic Growth Market: “BAT” and Börse Stuttgart: “EBM”; in short: “EBM”, “Eurobattery” or “the Company”), is pleased to announce that FinnCobalt Oy together with AFRY Finland Oy has completed the Hautalampi mining project pre-feasibility study. Eurobattery Minerals owns 40% of the FinnCobalt Oy and Hautalampi project.
Key points from the pre-feasibility study:
- With a conservative metal price, and a total capital expenditure of 65.1 million euro (excluding contingency) the payback period is 4.6 years.
- Mining will commence after a one-year construction period including rehabilitation of the underground mine, construction of the surface crushing and processing plants, and a new tailings storage facility. The project implementation requires valid environmental permit.
- Total metal production during the anticipated 12 years mining operations will be 11,400 tonnes of nickel and 2,900 tonnes of cobalt in the nickel-cobalt concentrate and 9,600 tonnes of copper in the copper concentrate.
- The pre-feasibility study is based on the underground mining operation with total mining of 4.6 Mt of ore reserves with the grades of Ni 0.3%, Co 0.08% and Cu 0.24%.
- Eurobattery Minerals expects that the investment cost will decrease, and the project economics improve when the actual detailed engineering commences and cost uncertainties due to the current Russo - Ukrainian war will clarify.
“I am excited about the outcome of the pre-feasibility study cementing the strong economic outlook for our Finnish battery mineral mine. With the study at hand and the environmental impact assessment that we expect to be filed soon followed by the environmental permit application, we will now elevate our conversations with several potential off-take partners. Furthermore, we will commence the optimisation of the project and see how we could push the investment costs down and increase the project viability further,” said Roberto García Martínez, CEO of Eurobattery Minerals.
Summary of the pre-feasibility study
The pre-feasibility study is based on the underground mining operations with total mining of 4.6 Mt of ore reserves with the grades of Ni 0.3%, Co 0.08% and Cu 0.24%. Additional 369 kt of inferred mineral resource were also used to create the Life of mine plan and financial model.
The underground mining will commence after a one-year construction period which includes rehabilitation of the underground mine, construction of the surface crushing and processing plants and a new tailings storage facility. The underground mining rate will be some 450,000 - 480,000 tonnes per annum and mining operations will continue for 12 years. Total metal production will be 11,400 tonnes nickel and 2,900 tonnes cobalt in the nickel-cobalt concentrate and 9,600 tonnes copper in the copper concentrate. Based on the extensive metallurgical test work, concentrates are of very good quality, without any deleterious elements and should be easily marketable either for Finland’s domestic metallurgical industry or internationally.
| Hautalampi Ore Reserves as of 7th March 2023 @30€/t NSR Cut-off. | ||||||||
| Ore Reserve | Grade | Contained Metals | ||||||
| Tonnes | Ni | Cu | Co | Ni (t) | Cu (t) | Co (t) | ||
| Proven | 1,871,000 | 0.36% | 0.30% | 0.09% | 6,800 | 5,700 | 1,600 | |
| Probable | 2,693,000 | 0.25% | 0.19% | 0.07% | 6,900 | 5,300 | 1,900 | |
| Total | 4,564,000 | 0.30% | 0.24% | 0.08% | 13,700 | 11,000 | 3,500 | |
(1) The ore reserve estimate has an effective date of 7thMarch 2023. (2) The estimate has been prepared and reported in accordance with the recommendations of the 2012 Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC 2012). (3) Exchange rate used: USD/EUR 1.00. (4) NSR cut-off value for the estimate is 30€/t. (5) NSR = net smelter return. NSR is calculated using (USD prices of) nickel USD 20,000 /t, copper USD 9,000 /t and cobalt USD 60,000 /t. Recoveries for Ni 82%, Cu 86.5% and 82% for Co. Payment to concentrate percent for Ni 70%, Cu 90% and Co 50% were used. (6) Mining recovery of 95% was assumed in reserve conversion and mining dilution ranging from 10-15% was applied. (7) No inferred mineral resource was converted to ore reserves.
Additional mineral resources of the Hautalampi project are as follows. The additional resources estimation has an effective date of 7th March 2023. The estimation is prepared by removing the mining reserve and unmineable areas from the Resource Statement reported on 18th October 2022.
| Addtitional resources | Tonnes | Grade | Contained metals | ||||
| Ni | Cu | Co | Ni(t) | Cu(t) | Co(t) | ||
| 4,707,000 | 0.22% | 0.11% | 0.05% | 10,331 | 5,316 | 2,158 | |
The additional resource of 4,7Mt mineralization is a remarkable asset for the future development and extension of the Hautalampi Mine life span if and when the future metal prices are favorable.
The total investment capital cost has been estimated to be around EUR 65 million excluding the proposed 15% contingency, which brings the total Capital Expenditure to EUR 74.8 million. The total turnover for the mine is some EUR 420 million and the payback period is 4.6 years. The Internal Rate of Return is 20% assuming EUR 10 million grant. Metal prices used in the financial study are Copper 9,750 USD/t, Nickel 20,000 USD/t and Cobalt 70,000 USD/t which are relevant long-term consensus forecast prices. All financial figures are based on the current high-level capital investment cost and assuming EUR 10 million investment grant. The company expects that the investment cost will decrease and the project economics improve when the actual detailed engineering commences and recent construction material price increases due to the uncertainties due to the ongoing Russo - Ukrainian war will disappear.
The complete pre-feasibility report is available from Eurobattery Minerals website https://eurobatteryminerals.com/en/projects/hautalampi/.
Competent Person's Statement
The information in this release that relates to Mineral Resources and ore reserves is based on information compiled by Mr Ville-Matti Seppä, a Competent Person who has a EurGeol qualification. Mr Seppä is a full-time employee of AFRY Finland Oy. Mr Seppä has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources, and Ore Reserves”. Mr Seppä has reviewed, verified, and approved the contents of this news release as they relate to the mineral resource estimate. Mr Seppä owns no shares in FinnCobalt Oy or Eurobattery Minerals AB.
This information is of the kind that the Company is required to disclose in accordance with the EU’s Market Abuse Regulation. The information was issued for publication through the agency of Roberto García Martínez, CEO of Eurobattery Minerals AB, on 20th of March 2023 at 07:30 CET.
About Eurobattery Minerals
Eurobattery Minerals AB is a Swedish mining company listed on Swedish Nordic Growth Market (BAT) and German Börse Stuttgart (EBM). With the vision to make Europe self-sufficient in responsibly mined battery minerals, the company’s focus is to realize numerous nickel-cobalt-copper projects in Europe to supply critical raw materials and, as such, power a cleaner world.
Please visit www.eurobatteryminerals.com for more information. Feel free to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter as well.
Contact Eurobattery Minerals AB
Roberto García Martínez – CEO
E-mail: info@eurobatteryminerals.com
Contact Investor Relations
E-mail: ir@eurobatteryminerals.com
Mentor
Augment Partners AB is the mentor to Eurobattery Minerals AB
Phone: +46 (0) 86 042 255
E-mail: info@augment.se.
