Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE:VGZ, TSX:VGZ) announced positive results from the PEA for its Guadalupe de los Reyes gold/silver project in Sinaloa, Mexico.
As quoted in the press release:
Highlights of the PEA include:
- Payable production of 327,681 ounces of gold and 4.39 million ounces of silver over a 11 year mine life, including average payable production of 35,031 ounces gold and 253,223 ounces silver over the first five years;
- Ore processed through a 1,500 tonne per day (“tpd”) plant;
- Gold and silver recoveries of 93% and 83% respectively, through a conventional CIL recovery circuit;
- Gold-equivalent cash costs of $631 per ounce over the life of mine, including average gold-equivalent cash costs of$568 per ounce over the first five years;
- Initial capital costs of $88.9 million and life of mine capital costs of $124.3 million, including a 30% contingency; and
- After-tax NPV8% of $57.3 million, Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”) of 21%, and capital payback of 3.6 years using gold and silver prices of $1,480 and $28 per ounce, respectively.
Vista’s President and CEO, Fred Earnest, said:
This Preliminary Economic Assessment demonstrates the potential for a small but profitable project with low estimated initial capital requirements. This PEA contemplates mining material within the current identified resource estimate, located in the lower-grade, near-surface stockwork zones. Meanwhile, our exploration efforts from last year continued to identify the potential for high gold grades and bonanza silver grades at depth.
