River Valley Palladium
Multi-million oz. District Scale Asset
Quick Facts
100% owned by New Age Metals
Located 100km NE of Sudbury, Ontario
2.25 MOz Pd+Pt+Au M&I, 1.59 MOz Pd+Pt+Au Inferred
Advanced Preliminary Economic Assessment completed
River Valley Project Presentation
See Presentation – click the image on the right
Location & Access
The River Valley Palladium Project is located approximately 100 km northeast of the City of Sudbury, in northern Ontario. The Project is road accessible and boasts strong established infrastructure and local community support.
Property & Ownership
The River Valley Palladium project was acquired in 1998 by NAM (formally Pacific North West Capital, now New Age Metals). NAM discovered significant PGM occurrences on the Property and entered into a joint venture agreement with Anglo Platinum in 1999. NAM was the operator of the joint venture until 2010 as Anglo Platinum earned-in for 50% ownership, and continues to be the operator today.
In January 2011, NAM successfully acquired Anglo Platinum Limited’s 50% of the Project, to achieve 100% ownership. In 2016, NAM’s management negotiated the purchase of 100% of the River Valley Extension from Mustang Minerals. This acquisition increased the size of NAM’s land position to 15,800 acres and its portion of the River Valley Deposit from 12 km to 16 km in strike length.
The Project is currently covered by two Mining Leases. The Mining Leases cover an approximate area of 12,000 acres and include surface and mining rights. A buffer zone of approximately >5000 acres has been added to the existing River Valley Project.
The River Valley PGM Project is 100% owned
by New Age Metals
Mineral Resource
The River Valley Intrusion (RVI) is shallow-dipping and layered body that appears to be approximately 900 m thick. The dominant rock types are brecciated and massive leuco-gabbronorite and leucogabbro with gabbro and anorthosite. There is an increase in metamorphic grade from the northwest part of the intrusion (greenschist facies) to the southeast part (amphibolite facies). The RVI intrudes Archean age paragneiss and orthogneiss of the Grenville Province and, along the Grenville Front, is in thrust contact with quartzite of the Huronian Mississagi Formation.
| Class | Tonnes ‘,000 | Pd (g/t) | Pt (g/t) | Rh (g/t) | Au (g/t) | Cu (%) | Ni (%) | Co (%) | NSR (C$/t) |
| Measured | 15,488 | 0.70 | 0.25 | 0.02 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 0.02 | 0.003 | 59.54 |
| Indicated | 74,152 | 0.51 | 0.20 | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.01 | 0.001 | 0.002 | 45.08 |
| Measured + Indicated | 89,640 | 0.54 | 0.21 | 0.002 | 0.04 | 0.1 | 0.01 | 0.002 | 47.58 |
| Inferred | 94,268 | 0.35 | 0.16 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.002 |
| Class | Pd + Pt + Au(oz) | Pd(oz) | Pt(oz) |
| Measured | 492,300 | 347,200 | 122,400 |
| Indicated | 1,789,100 | 1,221,100 | 484,000 |
| Measured + Indicated | 2,281,400 | 1,568,300 | 606,400 |
| Inferred | 1,648,500 | 1,073,700 | 480,600 |
Notes:
- Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
- The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues.
- The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could potentially be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration.
- The Mineral Resources were estimated in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions (2014) and Best Practices Guidelines (2019) prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council.
- The Mineral Resource Estimate is based on US$ metal prices of $1,850/oz Pd, $900/oz Pt, $1,600/oz Au, $3.00/lb Cu, $16/lb Co, $6.50/lb Ni, $8,000/oz Rh, $18.50/oz Ag. The US$:CDN$ exchange rate used was 0.75.
- The NSR estimates use flotation recoveries of 80% for Pd, 80% for Pt, 80% for Au, 85% for Cu, 25% for Co, 90% for Ni, 80% for Rh and 65% for Ag and smelter payables of 80% for Pd, 80% for Pt, 85% for Au, 85% for Cu, 50% for Co, 90% for Ni, 80% for Rh and 65% for Ag.
- The pit optimization used a mining cost of $2.25/t mined, combined processing and G&A costs of CDN$15/t, and pit slopes of 50º. The out-of-pit Mineral Resources used underground mining, processing and G&A cost of CDN$50/t.
- Out-of-pit Mineral Resources were determined to be potentially extractable with the longhole mining method.
Preliminary Economic Assessment
The new Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of the River Valley Palladium Project was completed in August 2023 by P&E Mining Consultants Et all and the Technical Report is available on SEDAR or at the bottom of this webpage under technical documents. Compared to the 2019 PEA, this new PEA is based on a much smaller, higher-grade operation with markedly lower CAPEX, expanded underground mining and reduced open pit mining, and significantly smaller environmental impact. These encouraging results are based on the 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate, produced in accordance with current CIM standards and guidelines, to provide feed to an on-site 2.5 Mtpa process plant.
CAPEX Estimates
Initial Capital Costs (US$ Millions)
| Site Development | 21.3 |
| Open pit mining equipment and pre-stripping | 75.1 |
| Process plants (directs and indirects) | 99.2 |
| Site infrastructure | 17.4 |
| Electrical powerline connection | 30 |
| Tailings and water management facilities | 57.3 |
| EPCM | 19.9 |
| Owners costs | 10 |
| UG mine development and equipment | 37.1 |
| Reclamation and closure | 16.3 |
| Contingency (13%) | 48 |
| Total Initial Capital | 495 |
LOM Operating Cost (US$ per Tonne)
| Mining Cost per Tonne Mined Material | 2.95 |
| Mining Cost per Tonne Processed Material | 12.63 |
| Underground Mining per Tonne Processed | 60.61 |
| Process Plant | 12.69 |
| G&A | 2.01 |
| Total Cost per Tonne Processed* | 30.98 |
Cost
| Preproduction Capital (US$ M) | 268.7 |
| LOM Average Cash Cost (US$/oz PdEq) | 1231 |
| LOM Average AISC (US$)/oz PdEq | 1518 |
Exploration & Development Program
The PEA outlined a phased work program approach to advance River Valley to a Pre-Feasibility level project. This work program includes: 1) continued exploration drilling, particularly for mineralization in the intrusion footwall; 2) advanced metallurgical testing to improve process recoveries and more accurately estimate concentrate grades; 3) geotechnical logging of drill core to create a 3D geomechanical block model and estimate open pit wall angles; and 4) hydrogeological studies to generate a water management plan for the site. The Pre-Feasibility study could support the first Mineral Reserve Estimate for the River Valley Palladium Project.
In 2020, NAM systematically completed a phased exploration and project development program based on the PEA recommendations. The program included further exploration drilling and environmental and archaeological studies focused in the northern area of River Valley.
Plans for future exploration programs, subject to financing, include; drilling near the potential open pit mines to increase mine life and decrease strip ratio; drilling deep to test for presence of mineralization below the current depth of drilling (average 220 metres); re-assaying available drill core for the other platinum metals, particularly rhodium (the most valuable of the platinum metals); and expansion of the geophysical program to cover the entire 16 km long strike-length of the River Valley Palladium deposit and ultimately the entire River Valley Intrusion, which appears to be underlain by a gigantic high-positive gravity anomaly.
Technical information provided on this report has been reviewed and approved for technical content by Bill Stone, Consulting Geologist of New Age Metals, a Qualified Person under the provisions of National Instrument 43‐101
Regional Geology
The River Valley Intrusion is the largest and easternmost body of the Paleoproterozoic age East Bull Lake Intrusive Suite. The East Bull Lake and Agnew Lake Intrusions are smaller and located to the west of Sudbury. Collectively, these intrusions are eroded remnants of layered sill complexes that formed from tholeiitic, plagioclase-rich magmas emplaced during a Paleoproterozoic rifting event in the Archean crust.
Property Geology
The River Valley Intrusion (RVI) is shallow-dipping and layered body that appears to be approximately 900 m thick. The dominant rock types are brecciated and massive leuco-gabbronorite and leucogabbro with gabbro and anorthosite. There is an increase in metamorphic grade from the northwest part of the intrusion (greenschist facies) to the southeast part (amphibolite facies). The RVI intrudes Archean age paragneiss and orthogneiss of the Grenville Province and, along the Grenville Front, is in thrust contact with quartzite of the Huronian Mississagi Formation.
Technical Reports
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Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate – 2023
Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate – 2021
Updated Mineral Resource Report
& Preliminary Economic Assessment – 2019
Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate – 2019
Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate – 2012
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Forward Looking Statements
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Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) permits mining companies, in their filing with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. We use certain terms in this annual report, such as “mineral resources,” “measured,” “indicated,” and “inferred resources,” that the SEC guidelines prohibit us from including in our filing with the SEC. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No. 0-30670, available from us by contacting the Investor Relations Department.
