June 29th, 2023 , Rockport, Canada – New Age Metals Inc. (NAM) (TSX.V: NAM; OTCQB: NMTLF; FSE: P7J) (“NAM” or the “Company” is pleased to announce the positive results of a new independent Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 for the River Valley Project, a wholly-owned palladium-platinum-copper deposit located 60 km east-northeast (100 road km) of Sudbury, Ontario. This new PEA was developed by a group of independent consultants; namely P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (mining, scheduling, project economics); D.E.N.M. Engineering Ltd. (mineral processing and metallurgy); Knight Piésold Ltd. (tailings facility, water management, and rock mechanics); and Story Environmental (environment and community). The Mineral Resource Estimate upon which this new PEA is based was done by P&E in 2021.
PEA Highlights
- Pre-Tax NPV(5%): $289M; After-Tax: $135M
- Pre-Tax IRR: 16%; Post-tax IRR: 11%
- Annual Production: 2.5 Mt of potential process plant feed at an average grade of 1.19 g/t PdEq and process recovery of 71.5%, resulting in an average annual payable Pd production of 47,400 oz.
- Total Tonnes Processed over Life of Mine: 38.6 Mt/16 years
- Pre-production Capital Requirement: $268.7M
- Average Unit Operating Cost: $30.98/t
- Assumed Metal Prices: US$2,150/oz Pd, US$1,050/oz Pt, US$1,830/oz Au, US$4.00/lb Cu
- River Valley Process Feed: Treated in an on-site conventional sulphide flotation plant to produce a saleable PGM-enriched Cu concentrate to be transported off-site for smelting and refining.
- Project Enhancement Opportunities: Increased metal recoveries and expanded Mineral Resources
Harry Barr, NAM Chairman & CEO, stated: “The PEA results released today are positive with a post-tax NPV(5%) of $134 M CAD, an IRR of 11% and 16 years of palladium, platinum and copper production. Compared to the 2019 PEA, this 2023 PEA envisions a smaller, higher-grade operation with lower CAPEX, expanded underground mining and reduced open pit mining, and a much-smaller environmental footprint. These encouraging results are based on the 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate, which was produced in accordance with current CIM standards and guidelines, to provide feed to an on-site 2.5 Mtpa process plant. The next steps include targeting areas for drilling to convert Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources, expanding current Mineral Resources, the discovery of new mineralized zones, and to testing of promising new technologies for improved metal recoveries, all for incorporation into future, more advanced economic studies.”
PEA Summary*
The site plan layout for the new River Valley PEA is shown in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1 shows five open pits and two underground portals that have been used in the engineering design of the Project, the proposed process plant site, low-grade stockpile, waste rock storage facilities, tailings storage facility, and site infrastructure. The Project as represented in Figure 1 has an area of 38.8 km2, which reflects a major reduction from the 126.5 km2 site plan area in the 2019 PEA.
The parameters of the PEA are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. PEA Summary Parameters
| Assumptions | |
| Palladium Price (Base case) US$/oz | 2,150 |
| Exchange Rate US$:CDN$ | 1.35 |
| Production Profile | |
| Total Tonnes Processed | 38,640,000 |
| Process Plant Head Grade PdEq g/t | 1.19 |
| Mine Life (years) | 16 |
| Daily process plant throughput (tpd) | 6,850 |
| Palladium Process Plant Recovery (%) | 71.5 |
| Total Payable Palladium Equivalent Ounces | 735,000 |
| Average annual Palladium Production Ounces | 47,400 |
| Operating Costs ($ per tonne processed) | |
| Unit Average LOM Operating Costs | 30.98 |
| Open Pit Mining Costs | 12.63 |
| Underground Mining Costs | 60.61 |
| Processing Costs | 12.69 |
| G&A | 2.01 |
| LOM Average Cash Cost US$/oz Pd | 1,241 |
| Capital Requirements | |
| Pre-Production Capital Cost ($ M) | 268.7 |
| Sustaining Capital Cost (Life of Mine) ($ M) | 163.0 |
| Project Economics | |
| Royalties (%) | 3 |
| Royalty Payable After $1.5M Buy Down to 1.5% ($ M) | 35.4 |
| Taxes (M $) | 255.0 |
| Pre-Tax | |
| Cumulative Undiscounted Cash Flow ($ M) | 599.0 |
| NPV (5% Discount Rate) ($ M) | 289.0 |
| IRR (%) | 16 |
| Payback (years) | 6.2 |
| After-Tax | |
| Cumulative Undiscounted Cash Flow ($ M) | 344.0 |
| NPV (5% Discount Rate) ($ M) | 135.0 |
| IRR (%) | 11 |
| Payback (years) | 6.9 |
PEA operating costs and capital costs are presented in Tables 2 and 3.
Table 2. Operating Cost Summary
| Operating Cost | Unit | LoM |
| Open Pit Mining Cost | $/t mined | 2.95 |
| Open Pit Mining Cost | $/t processed | 12.63 |
| Underground Mining Cost | $/t processed | 60.61 |
| Process Cost | $/t processed | 12.69 |
| G&A | $/t processed | 2.01 |
| Unit LoM Average Operating | $/t processed | 30.98 |
Table 3. Capital Cost Summary
| Development Capital | Initial (Y-2, Y-1) ($ M) | Sustaining ($ M) | Total LOM ($ M) |
| Open Pit Development and Equipment | 37.0 | 59.4 | 96.4 |
| Process Plant | 119.2 | 119.2 | |
| On-Site Infrastructure | 17.4 | 17.4 | |
| Electrical Powerline | 30.0 | 30.0 | |
| Tailings Management Facility | 17.0 | 27.0 | 44.0 |
| Owner’s Costs | 10.0 | 10.0 | |
| Underground Mine Development | 37.1 | 37.1 | |
| Reclamation Bond and Closure | 16.3 | 16.3 | |
| Contingency | 29.9 | 18.1 | 48.0 |
| Total Capital | 268.7 | 163 | 431.7 |
Opportunities to Enhance Project Value
Two major opportunities to enhance Project value are: 1) improved metal recovery; and 2) increased Mineral Resources.
- Improved Metal Recoveries
HYDROMETALLURGICAL OPTIONS The main focus of this PEA from a processing stand point is conventional milling and flotation with upgrading of the resultant copper concentrate to a marketable product. The final concentrate (copper and PGMs) would be shipped to specific smelters to treat the River Valley product as a part of the revenue stream.
As an alternative to shipping to smelters, pressure leaching and metal precipitation options to recover platinum group metals (“PGMs”), gold and base metals will be investigated. Several PGM deposits worldwide are currently being subject to hydrometallurgical testing as a potentially economic alternative to base metal smelters.
Alternative Flotation Applications. Conventional flotation of the River Valley material has thus far been unable to produce a high-grade marketable smelter concentrate for maximum net smelter returns.
The expected concentrate grades based on the recent testing at SGS Lakefield were detailed in New Age Metals press release dated August 9, 2022.
Preliminary scoping work has been completed on the River Valley material utilizing two flotation alternatives to produce a higher-grade rougher concentrate and also possible increases in PGM recoveries. The two technologies being investigated are the Woodgrove flotation and the Glencore (Jameson) cell techniques.
Rhodium Recovery & Marketability. Additional work in this area would be beneficial for the Project,
due to the high metal price of rhodium. The testwork recently complete showed the ability to recover rhodium in the final concentrate, albeit not at a saleable threshold grade for the smelters. Review of the rhodium mineralogy and process alternatives is recommended.
2. Increased Mineral Resources
The distribution of the current Mineral Resources at River Valley is shown in Figure 2.
Major infill, expansion and exploration drill programs are planned to: 1) convert Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources at the Lismer and Varley Zones; 2) expand current Mineral Resources at depth and along strike at the Dana South, Banshee, Lismer Ridge, Varley and Azen Zones; and 3) test targets and delineate mineralized zones that show potential for inclusion in future Mineral Resource modelling, particularly in the footwall to the River Valley Intrusion, as guided by geophysical survey and 3-D geological modelling results. The drilling programs are slated to commenced in H2 2023, subject to financing.
M&I = Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources, Ind: = Indicated Mineral Resources, Inf = Inferred Mineral Resources.
PEA Details
Mineral Resources
The details of the 2021 updated Mineral Resource Estimate were announced in a Company press release dated October 5, 2021. The effective date of the updated Mineral Resource Estimate is September 14, 2021. At cut-offs of CDN$15/t NSR (pit constrained) and CDN$50/t NSR (out-of-pit), the Mineral Resource Estimate consists of: 89.9 Mt grading 0.54 g/t Pd, 0.21 g/t Pt, 0.04 g/t Au and 0.06% Cu, or CDN$47.58/t NSR in the Measured and Indicated classifications; and 94 Mt grading 0.35 g/t Pd, 0.16 g/t Pt, 0.04 g/t Au and 0.06% Cu, or CDN$31.69/t NSR in the Inferred classification. Contained metal contents are 2.3 Moz Pd+Pt+Au in the Measured and Indicated classifications and 1.6 Moz Pd+Pt+Au in the Inferred classification Table 4.
1 Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
2. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues.
3. The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could potentially be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration.
4. The Mineral Resources were estimated in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions (2014) and Best Practices Guidelines (2019) prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council.
5. The Mineral Resource Estimate is based on US$ 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.
6. 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.
7 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.
8 Out-of-pit Mineral Resources were determined to be potentially extractable with the longhole mining method.
The predominant contribution of Pd + Pt to the NSR value (86%) is particularly noteworthy, given the rarity of such primary platinum-group metal deposits in secure and established global mining jurisdictions. The Mineral Resource Estimate is sensitive to the selection of reporting NSR cut-off values for pit constrained Mineral Resources. At a cut-off of $CDN25/t NSR, pit constrained Mineral Resources are presented in Table 5.
The River Valley Project is planned to be mined by both open pit and underground methods. Initial mining would be by open pit at the northwest end of the Deposit, close to the proposed process plant site.
A series of five open pits would be mined, starting at Dana North Zone and progressing in a southeasterly direction to the Varley Zone. The Dana North Pit contains approximately half of the mineralized process plant feed. Higher grade underground mineralization is planned to be mined during production years two to seven, and will total approximately 3 Mt of process plant feed. The underground mining method is planned to be sublevel longhole stoping with cemented rock backfill.
The average open pit strip ratio is envisaged to be 3.4:1 over the life-of-mine. It is anticipated that a fleet of 90 t haul trucks, 10 m3 excavators, and 254 mm diameter hole rotary drills will be utilized, following industry standard conventional open pit mining techniques.
Mineral Processing
The new PEA annual process feed rate to the River Valley process plant will be 2.5 Mtpy (6,850 mtpd) of mineralized material. The process plant remains as previously designed to produce a single copper sulphide and PGM concentrate. The dewatered and dried concentrate would be hauled off-site for smelting.
Simplified process plant details are as follows:
- Run-of-Mine (ROM) to be crushed in a single primary jaw crusher to 150 mm sizing (380 mtph);
- SAG mill in closed circuit with a recycle pebble crusher and ball mill to produce flotation feed (310 mtph);
- Rougher flotation, regrinding of the associated concentrate, three-stage cleaning circuit to produce the final concentrate;
- Concentrate dewatering, filtering, drying for shipping to the smelter;
- Tailings thickening prior to pumping to the tailings management facility (TMF);
- Standard process water recovery would be from the associated thickeners and return water from the TMF area. Make-up water for the process would be from one the lakes on the Property; and
- Power for the facility will be provided by a dedicated 44 kV feeder line from Crystal Falls Transformer Station.
Initial discussions with Hydro One (suppler and builder) have been completed regarding options, capital and $/kwh estimates.
Tailings & Water Management
Tailings Management. The Tailings Management Facility (“TMF”) would consist of a two-cell valley impoundment to provide safe and permanent storage for tailings for the first seven years of the mine life. The remaining tailings would be stored in the Dana open pit when it has been mined out. The TMF impoundment would be developed by constructing three embankments (North, Divider, and South Embankments) using the downstream construction method. The embankments will be constructed in stages to suit the tailings storage requirement throughout the first seven years of the mine life.
Thickened tailings slurry would be delivered to the TMF at a solids content of approximately 55% by mass. The tailings are expected to be non-acid generating. Inert waste rock and processed waste rock from open pit mine development would be used to construct the TMF embankment. The upstream face of the embankment would be lined with a 100 mil HDPE geomembrane overlying non-woven geotextile.
The geomembrane will be tied into bedrock along the upstream toe via a concrete plinth.
Water Management. Site contact water would be managed within sediment basins, the Water Management Pond (“WMP”), open pits, and the TMF. The sediment basins would collect runoff from the site infrastructure areas for sediment control prior to routing the collected water to the WMP immediately north of the TMF. The WMP would be used to temporarily store supernatant water from the TMF, contact water from site infrastructure, and inflows into the open pits and underground workings. The WMP would provide reclaim water to the processing plant. Excess water would be pumped to the water treatment plant and subsequently discharged to the environment.
The primary water management objectives include:
- Provide temporary containment of the Environmental Design Flood (“EDF”) within the TMF basin during operations;
- Provide temporary storage and conveyance of the Inflow Design Flood (“IDF”) via spillways from the TMF and WMP;
- Maintain a small supernatant pond within the TMF basin by transferring runoff and supernatant to the WMP on an ongoing basis via pump barge and pipeline;
- Collect and manage contact water via surface water management measures;
- Maximize reclamation of contact water from the WMP to the process plant. This approach will minimize freshwater requirements and water discharge volumes; and
- Treat and discharge excess supernatant water, mine water (pit and underground inflow), and contact water to the environment, as required during the mine life, via the wastewater treatment and discharge systems.
Environment, Community, ESG
Since the 2019 PEA, NAM has worked to reduce the proposed environmental footprint of the Rive Valley Project. The new 2023 PEA concept replaces open pit mining adjacent to Pine Lake with underground mining and significantly reduces the size of the Project’s remaining open pit mines. Therefore, the Project no longer requires the construction of dams within Pine Lake and eliminates the associated impact on fish and fish habitat. By extracting higher-grade material from underground, NAM would also reduce the rate of mining and processing for the Project. This modification would reduce the footprint of the process plant and waste rock areas, and reduce the size of the processing equipment, which in turn would reduce the carbon footprint of the Project.
The River Valley Project is situated on the traditional territory of Temagami First Nation and Nipissing First Nation. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Temagami First Nation in 2014 and amended in 2017. Temagami First Nation has assisted with the completion of baseline archaeological, surface water quality, groundwater, and hydrology studies and members of the community also participated in a site visit in September 2022. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Nipissing First Nation in
late-January 2022. In 2023, NAM anticipates that Nipissing First Nation will also participate in the Project’s ongoing baseline environmental data collection. Regular Project updates are provided to each of these communities.
The Project will be required to obtain numerous provincial and federal approvals and permits.
It is anticipated that the Project will be subject to both provincial environmental assessments and a federal Impact Assessment. The Project will proceed with a coordinated process to increase efficiencies and reduce duplication of effort during these assessments. However, the permitting for the Project will be less onerous now, than that for the much larger Project presented in the 2019 PEA.
NAM has developed an Environmental and Social Governance (“ESG”) Strategy and will prepare an ESG Sustainability Report annually to disclose and communicate ESG-related information to NAM’s stakeholders. The first ESG Sustainability Report is posted on NAM’s website. As outlined in its ESG Strategy, NAM is committed to managing and operating their assets in a manner that is protective of human health and safety and the environment. It is NAM’s policy to comply, in all material respects, with applicable health, safety and environmental laws and regulations.
Project Economics & Sensitivities
The economic results of the PEA are summarized in Table 6 on an after-tax basis. The sensitivities and the impact of cash flows have been calculated for ±20% variations against the base case.
Table 6. Project Economics Sensitivity
| Project Sensitivity Analysis | |||||||||
| Pd Price Sensitivity | |||||||||
| % | -20% | -15% | -10% | -5% | Base Case | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% |
| US$/oz | 1,720 | 1,828 | 1,935 | 2,043 | 2,150 | 2,258 | 2,365 | 2,473 | 2,580 |
| NPV (CDN$ M) | -31 | 12 | 55 | 95 | 135 | 174 | 217 | 252 | 295 |
| IRR (%) | 4 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 18 |
| OPEX Sensitivity | |||||||||
| % | -20% | -15% | -10% | -5% | Base Case | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% |
| Cost Per Tonne | 25 | 26 | 28 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 34 | 36 | 37 |
| NPV (CDN$ M) | 213 | 193 | 174 | 154 | 135 | 115 | 95 | 76 | 56 |
| IRR (%) | 17 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| CAPEX Sensitivity | |||||||||
| % | -20% | -15% | -10% | -5% | Base Case | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% |
| CAPEX (CDN$ M) | 345 | 367 | 389 | 410 | 432 | 453 | 475 | 496 | 518 |
| NPV (CDN$ M) | 242 | 220 | 190 | 160 | 135 | 105 | 79 | 53 | 21 |
| IRR (%) | 16 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 6 |
The Project is sensitive to Pd recovery. A 20% increase in Pd recovery, possibly resulting from hydrometallurgical treatment, results in an increased after-tax 5% discount rate NPV of $250M and an after-tax IRR of 16%.
About the River Valley Project
The River Valley Palladium Project is located 100 road-km east from the City of Sudbury. The Project area is linked to Sudbury by a network of all-weather highways, roads and rail beds and is accessible year-round with hydro grid and natural gas power nearby. River Valley enjoys the strong support of local communities, like the Village of River Valley, 20 km to the south. Fully executed Memorandum of Understandings are in place with two local First Nation groups. Environmental baseline studies re-commenced in 2020 are planned to continue through 2023.
About NAM
New Age Metals is a junior mineral exploration and development company focused on the discovery, exploration and development of green metal projects in North America. The Company has two divisions; a Platinum Group Element division and a Lithium/Rare Element division.
The PGE Division includes the 100% owned, multi-million-ounce, district-scale River Valley Project, one of North America’s largest undeveloped Platinum Group Element Projects, situated 100 km by road east of Sudbury, Ontario. In addition to River Valley, NAM owns 100% of the Genesis PGE-Cu-Ni Project in Alaska, and plans to complete a surface mapping and sampling program in 2022.
The Company’s Lithium Division is one of the largest mineral claim holders in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, where the Company is exploring for hard rock lithium and various rare elements, such as tantalum, rubidium, and cesium. The Company has announced its preliminary $2 million 2023-2024 exploration budget that will cover the first 4 months of the program. A larger budget has been submitted to our partner Mineral Resources Limited and we expect it to be approved this summer. Further Exploration plans for 2023 include geophysical surveying, summer field work (which will include mapping, lithogeochemistry, MMI soil geochemistry, biogeochemistry, channel sampling), and permits/ archaeological surveys. The Company has a partnership with Mineral Resource Limited (MRL, ASX: MIN), a top global lithium producer to explore and develop the Company’s lithium project portfolio in Southern Manitoba. Our philosophy is to be a project generator with the objective of optioning our projects with major and junior mining companies through to production. The Company is actively seeking an option/joint venture partner for our newly acquired Northman, McLaughlin Lake, and South Bay Lithium Projects in northern Manitoba, and its road-accessible Genesis PGE-Cu-Ni Project in Alaska.
Investors are invited to visit the New Age Metals website at www.newagemetals.com where they can review the company and its corporate activities. Any questions or comments can be directed to info@newagemetals.com or Harry Barr at Hbarr@newagemetals.com or Farid Mammadov at Faridm@newagemetals.com or call 613 659 2773.
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Qualified Person
This PEA was prepared under the supervision of Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. The metallurgical testwork, process plant design and cost estimates were prepared by David Salari, P.Eng. of D.E.N.M Engineering Ltd. The tailings facility and water management were prepared by Jessica Breault, P.Eng., the rock mechanics design input was prepared by were prepared by Ben Peacock, P.Eng. of Knight Piésold Ltd. The Environmental, Community and ESG write-up was prepared by Maria Story, P.Eng., of Story Environmental Inc. Mr. Puritch reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release. William Stone, P.Geo., Lead Geoscience Consultant for New Age Metals, is the Company Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
“Harry Barr”
Harry G. Barr
Chairman and CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company uses words such as “continue”, “efforts”, “expect”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “confident”, “intend”, “strategy”, “plan”, “will”, “estimate”, “project”, “goal”, “target”, “prospects”, “optimistic” or similar expressions. These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others, the Company’s ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make available adequate current public information, additional or different regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recent reports that identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts’ expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.