(Generation Mining, 20.Nov.2024) — Generation Mining Limited provided an update on the project optimization work previously announced on 6 Jun. 20242 on the Marathon Palladium-Copper Project in Northwestern Ontario.
The optimization work focused on two key aspects:
(1) optimization of the mine plan to maximize metal production and defer waste stripping in the early years of operations in order to improve early cash flows and reduce the payback period; and
(2) review and optimization of the plant design and layout, including sizing of key equipment, plant footprint and foundations, in order to reduce the initial project capital costs.
“The optimized mine plan is a notable improvement to the existing plan, with $190mn Canadian in additional payable metal revenues and savings from a reduced strip ratio during the initial 3-years of mine operations. The other meaningful improvement to the project is the optimized plant design and ancillary changes recommended by Ausenco, which represent a net savings in total project capital costs of over $89mn Canadian, after taking into account the impact of inflation on certain construction materials and equipment, and other design change escalations since the end of 2022,” said Generation Mining president and CEO Jamie Levy.
“This optimization work by Ausenco and our team represents a meaningful improvement to the financeability, constructability and economics of our project following several years of significant inflation in many input costs, and validates the continued robustness of the Marathon Project,” Levy said.
The mine plan optimization was carried out by the company and the Initial Capital Optimization was performed by the company in collaboration with Ausenco Engineering Canada ULC.
Mine plan optimization
Generation Mining evaluated alternative pit sequencing options that exploit the benefit of the ore body’s proximity to surface. The results of this work demonstrated the viability of focussing on a higher grade, lower strip ratio for the initial phase of mining operations. This results in the deferral of approximately 36 million tonnes of waste stripping during the first three years of operations while increasing the amount of recovered and payable metals during this period.
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