Sheffield Resources completes Thunderbird PFS
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Sheffield Resources (ASX: SFX) has received the results of a Pre-feasibility Study (PFS) that was carried out on the company’s 100 per cent-owned Thunderbird mineral sands project, located near Derby in northwest Western Australia.
Sheffield said the results from the PFS have confirmed the Thunderbird project will deliver strong cash margins over an initial mine life of 32 years.
The company also indicated it expects the results to improve with the inclusion of further infill drilling results.
The infill drilling was designed to focus on reducing costs and increasing margins, and have yet to be incorporated in the study.
“This PFS has confirmed that Thunderbird will deliver strong financial returns over a very long mine life,” Sheffield Resources managing director Bruce McQuitty said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“One of the aspects that sets Thunderbird apart from other mineral sands projects globally is the substantial projected annual production of zircon.
“The project is highly leveraged to the zircon price and with few major new zircon projects in the global development pipeline, Sheffield is well placed to meet future demand.
“Thunderbird is located in a stable jurisdiction, has an export solution and is well placed to take advantage of expected product supply gaps that are aligned with the initial planned production profile.”
The PFS results show, at a planned mining rate of 18 million tonnes per annum after ramp-up, average annualised production over a 32-year mine life is estimated to be 114,000 tonnes of zircon, 439,000 tonnes of Ilmenite, and 30,000 tonnes of HiTi84 leucoxene.
At assumed pricing of US$1,375 per tonne for zircon, US$155 per tonne for ilmenite and US$580 per tonne for HiTi84 over the life of the mine, and an exchange rate of $US0.78, the Thunderbird project is anticipated to generate average operating cash flows of $134 million per annum.
The life-of-mine revenue is forecast to be $9.5 billion and C1 cash costs over the life of mine are $5.2 billion, giving a LOM revenue-to-cost ratio of 1.82:1 and average annual EBITDA of $120 million.
Website: www.sheffieldresources.com.au