Just to clarify, the 250-300k tonne target is from the target of 2.5-3 million tonnes @ 10-12% Zn + Pb.
Reasonable crunching of numbers assuming the JORC is likely to be reached.
Processing through 500k per year of that into the mill/processing plant would give a mine life of about 6 years. Just on the current targets.
Current cash price per tonne of Zn $3,394 cash, or around 3,100 for 2 month contract.
https://www.lme.com/Metals/Non-ferrous/Zinc#tabIndex=0
Scroll down and see the historically low (5 years) reserves on
http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/zinc_historical_large.html
For in ground valuation, multiply 300k by $3,100 = $930mil. Ball park figure.
Deduct $40 mil for capex (from the reasonable comparison with San Felipe) = $890mil.
Less operating costs etc. (opex are not high, this is a surface mine. See the costs for San Felipe and compare cheap open cut with their deep mining costs.)
Still looking good when you consider how likely converting that into targetted resource into a reserve is.
$930 mil = $148.3 mill pa. X 6 years (less operating costs, transportation etc.)
Then if we get resource extension into the western end, ok some operating costs will be higher might not be open cut or room and pillar any longer, but not very deep either. But by then we're already making money.
A project manager has been appointed. DFS by 3rd quarter 2019, Construction and Production by late 2019.
Metallurgy is simple. standard sulphide flotation process, see ann. 20 Nov 2017, European and North American Roadshow presentation 17 Dec 2017.
http://azureminerals.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/20171204-European-Presentation.pdf
