PROJECT UPDATE: EPM Mining Releases Prefeasibility Results for Sevier Lake Playa Sulphate

Potash junior EPM Mining Ventures (TSXV:EPK,OTCQX:EPKMF) announced the results of the preliminary feasibility study (PFS) for its Sevier Lake Playa Sulphate of Potash project in Southwestern Utah. EPM also updated its mineral resource estimate, which includes an estimated 31.486 million tonnes of sulfate of potash in the measured and indicated categories, a 7-percent increase from previous estimates.

EPM’s PFS highlights the potential for average annual production of 300,000 metric tons of sulfate of potash from the Sevier Lake project over a mine life of 30 years. The company based its economic analysis of the PFS on the assumption of 100-percent equity and a production ramp up spanning two years, with full production in the third year. The company expects to produce 50,000 tonnes in the first year of production, doubling that number in the following year and finally reaching its full production target of 300,000 tonnes per year in year three. Also included in the analysis is construction on playa in preproduction year three, and an effective tax rate of roughly 29 percent.

Based on the PFS, the project has an estimated net present value of $629 million after tax at an 8-percent discount and a further internal rate of return of 20 percent, after tax, inflated. EPM expects initial direct capital costs to come in at $292 million, with indirect capital costs at $50 million. The company has a contingency of $36 million. As far as operating costs are concerned, EPM estimates that the total cash cost for the project will be $180.9 per tonne as of 2013.

“We are very pleased with the completion and positive results of this important study. Through the efforts of a second drilling and fieldwork program, bench-scale testing of important evaporation and other process-related parameters, and significant hydrology modeling and analysis, the PFS highlights and supports the strong fundamentals and potential of our project,” EPM Mining’s CEO, Lance D’Ambrosio, said in a statement.

Moving forward, EPM will be entering the feasibility stage of its project.

Securities Disclosure: I, Vivien Diniz, hold no investment interest in any of the companies mentioned. 

Editorial Disclosure: EPM Mining Ventures is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content. 

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