Silver Bear Announces Completion of Positive Feasibility Study

Silver Bear (TSX:SBR) has announced the results of a National Instrument 43-101 (NI-32-101) feasibility study for the Vertikalny Central deposit of its Mangazeisky Silver Project in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia.
Graham Hill, president and CEO, said:

I am very proud to announce the Study confirms that the exploitation of the Vertikalny Central deposit at our Mangazeisky silver project remains very robust even under the current silver price and economic conditions. The positive Study results validate our objective of fast-tracking the development process, and increase our confidence in assertively moving forward with the first phase of mining. I firmly believe that our team has designed a mine plan that optimises profitability and that the processing technology will maximise recovery and minimize technical risks at the lowest cost. I am also extremely proud of our construction and operational team at site and in Yakutsk for the tremendous accomplishments in mobilizing around 7,500 tons of equipment and construction materials to site along this year’s winter road, thus enabling us to proceed with construction plans this year.

As quoted in the press release:

Feasibility Study Highlights

• The pre-tax NPV at a 5% discount rate is US$79.7 million, the pre-tax IRR is 43.6%, and the payback period is 2.1 years.
• With the Far East Tax Incentives, the post-tax NPV at a 5% discount rate is US$70.7 million, the IRR is 40.2%, and the payback period is 2.2 years.
• Assumptions include a variable silver price of US$16.00/oz, US$17.25/oz, and US$18.00/oz during the first year of production, second year of production, and the remaining project life, respectively, with a life of mine (“LOM”) weighted average silver price of US$17.74/oz; exchange rate applied is RUB66.00/USD.
• Initial capital costs of US$48.6 million.
• Total Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves of 801,000 tonnes at a diluted average grade of 772 g/t Ag for 19.9 million troy ounces of silver.
• Total Vertikalny Central Indicated Mineral Resources of 23.4 million troy ounces of silver at an average grade of 909 g/t Ag, in addition to Inferred Mineral Resources of 13.4 million ounces of silver at an average grade of 615 g/t Ag.
• Processing an average of 110,000 tonnes of ore per annum.
• Production of 16,787,000 ounces of silver over a 7.3-year LOM
• Average metallurgical recovery of 84.4% silver.

Click here to read the full press release.