Western Copper and Gold CEO Paul West-Sells: Feasibility Study Establishes Robustness of the Casino Project

Western Copper and Gold (TSX:WRN,NYSEAMERICAN:WRN) released the results of a feasibility study on its wholly owned Casino copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Yukon, Canada. Western Copper and Gold CEO Paul West-Sells believes that the timeline for the project is just right to get into production when copper demand is expected to rise.

According to West-Sells, the feasibility study is something the company is very proud of because it establishes the robustness of the project.

“The reserves for both the mill and the heap leach are around 1.4 billion tonnes, which provide economics," he said. "We're showing a C$2.3 billion net present value (8 percent) and 18.1 percent internal rate of return, both after tax. It also indicates a very significant cashflow over the first four years of C$951 million per year.”

The study plans for Casino to be constructed as an open-pit mine with a concentrator processing 120,000 metric tons per day (MT/d) to recover copper, gold, molybdenum and silver, as well as a 25,000 MT/d oxide heap leach facility to recover gold, silver and copper. The base-case development contemplates a 27 year mine life with metal prices of copper at US$3.60 per pound, gold at US$1,700 per ounce, silver at US$22 per ounce and molybdenum at US$14 per pound.

The timeline, according to West-Sells, was an important step to getting the company's application in front of the regulator in a year.

“We're talking about three to four years from now to when we can begin construction on the mine by 2026,” he said. “We get the first production out of the heap leach in the second half of this decade. Then we’re going to be bringing this mine online by 2025, when there is going to be just a real dearth of copper out there. The timing lines up really, really nicely.”

Watch the full interview of Western Copper and Gold CEO Paul West-Sells above.

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