Transcript:
Tim Davidson:
Tim Davidson, Managing Director of Meeka Metals and it’s great to be here to provide the outcomes of our recently released feasibility study into the Merchants and Gold project.
And some really strong numbers came out of that and it really frames how we look at developing this project.
660,000oz produced over 9.3 years, 80,000oz a year for the first eight years is and then some processing stockpiles towards the end of the project life.
$360,000,000 free cash, $250,000,000 MPV, a moderate amount of capital required to develop the project. So it’s a fantastic outcome for our company and we’re really looking forward to taking the project forward.
The Murchison region is a great region to operate in purely because it’s got fantastic access and fantastic access to infrastructure. So we have sealed highways that run directly past our front gate of our project. So directly through the Murchison, we’ve got a sealed airstrip that allows in Meekatharra itself, which is 50 km’s to the south of our project, that allows jets to land. So we’ve got fantastic infrastructure to get into and access our project.
And then you overlay that with the regional center in Meekatharra itself, which provides, again, access to services, mechanical accommodation, and all of those things that we need to support our project as we look to build it, develop it and start producing from it.
The Murchison region is an interesting place at the moment. There is corporate activity going on. People will know this. And the reason that that is because it’s got fantastic installed infrastructure. And we’ve identified this as part of our feasibility study work, the opportunity to potentially use some of that installed processing capacity and along with all of the other fantastic infrastructure in the region, the roads, the sealed airstrips, the airports in Meekatharra and the Meekatharra service center itself, that infrastructure is very valuable.
And if we can use that as a staged pathway to development of our project, that will be extremely valuable for our business as well.
The project retains a lot of flexibility and that’s really important for us as we look to develop it.
One of the options is, as we’ve outlined in the study, to build our own standalone processing infrastructure.
Another opportunity for us is to refurbish the partial milling infrastructure that remains at Andy Well now that is a smaller processing plant.
So we would ultimately develop a more targeted high grade mining operation.
And then the third pathway is to look at utilizing the existing installed processing
facilities, processing infrastructure in the region.
And finally, it could also be a combination of all of those.
So initially, toll processing, get into cash flow and then use that cash flow to either refurbish the Andy Well plant or use that to supplement funding for a larger processing facility of our own.
So that’s something that we really like about this project is the flexibility in developing it and how we go about developing it.
All of those outcomes, building our own infrastructure, refurbishing our existing infrastructure, toll, milling, they all generate really strong positive returns for the business and really positive outcomes for the company.
The key focus for the company going forward over the next six months is to conclude all of the permitting.
So finish off the remaining environmental baseline studies and the work that we have to do there, which is a number of months, and submit the permits
to the regulatory bodies with a view that we’ll get this project permitted by early next year. So early 2024.
That’s the next six months worth of work.
While that is going on, we’ll be finalizing and putting in place service agreements with mining contractors and service providers to then be able to go and start mining.
And initially, that will be a mining small shallow oxide open pits, high grade oxide open pits with a view to toll process those through the regional infrastructure, existing regional infrastructure.
If anyone would like any more information on the project or the company, I really encourage you to go to our website or our social media pages.
