LONDON (Alliance News) - Cradle Arc PLC on Thursday said a maiden ore reserve for its Mowana copper mine "underpins" the scale and commercial potential of the project.
Shares in Cradle Arc, which listed in London in February, were up 12% on Thursday at 8.92 pence each.
In early April, the Africa-focused resource company unveiled a maiden mineral resource estimate for Mowana, and this has been updated now the ore reserve has been completed.
The ore reserve estimate gives 31.8 million tonnes of proved and probable ore at a grade of 1.17% copper, giving 370,800 tonnes of contained copper.
As a result, the mineral resource estimate has been boosted 37% to 55.0 million tonnes at the same grade for 640,000 tonnes of copper. Further, the life-of-mine has also been extended by three years to 14 years.
There is further upside, Cradle Arc said, as an inferred resource of 3.7 million tonnes of ore at 0.93% copper is currently being treated as waste in the life-of-mine schedule, and this will be included if the company's confidence in the resource improves to measured and indicated.
Cradle Arc's average life-of-mine production stands at an estimated 21,000 tonnes of copper a year, with cash costs at around USD4,099 a tonne.
This ore estimate, the firm said, gives Mowana an after-tax net present value of USD272.8 million.
Chief Executive Kevin van Wouw said: "The successful completion of the ore reserve estimate and upgrade of the mineral resource estimate underpins the significant scale and long term commercial value potential of Mowana."
"Wardell Armstrong International's independent assessment further supports our recently implemented accelerated development plan announced in April 2018, which we anticipate enabling us to reach steady state production and positive cash flows more rapidly, in addition to enabling management to make the final decision regarding the implementation of the DMS upgrades as we seek to ramp-up production and ultimately strengthen the value fundamentals of Mowana."