Canadian Arrow Mines Updates Kenbridge Preliminary Economic Assessment - 89% Increase in Pre-tax NPV
01:00 EDT Thursday, September 04, 2008
SUDBURY, ON, Sept. 4 /CNW/ - Canadian Arrow Mines Ltd. (CRO: TSX-V) (the "Company") is pleased to announce results of an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Kenbridge Nickel Project in northwest Ontario. The updated PEA was completed by WMT Associates Ltd. and incorporates two important improvements in the project since the company first issued the Kenbridge PEA in January 2008.
Arrow's President, Kim Tyler, comments "The impact of the new resource estimate and higher metal recoveries are substantial for the project. Not only are 13 million additional lbs of recovered nickel expected over the life of the mine but they will be produced at no extra operating or capital cost relative to the January '08 PEA. They are also expected to be produced earlier in the mine life allowing for rapid payback of pre-production capital costs.
These improvements are;
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- New NI 43-101 resource estimate, (August 19, 2008 news release),
prepared by P&E Mining Consultants
- Improved metallurgical recoveries (June 26, 2008 news release)
Highlights of the updated PEA are shown in the table below, relative to
the January 2008 results:
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Aug '08 update Jan '08 PEA
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Average Ni recovery Life of Mine 86% 74%
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Recovered Ni (M lbs) 84.6 71.1
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Annual recovered Ni (M lbs) in 1st 5 years 12.5 8.4
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Cash cost / lb Ni payable net of Cu credit US$3.47 US$4.40
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NPV 7.5% pre-tax $253M $134M
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IRR% pre-tax 65% 33%
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Cost, value and financial assumptions used in the PEA update were unchanged from the original January '08 PEA including average life of mine US$10.00/lb nickel and US$2.50/lb copper prices and a CD$1.00:US$0.90 exchange rate.
The exceptional improved metallurgical recoveries thus contribute to Kenbridge achieving an 89% increase in pre-tax net present value over the first PEA, all other assumptions being equal. With expected net cash costs of US$3.47/lb of nickel, Kenbridge would be one of the lowest cost nickel sulphide operations in Canada. Given these results and the fact that the deposit remains open at depth and along strike we are confident to move the Kenbridge project into feasibility as soon as possible".
Cautionary Statements:
Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. The PEA update author is not aware of any known environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing or other relevant issues that could potentially affect this estimate of mineral resources. The preliminary assessment includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the preliminary assessment will be realized.
The PEA update was authored by Mr. Malcolm Buck, P. Eng. of WMT Associates under the direction of The Company's Vice President of Operations, Mr. Garett Macdonald, P.Eng, MBA, both qualified persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The information in this release was prepared under the direction of Mr. R. Kim Tyler, P. Geo., President of the Company, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
Currencies are expressed in Canadian dollars unless noted otherwise.
About Canadian Arrow Mines, Ltd:
Canadian Arrow Mines, Ltd. is an established Canadian exploration and development Company committed to developing and advancing base metal deposits close to existing infrastructure through exploration, development and acquisition. Shares of Canadian Arrow Mines trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "CRO".
Investors are invited to visit Canadian Arrow's IR hub at http://www.agoracom/IR/CanadianArrow where they can post questions and receive answers
within the same day, or simply review questions and answers posted by other investors. Alternately, investors are able to e-mail all questions and correspondence to CRO@agoracom.com where they can also request addition to the investor e-mail list to receive future press releases and updates in real time.