Name of the Project
Youanmi gold project.

Location
Murchison region of Western Australia.

Project Owner/s
Gold miner Rox Resources.
 
Project Description
The project encompasses underground mine production from the Youanmi main lode, Link and Pollard deposits.

A prefeasibility study (PFS) has confirmed the potential to develop a financially attractive, standalone high-grade and -margin gold project with an initial 7.7-year mine life.

The project has a maiden probable ore reserve estimate of 3.83-million tonnes at 4.4 g/t gold for 546 000 oz of contained gold.

The PFS envisages production of 786 000 oz of gold doré over the life-of-mine (LoM), averaging 103 000 oz/y over the LoM.

There is significant upside in the project, with the underground resource remaining open down-dip and along strike, and near-mine exploration targets of between 1.1-million ounces and 1.8-million ounces. These targets have the potential to increase the yearly production rate and mine life of the project if Rox is successful in converting those ounces into resources and, ultimately, ore reserves.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
At a conservative gold price of A$3 100/oz, the project has a pretax and unleveraged net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of about A$486-million (after-tax A$322-million) and internal rate of return of about 42% (after-tax 33%), with a payback of 2.9 years (after-tax 3.3 years) from the completion of construction and commissioning.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital is estimated at A$245-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Rox Resources has secured A$350-million in debt facilities from a syndicate of major banks, fully funding the development of the project.

The funding package comprises a A$300-million senior secured project term loan facility, a A$20-million cost overrun facility and a A$30-million bank guarantee facility. The facilities were arranged with Societe Generale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, HSBC and Westpac.

The commitments follow Rox's equity raise completed in December, resulting in the project's being fully funded to production.

MD and CEO Phill Wilding said in a statement on March 9 that the funding commitments marked a major step forward for the project.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Rox Resources, tel +61 8 9226 0044 or email admin@roxresources.com.au.