Paris Silver Project
The Paris Silver project is located on the central Eyre Peninsula, approximately 60km north of the regional town of Kimba, and approximately 7hrs drive from the South Australian capital of Adelaide.
The project geographically positioned within an area with significant benefits for development, proximal to the regional centres of Pt Augusta and Whyalla which host significant mining support infrastructure. On significant advantage for project development is that it is outside of intensive cropping agricultural zones, and is located on a single pastoral leasehold station, lessening impact on the broader community. Baseline environmental studies have identified no significant flora or fauna protected species are present in the project area, supporting the assumption that development and subsequent operations will have minimal impact on threatened or endangered species within the region.
The Paris project has a JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of 24Mt @ 73g/t silver and 0.41% lead for 57Moz of silver and 99kt of lead.
| Category | Mt | Ag g/t | Pb% | Ag Moz | Pb Kt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicated | 17 | 75 | 0.50 | 41 | 85 |
| Inferred | 7.2 | 67 | 0.20 | 16 | 14 |
| Total | 24 | 73 | 0.41 | 57 | 99 |
The Paris resource is an intermediate sulphidation epithermal deposit hosted within lower (older) Gawler Range Volcanics (breccia and ignimbrites) which overly Hutchison group basement metamorphosed sediments (dolomites, calc silicates and variably graphitic and iron rich schists). Mineralisation is interpreted to be of Hiltaba age (approximately 1590Ma), with dating of key volcanic peperitic dykes at the deposit found to be identical in age to ages at Olympic Dam IOCG deposit, indicating Paris as part of a major mineralising event.
Silver is in the dominant form of native silver and acanthite (AgS), both of which present as readily amenable forms for conventional CIL leach recovery. The deposit has a unique shallow, tabular footprint making it amenable to open pit mining, with high grade, near surface mineralisation present. As part of proposed processing plant the company has proposed to utilise a first for South Australia dry stack tailings disposal method offering environmental and water saving advantages, in addition to hybrid power supply including components of solar feed in.
Prefeasibility Study
A Prefeasibility Study of Paris was released to the ASX in November 2021 with the following key outcomes:
- Pre-Tax NPV8 of $202M to A$245M
- IRR of 47.9% to 54.1%
- Payback period of 2.3 – 2.8 years
- Pre-Tax life of mine net operating cashflow of A$487M to A$602M
- Project life of 5-7years on current resource.
- Low AISC of A$17.45/oz Ag
(Refer ASX release dated 30 November, 2021 for full PFS details and assumptions).
Investigator are progressing with Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) work aimed at optimising both silver and lead recoveries, flowsheet design in addition to engineering and mining components. Important to note that in the PFS, no consideration was given to potential revenue available from recovery of lead from the approximate 100kt contained in the resource. The ability to produce a saleable lead concentrate will have a substantial positive impact on the project’s economic outcomes.
Click to enlarge diagrams:
Shows the location of the 223 holes (yellow dots) that were drilled in the 2020 infill program, predominantly within the Inferred Resources areas (shown in blue) of the 2017 resource estimate.
Cross-section in the northern area of the 2021 Paris Silver Project Mineral Resource estimate at Line 8.25, looking north, showing the distribution of the average grade blocks (+/- 12.5m section window). The background colours indicate the geological setting.
Cross-section along Line 0.5, looking northwest, showing the holes drilled in the 2020 infill program (red labels on collars) and the limited previous drilling (+/- 12.5m section window). Holes are shown as grey traces with red indicating the location of assays above 30g/t silver. Intersections above 100g/t silver are noted in yellow “call-out” boxes. Intersections above 30g/t silver are noted in white “call-out” boxes.
