Summary
- Consolidated 2020 Guidance:
-
- Production of 90,000-95,000
oz; note that production guidance does not
include contributions from coarse gold occurrences at Beta
Hunt. Based on management's current interpretation of the
Beta Hunt shear zone / Lunnon Sediment intersection horizons,
coarse gold is expected to be produced during 2020.
- All-in-sustaining-cost (AISC)1 of
US$1,050-$1,200 per oz.
- 2020 Exploration:
-
- The re-negotiation of the Morgan Stanley Royalty at HGO has
unlocked multiple high priority areas of the
1,800km2 land package previously not
explored.
- New targets at HGO now include the Pioneer deposit, Two Boys
extension, Paleochannel extensions, Baloo-Sluth trend, and Zuleika
parallel mineralised structures.
- A 2020 exploration budget of A$9.5-A$10 million
(totaling 45,000-50,000 metres) is allocated across HGO and Beta
Hunt.
- Operational Update:
Baloo Open Pit
Operations
- Baloo Stage 1 mining is now expected to extend to
June 2020.
- Baloo Stage 2 approvals are on track and expected to be
received during Q1 2020, with Stage 2 mining expected to continue
through to December 2020.
- Infill drilling results at Baloo continue to confirm or
improve upon modelled mineralization (drill intervals are estimated
true thickness):
-
- BLOR0009 returned 2.5g/t over 18.5m.
Fairplay North Open
Pit Operations
- Fairplay North is the next open pit in the HGO production
pipeline, located less than 1km from the HGO treatment
plant.
- First mineralization has been mined and delivered to HGO
Run-of-Mine ("ROM") stockpile for processing.
- Fairplay North Stage 1 mining is planned through to
July 2020, followed by Stage 2
through to January 2021.
- High-grade results from recent drilling include (drill
intervals are estimated true thickness):
-
- FPNGC_1305-078 - 16.5 g/t over 16m from 24m
(including 59.8g/t over 4m)
- FPNGC_1305-083 - 5.8 g/t over 13m from 25m.
Beta Hunt
- An update on Beta Hunt will be provided in the coming
weeks
TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2020 /CNW/ - RNC Minerals (TSX: RNX)
("RNC" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that for the full
year 2020, management is targeting consolidated production of
between 90,000 to 95,000 ounces of gold at an average
all-in-sustaining-cost (AISC)1 of US$1,050 to US$1,200 per ounce. It is important to note that
the production and cost guidance does not include contributions
from any potential high-grade coarse gold occurrences encountered
from time to time at the Beta Hunt Mine. Based on management's
current interpretation of the Beta Hunt shear zone / Lunnon
Sediment intersection horizons, further coarse gold is expected to
be produced from mining operations over the course of 2020,
representing potential upside to the 2020 production and cost
guidance estimates.
The 2020 guidance does take into account the relatively minor
disruptions caused be wild fires earlier this month as previously
discussed in RNC's news release dated January 8, 2020.
Consolidated HGO and Beta Hunt exploration expenditures for the
full year 2020 are targeted to be from A$9.5 to $10
million. Exploration expenditures are expected to prioritize
areas at Higginsville (HGO properties) given the recent
renegotiation of royalties (see RNC news release dated December 19, 2019) which has now unlocked
significant high-value portions of the property that were
previously not explored.
- Non-IFRS Measure: the definition of these measures are
included in the Non-IFRS Measures section of RNC's MD&A dated
November 5, 2019.
Paul Andre Huet, Chairman &
CEO, commented: "Our 2020 guidance reflects a continuation of the
consistent production we achieved in the second half of 2019.
However it is very important to note that our guidance does not
include contribution from high-grade coarse gold production from
the Beta Hunt Mine. With this in mind, we believe there is upside
to our production and cost guidance that we will be able
demonstrate as the year progresses.
Since acquiring the Higginsville mill in June 2019, we have focused squarely on improving
our cost profile company-wide. This initiative will continue as a
priority in 2020. With targeted quarter over quarter cost
reductions, we expect AISC costs to trend towards our target of
US$1,000 per ounce by the end of the
2020.
With a large portion of our 1,800km2 Higginsville
property now unlocked for aggressive exploration for the first time
in over 7 years due to the royalty renegotiation in December, we
have prioritized a list of strong targets for 2020. Recent results
from our exploration and grade control drilling across the property
have been very encouraging, and we look forward to advancing these
targets during the year.
Mining at Higginsville is also exceeding our expectations. With
Baloo continuing to grow, the Stage 1 pit life has now been
extended to mid-year 2020, followed by Stage 2 mining which is
expected to continue for the balance of 2020. Our pipeline of open
pits is delivering, with results from Fairplay North, our second
open pit, having shown some very good high-grade results
to-date.
2019 was a transformational year for RNC and our shareholders.
We look forward to an even stronger 2020."
As a final reminder, and as initially stated in RNC's third
quarter 2019 results news release dated November 6, 2019, RNC will now be reporting
production and cost results on a quarterly basis moving forward, in
line with standard industry practice.
Operational and Exploration Update
As previously disclosed in RNC's news release dated January 8, 2020, despite several bushfires
burning in the HGO area throughout late 2019 and early 2020, HGO
was subject to only minor disruptions to mining, utilising mill
stockpiles to maintain production targets.
Figure 1 shows several areas RNC is either actively advancing or
evaluating as high-priority targets. In addition to Baloo, where
RNC has been developing and mining since the HGO acquisition last
June, a number of tenements covered under the re-negotiated Morgan
Stanley royalty are now considered high priority. These areas
include Fairplay North, Pioneer, the Two Boys extension and
Paleochannel extensions.
Baloo
At Baloo Stage 1, mining is now forecast to continue to mid-2020
(previously expected to cease in Q1 2020). Baloo Stage 2 mining
approvals are expected during Q1 2020 with mining scheduled to
begin in at the completion of Stage 1 and continue until the end of
the year.
Baloo Drilling Summary
Since acquisition of the HGO mines, RNC has completed a 20
resource definition holes totalling 492m and 19 exploration holes totalling
1,897m at Baloo. Drilling focussed on
the following target areas with the aim of increasing and upgrading
the existing resource:
- North Baloo
- Eastern Footwall mineralisation
- Down-dip Infill of the Baloo mineralisation
Drilling results have either confirmed or expanded upon modelled
mineralisation. Some of the highlights include (downhole
intervals)1.:
Eastern Footwall drilling1
- BLOR0033 – 4.8g/t over 3.0m, from
7m
- BLOR0034 – 2.6g/t over 4.0m, from
6m
Down-Dip Infill1
- BLOR0009- 2.5g/t over 18.5m, from
14m
- BLOR0006 – 3.7g/t over 7.3m, from
35m
- BLOR0010 – 2.4g/t over 10.6m,
from 43m
Baloo North2
- BLOR0003- 8.7 g/t over 3.0m from
63m3.
- BLOR0025-4.28g/t over 2.0m, from
50m
- Estimated true thickness.
- True thickness cannot be estimated with available
information.
- Previously reported in RNC news release dated October 15, 2019.
Fairplay North
Following the restructuring of the HGO royalties under the
Morgan Stanley agreement (see RNC news release dated December 19, 2019), additional work has been
undertaken to prioritize development of certain HGO tenements. The
first of these is Fairplay North, located only 1 km from the HGO
mill.
The pit will be mined in two stages to optimise mining
operations and will be mined concurrently with Baloo to ensure
optimal feed blend to the HGO mill. Expected completion of Stage 2
is by the end of Q3 2020, however recent drilling has raised the
potential for this to be extended.
Note: North-South length of pit is 200m
Fairplay North Drill Summary
To date, RNC has completed 26 resource definition RC holes
totalling 1,721 m at Fairplay
North. Drilling focussed on upgrading the existing historical
resource within and on the margins of an optimised pit shell.
Assay results confirmed the mineralisation interpretation and
has extended the near surface supergene mineralisation.
Drilling highlights are summarised below1:
- FPNGC_1305-078: 16.5g/t over 16m
from 24m, including 59.8g/t over
4m
- FPNGC_1305-083: 5.8g/t over 13m
from 25m
- FPNGC_1305-102: 3.2g/t over 14m
from 53m
- FPNGC_1305-097: 2.3g/t over 9m
from 68m
- FPNGC_1305-087: 3.1g/t over 8m
from 52m
- Drillhole intervals are estimated true widths.
Table 1: Baloo and Fairplay North - Significant drill
results (>1g/t Au) since July 2019. Please refer
to the following link for the full summary table of significant
resource definition drill results from Baloo and Fairplay North
drilled by RNC in 2019: Table 1
Table 2: Baloo and Fairplay North - Location and status of
holes drilled in the completed drill campaign beginning July
2019. Please refer to the following link for the full summary
table of the hole location and status of holes drilled by RNC
at Baloo and Fairplay North in 2019: Table 2
Compliance Statement (JORC 2012 and NI 43-101)
The disclosure of scientific and technical information contained
in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Stephen
Devlin, FAusIMM, Vice-President, VP Exploration &
Growth, Salt Lake Mining Pty Ltd, a 100% owned subsidiary of RNC, a
Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101.
At the Higginsville Gold Operation reverse circulation drilling
chip sampling was conducted by RNC personnel. Samples are
transported to Bureau Veritas Minerals Pty Ltd of Kalgoorlie
and Perth for preparation and assaying by 40 gram
(approx.) fire assay analytical method. Analytical accuracy and
precision are monitored by the analysis of duplicates, additional
blank material and certified standards inserted in the sample
stream. Samples are weighed as received, dried and split to less
than 3kg then pulverised by LM-5 to ensure a minimum 90% passing at
-75µm.
About RNC Minerals
RNC is focused on growing gold production and reducing costs at
its integrated Beta Hunt Gold Mine and Higginsville Gold Operations
("HGO") in Western Australia. The
Higginsville treatment facility is a low-cost 1.4 Mtpa processing
plant which is fed at capacity from RNC's underground Beta Hunt
mine and open pit Higginsville mine. At Beta Hunt, a robust gold
mineral resource and reserve is hosted in multiple gold shears,
with gold intersections along a 4 km strike length remaining open
in multiple directions. HGO has a substantial historical gold
resource and highly prospective land package totaling approximately
1,800 square kilometers. In addition, RNC has a 28% interest in a
nickel joint venture that owns the Dumont Nickel-Cobalt Project
located in the Abitibi region of Quebec. Dumont contains the second largest
nickel reserve and ninth largest cobalt reserve in the world. RNC
has a strong Board and management team focused on delivering
shareholder value. RNC's common shares trade on the TSX under the
symbol RNX. RNC shares also trade on the OTCQX market under the
symbol RNKLF.
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking
Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking information"
including without limitation statements relating to the liquidity
and capital resources of RNC, production guidance and the potential
of the Beta Hunt Mine, Higginsville Gold Operation and Dumont
Nickel Project.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results,
performance or achievements of RNC to be materially different from
any future results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could
affect the outcome include, among others: future prices and the
supply of metals; the results of drilling; inability to raise the
money necessary to incur the expenditures required to retain and
advance the properties; environmental liabilities (known and
unknown); general business, economic, competitive, political and
social uncertainties; results of exploration programs; accidents,
labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; political
instability, terrorism, insurrection or war; or delays in obtaining
governmental approvals, projected cash operating costs, failure to
obtain regulatory or shareholder approvals. For a more detailed
discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements, refer to RNC's filings with
Canadian securities regulators, including the most recent Annual
Information Form, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Although RNC has attempted to identify important factors that
could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially
from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be
other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from
those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking
statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news
release and RNC disclaims any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or results or otherwise, except as required by
applicable securities laws.
Cautionary Statement Regarding the Beta Hunt Mine and
Higginsville
The decision to produce at the Beta Hunt
Mine was not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves,
demonstrating economic and technical viability, and, as a result,
there may be an increased uncertainty of achieving any particular
level of recovery of minerals or the cost of such recovery, which
include increased risks associated with developing a commercially
mineable deposit. Historically, such projects have a much higher
risk of economic and technical failure. There is no guarantee that
anticipated production costs will be achieved. Failure to achieve
the anticipated production costs would have a material adverse
impact on SLM's cash flow and future profitability. Readers are
cautioned that there is increased uncertainty and higher risk of
economic and technical failure associated with such production
decisions. It is further cautioned that mineral resources are not
mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic
viability.
A production decision at the Higginsville gold
operations was made by previous operators of the mine, prior to the
completion of the acquisition of the Higginsville gold operations
by RNC and RNC made a decision to continue production subsequent to
the acquisition. This decision by RNC to continue production and,
to the knowledge of RNC, the prior production decision were not
based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves, demonstrating
economic and technical viability, and, as a result, there may be an
increased uncertainty of achieving any particular level of recovery
of minerals or the cost of such recovery, which include increased
risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit.
Historically, such projects have a much higher risk of economic and
technical failure. There is no guarantee that anticipated
production costs will be achieved. Failure to achieve the
anticipated production costs would have a material adverse impact
on the Corporation's cash flow and future profitability. Readers
are cautioned that there is increased uncertainty and higher risk
of economic and technical failure associated with such production
decisions.
SOURCE RNC Minerals