Alien Metals (LON: UFO) shares are gaining Tuesday after it said a scoping study has delivered a compelling development case for the Hancock Iron Ore Project.
The AIM-quoted company said an initial independent scoping study for the project has demonstrated exceptionally strong returns are possible from potential development.
The initial life of mine studies show the current resource will sustain an 8-year life based on a mining rate of 1.25 million tons per year with a pre-production capital estimate of below $30m. Operating costs will be under $60 million.Â
Alien said that given the “exceptional results from the scoping study,” it has started planning the next stages of development with the appointment of an iron ore operations manager to begin the permitting process.
The company is also in the final stages of preparing the next drilling phase, which targets extensions to the Ridges resources, where substantial resource growth potential exists.
Bill Brodie Good, CEO & Technical Director of Alien Metals, said: “Having delivered a meaningful resource so quickly, and to follow up with a very compelling mine development scenario from the independent Scoping Study, we are now working aggressively in the development, mining and permitting arena to keep the momentum up and get this project into production within a very short timeframe.”
Alien Metals shares are up over 12% at 0.813p following the update.
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